Referenced By / The Graduate

Anime & Manga

• Fruits Basket: In the original manga, Shigure jokingly suggests that Hatori could have crashed Kana (his former girlfriend)'s wedding and stolen her away just like in The Graduate.

Films — Live-Action

• In (500) Days of Summer, The Graduate is shown to be one of the main factors that influenced Tom's idealized view of romance. When he and his girlfriend Summer are shown watching it, Tom gets confused when Summer cries at the ending, as he views it as a romantic love story, thus causing friction between them.
• In High Anxiety, Thorndyke walking through the airport in the opening is exactly like Benjamin Braddock in the opening
• In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the shot of Ferris Bueller sprinting down the sidewalk at the end of the film is an homage to Benjamin Braddock doing the same.
• In the opening sequence of The Player, Buck Henry pitches a sequel set 25 years later in which Ben and Elaine are married and living with Mrs. Robinson, who has had a stroke.
• Quentin Tarantino:
  • The popping toaster at the end of the sequence in Pulp Fiction where Ben Braddock tells his parents about his wedding plans is referenced in scene where Butch kills Vincent. Also, Jules' "Believe it now!" dialogue is inspired by dialogue from this film.
  • The opening shot of Jackie Brown moving along an airport travelator is a direct lift from the opening shot.

Literature

• Justine from You Look Different in Real Life has an overdue library copy of The Graduate that she plans to return eventually.

Live-Action TV

• In the Mad Men episode "Time Zones", the shot of Don Draper moving along an airport travelator is a nod to the opening shot — he's even arriving in California from the East Coast, just like Benjamin — although the music is courtesy of the Spencer Davies Group rather than Simon & Garfunkel.
• Veronica Mars: In the first-season episode "Meet John Smith", the scene where Duncan is sitting in the pool while his father talks to him is a lift from the scene in The Graduate.

Music

• Mrs. Robinson's "Would you like me to seduce you?" line is sampled in George Michael's "Too Funky".
• The same line is used before the first verse of the English remix of "Macarena".
• The music video for Jon Secada's "If You Go" completely rips off the last few minutes—Ben driving like a madman, running out of gas, bursting in just as the couple kisses, and he and the girl running away and catching a bus out of town. The only difference is that they're ecstatic, rather than the bewilderment Ben and Elaine had.

Web Comics

• Hark! A Vagrant: Mr. Saxe-Coburg, you are trying to seduce me.

Western Animation

• Rugrats: Didi has a younger brother named Ben, whose fiancée/later wife is named Elaine. They appear in two episodes.
• The Simpsons:
  • "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Bluefish": When Homer arrives at his home after leaving Moe's Tavern, he hammers on one of the windows of the house and shouts Marge's name.
  • "Lisa's Substitute": "Mrs. Krabappel, you're trying to seduce me." The famous "through the woman's legs" camera angle is spoofed. Bonus points for Dustin Hoffman guest-starring in the episode.
  • "Lady Bouvier's Lover": Grampa interrupts Marge's mother's wedding to Mr. Burns, banging on the church window while shouting "Mrs. Bouvier!" She decides not to marry either of them, but Grampa and Mrs. Bouvier run away onto a bus anyway as a version of The Sound of Silence with lyrics about Grampa plays.
  Hello Grampa, my old friend
  Your busy day is at an end
  Your exploits have been sad and boring
  They tell a tale, that's worth ignoring
  When you're alone, the words of your story will echo down the rest home hall
  Cuz no one at all'
  Can stand the sound of Grampa

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