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Dead Poets Society a movie released in 1989 represents the problems with privet education in the late 1950’s. John Keating a new Teacher at Welton Academy, a private school for boys challenges the “the four pillars of; tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence” (Schulman) Welton has instilled in their students for one hundred years. Keating dares his students not to conform, but rather “to find their own voice before it is lost forever” (Schulman). Dead Poets Society points out the conformity many male students faced in private schools as well as in their personal lives during the late 1950’s. The main student character Neil Perry, along with Mr. Keating’s character shows the challenges those who dared to be different faced.
John Keating a former student of Welton is well aware of the expectations and traditions set forth by the Welton administration. However we see on the first day of class his teaching methods are very different from what Welton expects. While other teachers have students reciting Latin phrases over and over or impressing upon the students just how important the course work is, Keating takes his class on a trip to show them the students who came before them. He tells his students how these men seized the day and urged them to do the same “Here, Keating explained his core philosophy to his students – to contribute a meaningful verse, so that when it came time for them to die they would not discover they had not lived” (Dead Poets Society: The Death of a Romantic ). During the next class meeting Keating one of his students read the introduction to the textbook, which tells students how the use the Prichard Scale to rate poetry. By using two questions which rate the poems perfection and importance, plotting th...
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...d conformity; he allowed his students their right to discover who they are, never was there a lesson taught by him that did not cover more than just the outlined curriculum Keating wanted his students to “contribute a verse” and “to find their own voice before it is lost forever” (Schulman).
Works Cited
n.d. Academy of American Poets. .
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Dead Poets Society - Learn from the Masters (#2). n.d. .
Dead Poets Society. Dir. Thomas H. Schulman. 1989.
John Keating. 2005. .
Studymode.com. n.d. .
White, Robert. Rebirth of Reason. n.d. .
The movie, Dead Poets Society truly captures the essence of the conformities that children are facing. The difference is letting the hourglass run out of time, or making the best of time, facing tough challenges along the way. Todd Anderson makes the best out of his time thanks to the teaching of Mr. Keating, his beloved English teacher. From a misunderstood adolescent to a courageous man, Todd shows his true colors and releases the inferior thoughts stirring up in his developing, young body. In the end, romanticism crushes idealism with power and envy, showing the eye-opening ways that a teacher can contribute to such a tightly wound academy such as Welton.
After seeing the film, Dead Poets Society, the watcher will easily pick up on Transcendental idea’s whether they know it or not. If the viewer is watching this movie for educational purposes or entertainment, it overall demonstrates to the audience many strong ideas that these common writers emphasizes greatly throughout their writing through Mr. Keatings methods of teaching. Lesson’s of three common Transcendental writers, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman are taught both directly and subtly by the influential teacher, Mr. Keating. The lessons taught not only impact the boys during the film, but it changes their mindset for the rest of their lives and the audiences. Keating was prosperous in establishing the theories of the writers inside the boys minds which impacted all aspects of their lives for the better.
Director Peter Weir, director of The Truman Show, presents the importance of individuality and speaking up in his movie Dead Poets Society, a fictional but realistic story that tells the story of a group of friends at the Wellington Academy prep school and their interactions with their new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams). Keating teaches the boys life lessons through some interesting teaching methods that end up changing his students’ approach to life’s challenging situations. Throughout watching Dead Poets Society, I found myself liking the movie more and more as it progressed.
“Dead Poet’s Society” is a film set in the late fifties at a prestigious school for boys called the Welton Academy. The story focuses on an unorthodox English teacher and his impact upon his students, especially a group of seven boys. The primary focus of this film, in my opinion, is the theme of coming of age. The film itself highlights many important and relevent issues that teenagers face in the process of trying to find out who they are as a person. The students are constantly pressured to conform by adults throughout most of the film. Although these adults are only trying to help the boys, it is important that they figure themselves out and develop their own way of thinking. When the boys realize this, they grow up themselves. The character of Todd is a fantastic example of this. Throughout most of the film, this shy boy is ultimately unwilling and reluctant to go against what he is told. When Neil commits suicide, he begins to see the world in a very different way and understands that sometimes questioning the decisions and regulations accepted by society is necessary.
