Dead Poets Society

Neil has never heard an uplifting story about war, so in his mind anyone who joins the army is giving up their life. This idea is confirmed by the birch bark box that Neil gives to both his parents. This box could symbolize a coffin, showing that Neil truly is afraid of losing his father. He wants to make sure that he gets the box before leaving for the army, so that he has it with him when he dies. The box is mentioned at the end of the story, when Neil says that the family picture taken before his father left still remins in the box, suggesting that Neil’s fears become a reality. These two symbols show Neil’s lack of knowledge about war, and explain why he acts the way he does; he thinks that his father signing up for the army means that he will never see him again.

Sociology is defined as a “systematic study of human society” (Macionis 583). The 1989 film Dead Poets Society features multiple sociological themes and issues. The main themes shown in this film are deviance and role conflict. These themes do not apply to every character, some characters even show neither of these theme, but with the main characters there is multiple examples provided through their lives.

In both Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society, the nature of father and son relationships are dependant on communication, the level of compromise that each is willing to give, and how each respond to one another. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the village of Umuofia is a place where men are no less than warriors, and must fight for their social status. In the movie, Dead Poets Society, Welton is a strict school that has set rules that shall be followed, and if disobeyed, the students will face consequences. Both of these communities have a specific way of life, but both sons attempt to challenge society, and live their own way. However, their fathers are believers of their respective rules, and are ashamed

J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye is widely recognized as one of the most self-destructive novels ever written. The novel’s protagonist Holden Caulfield is known for his anti-social behavior and his self-loathing, self-isolating character in the book. Holden’s traits could widely be compared to Napoleon Dynamite the protagonist of the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite directed by Jared Hess. Napoleon is characterized by his clichéd “school nerd” behavior and of course his own self-isolating habit just like Holden. Like Holden, Napoleon tries to put down people to isolate him from others. But even though Holden and Napoleon are alike on how they assume the traits of the people they meet,

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the nineteenth century, once expresses his opinion on nonconformity when he wrote, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” His words express what many people have aspired to be. These words from Ralph Waldo Emerson highlight the idea of nonconformity which is one of the main pillars of the . Humans, having naturally social instincts, find it challenging to risk going against the crowd for fear of isolation, so Transcendental ideas can be difficult to execute amid the pressures of society. Ideas from this movement, particularly nonconformity, are some of the main themes in Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir. While Neil’s character in Dead Poets Society initially displays characteristics of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Transcendentalist ideas from “Self-Reliance,” he fails to continue his Transcendental endeavors proving that while Transcendentalism is possible, society ultimately causes individuals to conform.

Neil Perry is also a troubled young man within himself because he doesn’t want to conform to the life his father wants for him. Neil wants to be his own person and to the things he likes to do but he is afraid to stand up to his father. His father is a phony conformist such as Holden describes his father in Catcher in the Rye. Neil’s father makes him quit the school paper because one of his teachers wants him to, when Neil tries to stand up for himself, his father scolds him and tells him when he graduates medical school he can do what he wants, until then, he must obey what his father tells him. When he does finally do what he wants, when he finally incorporates the ‘’carpe diem’’ phrase into his life and made the decision for himself to act in the play, his father decides to take him out of Welton and send him to military school. Neil felt the only to break his father’s shackles was to kill himself. I think that Neil felt that he couldn’t bare

Neil Perry only wanted to be an actor, but his father wanted him to go to Harvard and become a doctor. Neil was able to get a led role in a play without his father finding out until the night before the play. As the play ended Neil's father took him away. That night Neil knew he could never be freed from his father, so he shot himself in his father's office. Although Neil's dark side was not as bad as Gene, he did what every person is afraid of and that was death. No one wanted death or wanted death for anyone else but, in the movie it was thought to be his only

Individualism refers to the pursuit of individual rather than common interests, otherwise, egoism. In the novella, “Anthem”, Equality 7-2521 is constantly persecuted by the society that he has lived and grown up in for twenty years. Likewise, Neil from Dead Poet’s Society has grown up under the oppression of his father, whom never allowed Neil to make his own decisions. Both characters faced many obstacles to reach what they considered to be a happy life, but they both eventually escape their lives of oppression and persecution by different means. Equality 7-2521 (or Prometheus) and Neil were both unfairly held back and persecuted by their leaders.

