"Just one word: plastic."

The following is seen on the dvd for The Graduate

"Just one word: plastic."

And in reviews of The Graduate.

And I heard it on TV. And I still hear it on TV.

And I just viewed the dvd. And I vewed that part of the dvd again twice. And I still don't understand why that line was even in the film or why anyone ever repeated it on the cover of the dvd or in any review or on TV. I just don't get it.

Ben has just graduated from college, gotten a nice Alfa Romeo sports car as a graduation present, and now the adults want him to immediately settle down to a 40-plus year career in plastics. The young man has been sheltered his whole life, living in a scuba-diving suit as it were, and the thought of immediately settling into a cradle-to-grave career now that he's an adult is ludicrous.