Hello Murakami, My Old Friend

Haruki Murakami makes direct reference to the film, The Graduate, in Norwegian Wood. The protagonist, Toru, watches the movie in a theater, stating that "I didn't think it was all that good, but I didn't have anything better to do, so I stayed and watched it again." (81) The film is also brought up on page 139 when Reiko and Toru talk about Simon and Garfunkel, as their music was extensively used in the film and helped bring the group cultural success within the mainstream. It's ironic for Toru to not like the film as he has a lot in common with Ben, the protagonist of The Graduate.

Both Ben and Toru are disillusioned young adults who don't have a place in the world. both men also attempt to fill their meaningless lives with sex—Ben with Mrs.Robinson, a close neighbor he's known since he was a boy, and Toru with the many women he sleeps with in part due to his friend Nagasawa's help. Both also finally find meaning in their dreadful lives due to a woman they madly fall in love with, Naoko in Toru's case and Elaine, Mrs.Robinson's daughter, in Ben's.

However, Ben takes a bit more of a passive role. He chases Elaine all the way to Berkeley, California after she moves away for college, attempting to prove his love and adoration for her despite all the people within their family forbidding their relationship from transpiring, mostly due to Mrs.Robinson's affair coming to light. Although Toru does visit Naoko while she's in the care of a mental hospital, he makes no attempt to stay there as long as he could, returning to his mundane life after some time. Ben also heavily loves Elaine due to her being the first person he shares a genuine, personal connection with, and not for superficial reasons like his sexual desire for Mrs.Robinson. Even after their genuine heart-to-hearts, Toru is left with a throbbing memory of Naoko's pleasing body as a memento from their time together at the hospital.

Murakami and The Graduate also share a connection through their use of popular music. Prior to The Graduate, pop music in film was sparsely used, often seen as cheap or simply piss-poor if use was attempted. Only smaller filmmakers attempted to break these industry rules, such as pioneering queer filmmaker Kenneth Anger. It wasn't until The Graduate where pop music in film went mainstream due to the film's heavy use of Simon and Garfunkel music. Murakami essentially does the same thing with his constant allusions to musicians and music he finds enjoyment from. Both The Graduate and Murakami helped reinforce pop music's use in art, as a tool that helps establish the audience to the cultural zeitgeist that the artists had found themselves within the time their work inhabited. 

-DK