Examples Of Social Psychology In Dead Poets Society

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.

Identify the movie by stating its title, the year it was released, the name of the director, where the story is set, and the time period in which the story takes place.

"The Dead Poets Society" is an awe inspiring film set in the 1950s about a teacher who went against the grain and taught his high school students to think for themselves and not allow their attitudes and behavior to be constrained by conformity by older generations. In our class lectures/discussions, we have touched on many aspects of human culture and communication and this movie illustrates many of these concepts. Perspectives, gender, communication theories, persuasion, language, verbal and nonverbal communication, interpersonal relationships, public speaking, intercultural communication--these are all included and exemplified in this film.

First off, Ray Bradbury wrote a variety of Social Commentary into his book, Fahrenheit 451. The first sign in the book that something was wrong with this society was when Montag’s wife had overdosed. She was listening to the Seashells and watching the T.V. and those things brainwash everybody into thinking about how society is supposed to be. She is brainwashed and had forgotten about taking pills so she had overdosed before. Bradbury wrote, “... In her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight… An instant before his foot hit the object on the floor, he knew he would hit such an object” (12). He tells of how Montag found his wife on the bed. Dead and with pills on the ground, overdosing and not realizing it because she was so tranced with the radios in her ears. Then later, Clarisse does a whole social justice speech on how school and the people in it are, which is relatable to today’s way of school life to some extent. She says, “Oh, they don’t miss me… I’m antisocial, they say. I don’t mix… I’m very social… It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn’t it?... Being with people is nice. But I don’t think it’s social to get a bunch of people together and not let them talk, do you? An hour of Tv class, an hour of basketball or baseball or painting pictures… we never ask questions, or at least most don’t; they just run the answer at you… That’s not social to me at all… But everyone I know is either shouting or dancing around like wild or beating up one another. Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays?” (29-30). She goes on about how school life was for others and how the people were. It was an image of how teen life was. Effectively, this shows the variety of Social Commentary within the book.

“Why fit in when you were taught to Stand Out!!” -Dr.Suess. Individualism is greatly discussed by many viewpoints, many for it, as well as against it. “Dead Poets Society” is a film that shows why individualism is needed in our society. Another great example is “What to a slave is the Fourth of July” -Frederick Douglass. Individualism is a great deal in the world, and people should understand what it is like to be an Individual to see that the world wouldn’t be the same if everyone was alike. People should know that we are all meant to be our own person in life and if we were all the same as everyone else in society, the world would be dry and lame.

There are many ways to interpret a book, one can read it as a character’s adventure, a conflict of ideas or emotions, or a story. For myself, I read the books, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville, in an ironic sense; and while doing this, I noticed that both books showed an intuitive sense of sociology. Furthermore, what mattered most by reading the books ironically is that it is easy to see the outcome of a situation which is pleasing to be conscious of. It is easy to see the outcome of a situation because when one is paying attention to a character, one’s attention is toward a character, except when one’s attention is on an entire situation, one’s attention is on the flow of events and then the

How does one take young minds that are caged by their conformity to the uniform standards and turn them into independent and free-thinking intellectuals? This is the challenge that Mr. Keating in faces as he begins his first year teaching at an all-boys prep school. In Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir, Mr. Keating helps many of his students, including Todd Anderson and Neil Perry, break free from their conventional morals and begin to take their lives into their own hands. This philosophy, called Transcendentalism, establishes the individual as the most intellectual. By requiring students to look for new perspectives and stand up for their own beliefs, he is able to transform their thinking from objective to subjective. Mr.

“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members” (Emerson 369). From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” the saying explains how society wants every individual to conform to its beliefs and expectations. In addition, our manhood is the capability to have our own opinions and beliefs. Individualism is a major theme of Transcendentalism, which is a part of romanticism and combines not only literature and philosophy, but also religion. Some additional focuses of Transcendentalism are the belief that an Oversoul exists, that the individual is the center of the universe, that one should involve themselves in civil disobedience, and that self reliance is better than dependence. With that, the followers consist of mainly fierce abolitionists. This movement only lasted ten years, but its influences are apparent today. Furthermore, Transcendentalism is represented in the movie Dead Poets Society. It occurs at Welton Academy, an all boys school, when a new teacher, Mr. John Keating, takes the place of the retired English teacher. He is witty, heartwarming, and inspirational, and has many unorthodox teaching methods compared to the other teachers but the administration is not happy with him. Mr. Keating assists his students, especially Neil Perry, a boy who values independence and leadership, with the pressures of life and school. He encourages them to pursue their true dreams, not their parent’s dreams for them, and to seize the day. The

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.

In dead poets society the school setting is displayed as a strict and unfriendly place where student’s individuality is oppressed. The school immediately gives the impression of being highly traditionalistic from the first scene. It opens with the start of a new school year and new boys are being initiated into the school through a ceremony involving the lighting of a candle. The candle’s flame represents traditionalistic conformist views being passed down to the new students from a previous student, showing that new knowledge is not considered of value by the school. After this ceremony Mr Nolan is scene making a speech about why tradition is important to the school. We see in this scene that the conformity has a strong, suffocating grasp on this

In “Dead Poets”, the major theme was around conformity with all the boys in the prep wearing their uniform, with the same haircuts. Furthermore the fact that all their parents where living through their kids making them go to prep school to prepare for an ivory league university and career was conformity. The second theme was peer pressure with the fact that none of them wanted to work

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

     The movie The Dead Poet Society, even further exemplifies the statement that conformity and tradition defy individualism. In the story, the students have a