This movie was very artsy and had a lot of implications. One of the main reasons that interested me in this movie was the concepts on education and how try to make individuals in a school setting is looked badly upon, while conformity is what is seen as to be the perfect model. It also tackles big issues such as suicide, family issues, problems with wealth, and, of course, education.
The story begins in an academy for boys somewhere in the U.S. It starts off mainly by showing the main principles of the school. These four principles (tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence) are what create the school into what it is. The story follows the english class which has recently acquired a new teacher, John Keating (played by Robin Williams). Mr. Keating used to be a student at the academy and therefore knows the workings of the school and what usually occurs there. There are many different characters in Mr. Keating's class. Neil Perry, played by Robert Sean Leonard, is the leader of a group of boys. Perry usually does not have a good academic record, but has plenty of extracurricular activities which he gets banned from doing by his father. Todd Anderson, played by Ethan Hawke, is a shy young boy who must live up to his older brother's image. Todd's older brother was valedictorian at the academy a few years prior. Knox Overstreet, played by Josh Charles, is a boy who is generally shy around women. The story follows the class as the boys learn valuable life lessons and accomplish tasks that they thought they could never do. |  |
The story begins with the group of boys being introduced to the school that is enriched in tradition. They then get to meet their new English teacher, Mr. Keating. The boys are obviously not used to a many of Mr. Keating's nature, because it takes them a while to take him completely seriously. Mr. Keating begins his class by giving a speech basically about a poem 'Oh Captain, My Captain' and how if the class dares, they may call Mr. Keating 'Oh Captain, My Captain.' It also then goes to another lecture in which Mr. Keating asks the class to rip out the introduction of their english books. The point of this was to get the point across that poetry should not be analysed excessively to the point that it is dry and boring, but instead poetry should be felt as the authors wanted. Mr. Keating's main messages in class would always try and make the student's see life in a different perspective. He did this one time by having the students stand on his desk in order to see the classroom from a different angle. He also taught lessons of nonconformity. He did this by having three students walk around in a circle and led the boys in a clap to the beat of the boys walking. He then turned around and showed how conformist they all were. He pointed out that the three boys rapidly synchronised their steps even though it was never asked of them to do it. Mr. Keating also wouldn't let the other boys say that 'oh I wouldn't have done that if it was me,' by showing them that they too had conformed by joining in on the clapping to the beat. He made them aware how easy it was to conform to the needs of society.
Mr. Keating's unorthodox ways of teaching led the students to like his class. They even went out of their way to try and find any information they could about Mr. Keating in the old records of the school. By doing this they found out he belonged to the Dead Poet's Society. On questioning Mr. Keating, he replied that the society was top secret and he would only reveal it to them if they would keep it hidden. He told them of how the society was based off reading poetry and gaining much pleasure in learning about love and other much things. In fact Mr. Keating describes the society's main purpose to be to take the meaning out of life. On this Mr. Keating told them of the secret location they usually held their meetings and also slipped Neil Perry the sacred book that they used. Later on the boys would go to the meeting place, a cave near a river, at night and hold their first ever Dead Poet's Society meeting. From here they learn to become individuals and to not allow authority to control them. From Mr. Keating's teachings, and the ideas presented during the society meetings the boys grew into extraordinary individuals.
Knox Overstreet is taken to a dinner party where he meets the perfect girl for him. Instead of being shy about it like he normally would, Overstreet goes to her school and reads her poetry and does everything he can to try and woe her even though she has a boyfriend. Overstreet would never have done anything like this if he hadn't had met Mr. Keating. Neil Perry decides to not listen to his father and enrols in "A Midsummer's Night Dream." Perry follows his dream of acting and ends up being a phenomenal actor. Neil's dad finds out though and decides that enough is enough and that he will be taking Neil out of the academy and into military school. Due to this harsh decision Neil decides to end his life. With this tragic moment the school points all fingers at Mr. Keating and his unorthodox teachings and has him booted from the school. During his moment of leaving is when the last character learns his lesson. As Mr. Keating is leaving the classroom, Todd gains selfcourage and disobeys authority and stands on his desk and says 'Oh Captain, My Captain,' referring to Mr. Keating. As Todd is being yelled at by the headmaster, Todd refuses to listen and gives respect to Mr. Keating by not conforming. Eventually a number of the boys follow Todd and also join in to respect Mr. Keating and his teachings. All in all the lesson of the day was to not conform to society and to instead be your own special individual.
This movie has a lot of interesting aspects to it. One of the main aspects that I noticed is the drama within the family structure. The families portrayed in the movie are all upper class and are therefore very wealthy. But even though they have tons of money they do not spend any time with their kids. Instead they push them off to an academy and only look for them on special occasions. This makes it so that the kids do not grow up in a loving environment and have to fend for themselves. I think this is one of the worst things that could happen to a child. Children need parents to help them survive. They need the love of the parents and the knowledge that the parents are there to help them in any way. Without this knowledge the kids are forced to rely on each other which is not always the best thing to do. This causes the children to rely on other children who also may not have any idea what they are doing. This in the end could not be a very good thing for the children.
Another idea that is brought upon is suicide. I personally still don't understand the stigma behind suicides. Yes it hurts the family and all of that, but in the end is it not the person's right to decide when they should leave the planet? Who are we to force someone to live a miserable life if they want to end it? Yes, it is true that some people grow out of the depression, but I still don't see the consequences in allowing suicides to occur. In either case, I think the way the suicide is handled was very poor of the academy. It was obvious that the academy was looking for any excuse to punish Mr. Keating and took this opportunity to let him go. They did not see how much he was allowing the students to grow and become individuals. Instead all they saw was that Mr. Keating was putting 'bad' ideas into the heads of the children and that it should not be allowed. I personally would put the blame on the father of Neil who refused to let his child have a little fun before he was forced to go into real life. Neil was getting very good marks and was also very good at his extracurriculars. I would assume most parents should be happy that their child can handle these pressures, but instead Neil's father gets irritated. Maybe it is because his father is jealous that Neil gets to plan his own life, or maybe it is due to the fact that his father is just a cruel man, but in the end I blame the father for the suicide, not Mr. Keating.
The last topic I will discuss is the ideas on education. The academy seems to portray what most education schools are like nowadays. The students sit down and the teachers try and force knowledge upon them. The teachers try and make the students into a group and have them fit into what society wants them to be. They basically teach conformity. Mr. Keating was basically punished because he was asking his students to think for themselves. He wanted the children to allow their thoughts to flow freely and to always ask why. To not let any concept go unquestioned. To not let any conformist activity to go unnoticed. In essence he taught Carpe Diem, sieze the day. And through this his students grew to be able to accomplish things they would not have been able to do in the past. Neil, with the acting; Todd, with the standing up to authority; and Knox, with woeing a girl. I personally enjoyed the ways that Mr. Keating taught and hope to follow in his footprints.
As to how good this movie was. I personally enjoyed it very much and would recommend it mainly to other educators and also to students. I think the concepts portrayed in this film are vital to allowing a child to grow.
-Aram the Garmo
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