The teen boys in the Dead Poets Society have to deal with a lot of different things but one thing the boys have to deal with a lot of is coping with their intruding parents. One of the students has to deal with their parents always comparing him to his older brother. Apparently Todd Anderson’s older brother was quite a big deal a Welton Academy and made a big name for the family. Todd has to try and live up to the standards of his family, but also wants to be able to live the life he wants to live. Another student that deals with intruding parents is Neil Perry.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Dead Poet Society explore the struggle for independence through characters who are subject to an environment in which they are rewarded for their conformity. Dead Poet Society outlines the complications of young students at Welton Academy after a respected English teacher named Mr. Keating inspires them to seize the day. However, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest explore the events that transpire in a mental institute after an exceedingly ‘difficult’ patient arrives and the impact this has on Chief Bromden. Both texts critically explore the struggle for independence.
The characters in "The Dead Poet’s Society" were very unique. Mr Keating was a very round character. He has a very unique way of teaching the class about poetry. Mr. Keating had went to the same school he is teaching in now. Knox was flat. He had problems with his dad. Todd was flat. He was on Mr. Keating’s side when the school tried to fire him. Cameron was dynamic. He went with the crowd. If a group of kids did one thing then he would follow right behind.
The arrival of new teacher and former Welton graduate, Mr. Keating, allows the students to depart from their known world of conformity and explore their own creative paths. This discovery of a new perspective allows the boys to reconsider what is known, and rebel against the controlling forces of their parents and the school. The use of contrast between the strictness of the other teachers and the relaxed atmosphere of Mr. Keating’s classes is a distinctive technique used throughout the film. This relaxed atmosphere allows Neil Perry to realise his passion for acting, the significant experience which triggers his discovery of self. Mr. Keating forces the boys to view things from a new perspective literally, in the scene in which he makes them stand on their desk.
The film Dead Poets Society (1989) is about an English teacher, by the name of John Keating, who is new to an all boy’s preparatory school Welton Academy. Keating uses unorthodox methods, which clash with the old traditions of Welton, to teach and connect with his students dealing with the pressures and values placed on them by their families and school. With his help, inspiration and guidance, two students Todd Anderson and Neil Perry, along with their classmates, learn to break from the norm to pursue their dreams and “seize the day”. Dead Poets Society is an artistic interpretation of the communication theory “Generalized other”. As we grow and develop we learn to take on the roles, culture and values that society sets for us.
The audience is positioned in Keating’s class to share the view of the students, and close ups shots of individual students show them listening but not with the boredom shown in other classes, but with enthusiasm and optimism. This use of camera angles also allows insight into the way Keating sees his pupils, positioning himself on a level of mutual respect. In the first lesson of Keating’s class he introduces the idea of freedom to think as an individual when he declares mathematically analysing a poem is “excrement”. Keating says this because he does not believe in constructing a poem using maths and teaching how to write it, because you can’t teach poetry, it comes from the heart. Following this, he encourages the students to rip the first chapter from their poetry books, an act symbolic of free thinking.
He really reached out to all of his students and changed them in a way that a not all teachers can change their students. His goal as a teacher was to teach his students to live life with absolute passion, and to do so, he used poetry. Mr. Keating had the strongest impact on 7 boys in particular who attended his english class. Their names were Todd Anderson,
In the movie, Professor Keating tells his students that “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas change the world”. Professor
Film Review of Dead Poets Society Dead Poets Society explores the conflict between realism and romanticism as these contrasting ideals are presented to the students at an all boys preparatory school. Welton Academy is founded on tradition and excellence and is bent on providing strict structured lessons prescribed by the realist, anti-youth administration. John Keating is a new English teacher with a passion for poetry. When he returns to his own strict childhood school to teach, his unconventional methods quickly prove to be inspirational to a group of students. He inspires them to pursue their desires and live life to the fullest.
Dead Poets Society, a movie set in Welton Academy, a rigorous and elite all-boys private school, brings to life the philosophy of transcendentalism through its characters. The philosophy, which believes a person needs to find their individual, unique self and not allow the conformist ways of society to hamper the ability to have self-reliance, is introduced by Mr. Keating, the new English teacher who, through his distinctive teaching methods, exemplifies the transcendentalist idea and breathes life into it. His personification of this philosophy is not only readily welcomed by the boys, but acted upon, consequently impacting his students in a profound manner.
The Dead Poet’s Society is about an English teacher who is introduced to Welton Academy which is known for its high standards and traditions. John Keating, the English teacher’s teaching actually go against the school’s beliefs. His teachings throughout the movie help the boys break out of their shells, help them break out of the pressures from the school and their family life and to pursue their dreams.