The Dead Poets Society

methods, he inspired his students to be themselves and act like individuals. He teaches them to

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.

He was a young boy, probably only sixteen at the time. He had everything going for him. He was on his way to becoming a doctor, he had friends who cared about him, he attended a prestigious preparatory academy. In short, he was successful--or so every body thought until that fateful winter night. Because on that night, tragedy struck. On that night, Neil Perry committed suicide.

Keating is trying to show the boys that they need to see life in their own perspective and do what they want to do instead of conforming to what everyone else is doing. Charlie, one of Mr. Keating’s students, takes he’s advice a little too far. He starts putting read lines on his face, drinking, smoking, and bringing girls to their meetings. He makes the biggest change out of all the boys, and ends up getting expelled from school. On the contrary, Neal takes his advice and actually goes out, seizes the day, and live how he really wants to live. Sadly, this leads to a negative effect even though it starts out positive. Neal commits suicide since his father’s pressure doesn’t allow him to break from the conformity of society. Emerson says “Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide” and Neal proves this is true. If Neal could break away from the conformity of society he would become a better him, and had been able to live a life instead of take his away.

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.

The central lesson that can be learned from this movie is that the choices you make dictate the life we live. Any choice you make or action you take make you become the person you are. You can become whatever you want to become if you put your mind and heart into it. Or just have to look within and take your determination to its fullest capability and reaching your

Throughout the movie, Dead Poets Society, the phrase carpe diem, which mean "seize the day", is frequently said. Seizing the day does not mean to act recklessly, yet to live the life desired. If taken advantage of or misunderstood, carpe diem can cause severe consequences that cannot be avoided.

“In my class you will learn to think for yourself again” (Dead Poets Society). Mr.Keating tells the boys this in the film “Dead Poets Society” on their first day in his class. “Dead Poets Society” is a movie that is about a teacher (Mr.Keating) that teaches a class and it inspires them to seize the day and follow their own path but it's not as easy as it sounds, not many teachers agree with Mr.Keating’s teachings and nor do all the boys and it shows a small group of boys come out of there shells and sprout their wings and their struggles along the way.

A movie by Tom Schulman, “The Dead Poets Society” is about an all prepatory school called the “Welton Academy”. Students at this academy are always exploring the conflicts of realism and romanticism as these contrasting ideas are being taught to them by their English teacher Mr. Keating. Mr. Keating teaches the boys that art and literature should be used for inspiration to achieve in life and not to conform which leds to the story being categorized as a transcendentalist story. Without Mr. Keating the whole story would become realism and would be considered an anti-transcendentalist story.

In the first clip of the movie, “The Dead Poet Society,” we enter a scene where the students are discussing the actions taking place at the school in which Mr. Keating is involved in and what the school administrators are saying happened. A student, Cameron, discussing that he had told the school what they wanted to hear, and the students that he told did not take it well. I first see examples of Kohlberg’s Levels of Morality when student A only shows concern for himself, not for any of the other student’s or his teacher, Mr. Keating. This example shows Preconventional Moral Reasoning, this stage emphasizes rewards and punishments. What I saw, was Level 1 Stage 1: Concern for self.

Movies around the world are a great type of entertainment. Through them, directors are able to convey their moods, thoughts, and beliefs to sculpt their masterpiece for the overal enjoyment of the public. Writers, too, have been able present this through the syntax of thier poems. ' Dead Poets Society' is one of these movies that has been made to present thoughts and worldly themes. In the 'Dead Poets Society', the theme of 'society has influence on how one should be' is also present in the poem "Mirror".

Neil's father comes in and the camera goes into a low angle one, looking down

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.

Life should be lived like every day is someone's last and never regret anything because they might only get that opportunity once so, take it while you have the chance. Mr. Keating was trying to live life and be happy. Also, he tried to make school fun for his students. In the film he

Knox Overstreet is a young man going to Welton School. He is a part of the newly developed extracurricular group, “Dead Poets Society.” During his school, he stays on a campus of a college prep school, but is able to come home when needed. During the first part of the movie, Knox has a dinner invitation with his family at the Danbury house. As he knocks on the door, The Beautiful Kris Danbury opens the door, and locks up Knox’s heart.