Later that night, in the scene of the suicide, Mr. Perry sees his son on the floor, the camera angled downwards towards Neil. This portrays him as vulnerable and insignificant after taking his own life, as if his father has finally realised how helpless his son was. Neil’s suicide was ultimately an amalgamation of the pressures to conform being imposed on him by Welton Academy and his father, as well as the oppression of his freedom. Similarly, Billy’s suicide was instigated by the pressures to conform being imposed on him by Nurse Ratched and his mother throughout his life.

Dead Poets Society is a movie set in the 1950 s But filmed in 1989 .Although it is set on the 50s the movie talks and is able to get through transcendentalist ideals to the viewer . The movie is set in a boy’s only private school called Walton that sends its graduates to Ivy league colleges. Where Mr. Keating is the new English teacher were he introduces non conformity and transcendentalism to his students. In the movie each boy has a scene where he breaks out of his norm becomes and a nonconformist. The movie also relates to transcendentalist poetry like Emily Dickson work And Walt Whitman especially in his poems in “song of myself. “ So Transcendentalism connects to

The Dead Poets Society focuses on society’s oppression and how it affects individuals. There are many sociological factors that are seen in this movie such as, strain theory, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory. This movie opens people’s viewpoints of life and brings them to a new perspective by showing these sociological factors and how they take place.

Neil is presented as an aspiring young boy with the goal of becoming a doctor, or so it would seem. Later we find out that Neil’s true dream is to become an actor. It is Neil’s father who wants him to become a doctor. A great portion of the movie is taken up by this conflict of ideas. Tom Perry represents the conformity in Neil’s life and acting and the Dead Poets Society represent his outreach to individuality. Neil struggles direly to fulfil his own needs but in the end he is smothered by his fathers closed minded insistence that he drops his own interests in the name of sensibility. This represents that in the case of Neil conformity was far more powerful than individuality, as he is driven to death by the

The Perrys apparently are not a particularly rich family, and the parents sacrificed a lot to have their son go to a prestigious prep school, of which Neil is almost constantly reminded when meeting with his father. Anything that stands in the way of Neil becoming a doctor is unacceptable to his father. Even seeing his son perform wonderfully in a Shakespearean play does not change his mind, as he prepares to withdraw Neil from Hilton and send him to a military academy to ensure his medical career. Neil, who never finds in himself the ability to confront his father to defend his own interests and beliefs, commits suicide.

Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence. Those are the four pillars in the film The Dead Poets Society, which takes place at Welton Academy, a prep school located in Vermont, 1959. The Headmaster of the school is Mr. Nolan, who is very strict and traditional leader. The film focuses around a group of boys that attend Welton, who later reinstate the Dead Poets Society (DPS). The boys are Neil Perry, Todd Anderson, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Pitts, Meeks, and Knox Overstreet. Two of the lead boys are Neil Perry and Todd Anderson. Another main character is Mr. Keating, who is the new poetry teacher at Welton Academy. He encourages his students to become their own individuals and seize the day. Mr. Keating is an alumni of Welton. When the boys find his old yearbook, they discover that he was in the Dead Poets Society, which leads them to confront him on what it is. Mr. Keating reveals that it was made by people dedicated to sucking the marrow out of life, that they would read poetry together and let it drip from their tongues like honey. The boys decide to start their own DPS. Neil is a very outspoken and charismatic boy, who is the leader of the DPS. Todd, Neil’s roommate, is very quiet and shy. Each boy struggles with individuality. Both of them are very dynamic, changing drastically throughout the film. The Dead Poets Society focuses on the social issue of personal voice and independance and how gaining it or losing is can change a person.

Many poets and directors believe in the concept of living life to the fullest. In this quote, by Sir Henry David Thoreau, he shows that we should live life to its fullest and make sure we make our mark while we still can, so people remember us. In the Movie," Dead Poets Society," a group of students from the Welton Prep School are moved by the teachings of their English teacher, Professor Keating. He teaches the boys to be their own boss, leaders and not followers. This quote relates to the movie because this quote tells what Keating wants to teach his kids. Many events take place during the movie that asks whether or not Professor Keating's teaching are appropriate, it is also questionable whether or not he