'AMERICAN GRAFFITI' AND 'MOBY DICK' - IS THERE A CONNECTION?

Suzanne Somers as the mysterious blonde in a white Thunderbird in American Graffiti

It's hard to believe that it was 52 years ago that American Graffiti was released. The film created a sensation and put the film's director and co-writer George Lucas on the map where he has prominently remained ever since.

Set in late summer 1962 in Modesto, California, the film follows a group of teenagers as they cruise around in their cars all night. Two the of the teenagers (Steve and Curt, played by Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss, respectively) are scheduled to fly East to college the next morning. Early in the film, while his car is for a moment idle at a stoplight, Curt sees a beautiful blonde in a white Thunderbird (performed by Suzanne Sommers). She apparently mouths the words "I love you" to Curt and then drives off. Curt immediately becomes obsessed by the stunning vision and spends a good portion of the rest of the night trying to find the breathtaking blonde.

In fact, Curt becomes obsessed with finding the woman to the point where he might not get on the plane to fly East for college (he has some ambivalence about leaving anyway). Ultimately, with some prompting from no less than Wolfman Jack, Curt does take his seat on the plane.

Left to right - Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Martin Smith and Ron Howard in American Graffiti

I have watched the film a number of times and have recently wondered if American Graffiti has some thematic similarity with the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Captain Ahab was obsessed with trying to find the white whale Moby Dick. The obsession is clearly unhealthy and he refuses to let go of it, destroying him and virtually everyone else around him. Curt lets go of his obsession with the blonde (basically a woman with white hair) and the white Thunderbird and flies off into the wider world with the implication that his personality and life will grow with the new experiences.

-Paul Hansen