In the
movie Dead Poets Society. Mr. Keating (Robin William's) Played a professor who is a, passionate, young, charismatic
teacher. He is characteristically
romantic, daring, magnetic, energetic, and motivating. He inspires his students “to get all out of
life” by telling them that the human race is filled with passion. In addition, although medicine, law,
business, and engineering are noble pursuits necessary to sustain life poetry,
beauty, romance, and love is what we stay alive for.. The school that this all took place in was
Welton academy in 1959. The educational
institution had four traditions: tradition, honor, discipline, and
excellence.
The first
day of class is always hard for students, the students came from other classes
like, Latin, Science, where the teachers were over strict, and inflexible, for
example, in science class the teacher said, You will have five projects a week,
and if you don’t turn them in it’s a zero…. The Latin teacher spoke in a
monotone voice and just expected his students to follow and to conform to his
style of teaching. Then the students
went to English class with Mr. Keating.
He strolls in whistling and all casual, I am sure the students must have
been so programmed with fear and uncertainty that the thought they did
something wrong.
Then all of
a sudden he tells them to open there Poetry book they all do, and he asks one
student to read, he reads it and Mr. Keating writes on the board what the
student is reading. Then, he does
something that he does through out the whole movie he shocks them. He tells them to rip out the page, then the
chapter, some must of thought he was crazy. And then he starts talking about poetry, and
says something that I believe influences them about poetry, "
Words and Ideas can change the world, …we live in a powerful play that
goes on and you may contribute a verse…."
Mr. Keating wants them to
experience life to the fullest. "carpe de um" seize the day…
He wants them to beak out of the
conformity and become individuals, If they are so
conformed to the school they will become like the teachers, cold and hard, with
no passion or own poetry in there lives.
The way the movie brings an example of breaking conformity, is when Neil
Perry decided to join a local play
without his strict fathers approval, His father, Mr. Perry, wants him to be a
doctor, and does not care what Neil wants.
The other students change as well, the restart the dead poet's society,
where they read poetry they have written and the great poets in a cave. They
would suck the marrow out and live the poems as if they would act. At the climax of the movie Neil in in the play and sees his father in the back of the
theater. He must of
felt his father had a change of heart, but it was the opposite. After the play, Mr. Perry tells Neil that he
will be removed from the school, and his friends, and enrolled in military
academy. This destroys Neil. He goes home and tries to tell his father his
plans. His father is still cold, and
rotten. Neil at a turning point of his life, feels that he has contributed his verse to the play of
life. Perhaps he feels that the school
needs an example of how free he now is.
So he decided to end his life.
Well it had the opposite effect on the school than he must of intended,
The school and the parents blame Mr. Keating, One by one those disciples of Mr.
Keating turn on there "Captain" Just like Peter denied Christ. The school fires Mr. Keating. In the last scene of the play, the students
are sitting in English class and Mr. Keating walks in to get his stuff. One by one they all stand on there desks
proving that they are still free thinkers even if they have to live under the restrictions of the school and there parents.
In
conclusion the movie "Dead Poets Society". Was an inspiring play, to quote from the
movie "Brave Heart", Uncompromising men are easy to admire" and
Mr. Keating and the students he influenced will never be the same.