Abstract:

Graduate was evaluated as one of the one hundred top films across the world by the American Film Institute. The symbolic significance and theme of the movie have attracted scholars’ great attention. Based on a brief analysis of the plot of the film, the paper points out the film is the reflection of value conflicts in 1970s in America. Definitions of value and value conflicts from different aspects help readers understand their meanings. The paper gives some specific examples to illustrate value conflicts from three angles in the film including the conflict in success, the conflict in love and the conflict in ethic. At the same time, causes leading to these conflicts have been explored in this paper. Besides, impacts the film exerts on college students in China have also been briefly discussed. This study shows the value conflict in success, the value conflict in love and the value conflict in ethic result from the social environment in 1970s in America, Ben’s family environment and Ben’s characters. This study on the value conflicts helps readers understand the social situation of America in 1970s. 

Keywords: Graduate; value; value conflicts; conflict reflections; causes; impacts

摘  要：

《毕业生》曾被美国电影学会评为世界上百部最佳影片之一，它的象征意义和体现的主题让众多学者对其研究不止。通过对该电影相关情节的分析，本文认为该电影主要反映的是美国20世纪70年代不同价值观之间的冲突。不同的人对价值观以及对价值冲突的不同定义，帮助读者更好地理解价值观和价值冲突。文章列举了一些具体的例子从三个方面来诠释价值冲突包括成功,爱情以及伦理方面的价值冲突。同时，文章一一讨论了这些冲突出现的原因。此外文章还探索了电影带给中国大学生的影响。本文介绍了电影在成功，爱情和伦理方面的价值冲突是由美国20世纪70年代的社会环境，主人公的家庭背景以及主人公的人物性格引起的。文章对价值冲突进行研究有助于读者了解美国20世纪70年代的社会现状。

关键词：《毕业生》；价值观；价值冲突；冲突体现；原因；影响

1  Introduction
The film Graduate was directed by Mike Nichols and screened in 1967. It won Academy Award for Best Director and grabbed six nominations. The theme song “ The Sound of Silence ”obtained Grammy Award.
The protagonist of Graduate is Ben performed by Dustin Hoffman. He was considered as a great graduate owning a bright prospect, but actually, worrying too much about his future. He had several dates with Mrs.Robinson acted by Anne Bancroft, the wife of his parents’ business friend and then fell in love with her daughter-Elaine played by Katharine Ross who was a new actress at that time.
The symbolic significance and the theme of the movie have attracted scholars’ great attention. Li Dapeng  points out the theme of Graduate is descriptions of the teenager’s confusion about future and problems accompanied by the growth. In addition, others hold the view that the film is a story about a teenager who made a mistake and finally had the courage to admit his fault and tried his best to save the situation. Professor Lun He believes that Graduate is the first movie showing generation gap between youth and their parents in America history. However, among those opinions, few of them concern value conflicts.