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AnotI BY BOB CRAFT Someone once told me that I re minded her of Benjmain Braddock, the main character in the motion picture, The Graduate, I was six teen at the time. That was five years ago, and last Thursday I had the opportunity to see the film again and things have changed. The girl who made the remark is long into my past, married to.a man in Reichmond and four years have .passed since I last saw her, lost on a slate-grey Virginia after noon. It has been quite some time since anyone told me that I re minded them of Ben. Indeed, it has been a long time since I even thought of Benjamin and any pos sible relationship he might have to me. In. this vacuum of time, I real ize I have turned away from the road lealing to Scarborough Fair and have instead crept down the al leyways and fled down the high ways before someone came to get me. I am older now than Benjamin. Not much, however. He was 20 just turning 21. In several days, I shall be 22. Benjamin lived in thal sweet moment of peace before th( sturm and drang that ended at Kent and Jackson States. I have smelled pepper gas, and seen my friends with the stitches caused by High. way Patrol batons and with theii eyes swollen from gas next morn ing in class. I also saw the SMC die amids, lack of direction, paranoia, and lack of interest. I saw Jesus Freaks spring up from the concrete in front of Russell House and wit. nessed the birth of the Divine Lighi Mission. Having come through these fiv( -SALE 25% OFF INNER CITY QLA DRAQS 2016 GREEN STREET (AT FIVE POINTS) 3000 Colonial Drive 254-1779 Fine Mexican Food Tacos + Dinners Eat in or take out ter Look A years, I went to visit Benjamin a gain. The Russell House Theatre was packed with hip high-schoolers whose complexions were in revolt and whose bell bottoms were too short and torn. It was here that once again I become acquainted with the confused boy named Ben jamin. The hip high-schoolers laughed. But not the right way. They did not feel for Benjamin's pain, they laughed both at it and him. They laughed at him as though his clum siness was not born of inexperi ence, desperation, and pain, but as though it wals the inherent charac teristic of an inferior man. In the last few years, many laws have been re-written, so to speak. These hip high-schoolers embody these new laws. It seems that it has become far easier to be understood as Carl Smith, "The Ole Make-Out King," than- as the slightly des perate, but always sincere Benja min, who wishes not so much to be loved as to love. This film does not embody those laws. I believe that the basic plot of the film is medieval in ori. gin. It is not hard for this film tc be portrayed in a knightly setting to see Benjamin as a young knight who is something less than Lohen grin or Galahad, but still noble Mrs. Robinson as a lustful baron ess left alone in her huge manor house while the baron is out fal coning. It is not difficult to perceive E laine as the innocent daughter whc has been at a convent receiving in struction. The tasks that Benjamit undertakes to win Elaine fit ir neatly with 'the courtly love trad tion; his labors, his combats, hi pain. This all becomes somewhat laugh able, if, enlisting under the banner Diamonds 2024 DEVINE STRE COLUN N C HA C 'A! t 'The Gr of the hip high-schoolers, one be comes a true believer in the new ways of sexual morality: The Carl Smith Brigade. then the virginal cast that is put up about Elaine be comes not only unreal, and a trifle distasteful, it becomes ridiculous as well. Few are true believers, however, and while the cast remains soft and unreal, like .the edges of a photo. graph that has been vignetted, it re tains its worth and sentimentality while the new ways rush in and re legate it to the attics of the past saying, that's the way it was and perhaps it was beautiful, but no more; for we no longer have the time, it was painful and ultimate. ly, not worth It. So, the question arises out ol ashes of the past five years: Is il possible to love as Benjamin and E laine love ? The ghost of Bertrand Russel intones, "Romantic love canno exist where access to the female i too easy." 01 t continue the the sis, technology frees people in i democratic society to loosen se) ual mores and therefore cause th death of romantic love. Benjamin's trials would seem t< fit in with Lord Russell's thesis Benjamin performs the labors c Hercules to try to win Elaine anc so, the point to be gathered fron this is that if he didn't have to then we wouldn't love Elaine. There is a fallacy here, howev er. We have lumped together al people and said, in effect, that the3 are the same. I submit that Ben jamin goes through all of this no in order to love Elaine, but becaus4 he already does. Cynicism melted as I watchec k the film, and I left the theatre i- buoyant and elated. The fact wa 5 so simple, people can fall in love It was something I had missed a long the highways littered with th rape victims of Clockwork Orangi and Watches ET e FIVE POINTS BIA, S. C. Easy To Open Gamecock Charge Account *100 (Limit) BRITTON ! aduate' the weeping women of Pat Gar rett. the archetypical easy lays of High Rise, and the gaudy hawkers of sex who swarmed like papparaz zi at every way station. We have become so caught In this web and wash of sex that we have lost our perspective. In losing this, we have tightened our indiv idual defenses, and we cannot open up to love. So we allow it only in movie theatre and shut it off in the lobby. We have become voyeurs. If love is dead, then each indiv idual kills it. Benjamin remains timeless, he is forever fixed, he is a gauge to look at ourselves, and he is the specter of that dread thing, choice. For ourselves, we cannot extra polate on how Benjamin and E laine are progressing in their rela tionship, because we do not know. 1 We cannot be cynical and thrust t th6 role of a younger Mrs. Robin s son on her daughter. -We must choose, either we stand with them or against them. If we choose foi one, to know one, to love one, we e cannot laugh at Benjamin. It re. mains, however, an individual choice. So I wait for Elaine. f I UPSTAIRS AUDIO 0 Marantz 0 Dual e BSR s 0 Koss 919 SIA Across From 1Os BICI Quality Europeal Mvaniufactured By: Sport, Mercier, Ci Colnago, Mlaino Also custom-built fri machine tool work,~ In Co C A TE'S i Bo: Cedar Terraci 6420 Sumte P 774 1:15 to 8pn.m. 4 Gentry Recruits All-Americans' For Swim Team In an effort to continue the winning tradition established in his three-year tenure at USC, head swimming coach Alan Gentry has announced the signing of five high school All-Americans to grants-in aid. The new recruits include Fred 0) Ehmke of Concord, Calif., Ray Klitzke of Waukesha, Wis., Tom Jacobson of Chamblee, Ga., Dan Reider of Lido, N.Y., and Clark Hamilton of Jacksonville, Fla. "We're very excited over the success of our recruiting year," said Gentry. "The kids we've sign ed are all solid swimmers and should enable us to keep our pro gram moving forward. "We feel that with the potential of these freshmen and the exper ience of our upperclassmen our team should be vastly strengthened this season. "Since we have added both Auborn and Florida -to our sche dule this season we'll need kids of this high caliber to be more com petitive." Gentry guided the Gamecocks to a 9-3 dual meet record last sea son and his teams have compiled an overall mark of 23-8 over the past three years. mter Street The U.S.C. Horseshoe PEED CLES 1 Bicycles From Sl00 Liberia, Mercian,Paris nelli, Rolls. Libertas, ime sets, custom paint work, wheel building specialists. lumbia See: C?OT TAG E c 9342 Shopping Center r Hwy. (29209) hone: ~-1209 Vion. thromgh CSat