Medel

Mary Ann Medel

Prof Anna Melinda T. De Ocampo
English 10
November 10, 2015

What will your verse be?

In 1959, a group of seniors at Wellton Academy, the so-called best preparatory boarding
school in America, became intrigued with the unorthodox methods of teaching by new English
teacher, John Keatings. After learning that their new teacher is a member of a club named Dead
Poets Society, this group of seniors convened their own Dead Poets Society . What follows are
this groups journey to self-expression with Keatings encouragement to the seniors of Wellton
Academy to believe in themselves, to follow their dreams and to think freely. Written by Tom
Schullman and directed by Nick Weir, Dead Poets Society is a film that encouraged people to
follow their dreams has even inspired people to be teachers and has given the audience a
different perspective in teaching and free-thinking. But contrary to fact, this movie is not a
masterpiece some believes it to be, rather it is an above average attempt to showcase unorthodox
methods of teaching, poetry and free-thinking.
In the opening scenes of the film, the audience learns of Wellton Academys motto
or the four pillars of the Academy which is Tradition, Honor, Discipline and Excellence that
every student of the school must uphold. The group of students unconsciously tries break free

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from some of these through various. Throughout the film, Keating teaches the boys poetry in a
non-conventional manner, making them rip out pages from their textbook and kick footballs.
They broke curfew and unofficially created a group without permission of the administration of
Wellton Academy. One student, Dalton, writes and publishes an article about the non-admittance
of girls in Wellton Academy while another student, Neil, disregards his fathers wishes and
proceeds in doing what he wants. These are actions that show signs of non-conformity and
individuality.
Non conformity is walking to the beat of your own drums. At the start of the film, the
characters conform to the tradition and rules of the academy but we watch as they try to break
free from conformity. In the end, the film shows that if abrupt, non-conformity can lead to harm
like the discharge of Keating from the academy. It is a good attempt of writing non conformism
but the film only skimmed through the surface of the idea of non-conformity. Non conformity is
the deviation from a specification, a standard, or an expectation, this film downplays it at the end
where the boys eventually succumb to the administration and their parents wishes as they signed
the papers that will make Keating dismissed. Yes, at the end the remaining seniors may have
given a salute to Keating but it doesnt change the fact that they succumbed to the expectations
of the academys administration and had let Keating become the scapegoat.
Non Conformism also ties with Romanticism as Romanticism emphasized the
individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the
emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental. This in turn also dabbles into the opposite
movement against Romanticism which is Realism with it. In this film Keating became the
personification of the Romanticism movement that goes against the realist concrete walls that the

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group of seniors are caged upon. In fact, Keatings name itself is based on the name of the
famous romantic poet John Keats and Keatings most famous quotation seize the day is a
romantic term itself with it being used by various well known romantic poets such as Percy
Shelly and William Blake. John Keating becomes the personification of romanticism as
romanticism became the escape of this group of seniors cooped up within the realist world they
live upon. They let themselves indulge upon the idea of seizing the day but did not bother to of
the consequences of extreme romanticism such as Overstreets attempt to woo an already
unavailable girl, Daltons punching of fellow student Cameron while overwrought with morose,
fury and betrayal and Perrys defense to romanticism through suicide . This extremity in
romanticism can be explained through Keatings purely sentimental teachings. As he teaches
them romanticism because we must be passionate on everything we do, he failed to provide at
least a little bit of rationality in his teachings because passion is not the only reason why we live.
This flaw is also prevalent in his method of teaching. As he taught the seniors about
poetry, Keating surprisingly recites and discusses poetry based on his perception of it. He
adapted poems to suit his own taste and beliefs. Renowned movie critique, Roger Egbert wrote
for the New York Times:
None of these writers are studied, however, in a spirit that would lend respect to
their language; they're simply plundered for slogans to exort the students toward
more personal freedom. At the end of a great teacher's course in poetry, the
students would love poetry; at the end of this teacher's semester, all they really
love is the teacher.

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Also nothing about poetry was actually discussed rather it was like the subject became an
appreciation course for poetry. Another flaw in Keatings teaching is that he is biased towards his
romantic look in life. Instead being wise and teaching the seniors, Keating taught his students to
embrace romanticism as it will let them experience more freedom. As said by the website
Antiromantic.com, a website dedicated on the analysis of Dead Poets Society,
By ignoring the contrast between realism and romanticism, his teaching was
biased and aided his students in their indulgence into romanticism. From
Keatings students perspective, romanticism allowed far more freedom than
realism, and once they were confronted with an option of which to embrace,
romanticism became the compelling choice.
His teaching is flawed as he taught the class lessons in relation to romanticism. In teaching, one
must be impartial to any ideas in order to encourage the students to form their own opinions.
Teacher must be neutral and their work is only to lay the facts upon a table as their role is to
encourage critical thinking among the students and, with the facts and ideas laid down on a table,
for the students are to draw their own conclusion. This has been commented upon in an online
movie review by Kevin Dettmar, a college professor of Pomona University, for the magazine the
Atlantic:
For all his talk about students finding their own voice, however, Keating
actually allows his students very little opportunity for original thought. Its a
freedom thats often preached but never realized.
This is another failure of Keating as he failed to encourage his students to analyze the poem in
their own terms instead filling them with his own interpretation in an attempt to resonate with his
students.

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Also this film tends to recycle the stereotype on the characters. Perry is the honor student
with a hidden love of art, Dalton is the impulsive beatnik of the group, Anderson is the shy new
boy who eventually gains confidence toward the end and Keating is the new teacher that brings
forth ideas of romanticism to the seniors otherwise bleak school life. The film also lacks depth
in some of the characters introduced, especially with teacher John Keating. The film did not
reveal Keatings background and motives in teaching that would have made the public to
emphasize with him more. In the same review, Egbert wrote
There is also a curious lack of depth to his character compared with such
Another great movie teachers as Miss Jean Brodie and Professor Kingsfield.
Keating is more of a plot device than a human being.

A lot of characters become plot device in order to advance to the story. Also the characters are
very static as throughout the film their beliefs or their personality didnt change except for
Anderson and to a lesser extent Perry. Anderson can be considered as the films main character
as he is the one who have received significant characterizations. At first shy, he slowly gained
confidence through Keatings lessons and through socializing with his newly found friends. His
growth became apparent as he confronted Cameron in defense of Keating and as he initiated the
salute to Keating. Perry on a smaller scale learned to follow his dreams, which lead to a fall-out
with his one-dimensional domineering father and his suicide. The films characters had the
potential to be more sympathetic to the public but instead the characters ironically conformed to
the various film stereotypes.
Dead Poets Society, a film that has been voted as the greatest school film of all time in
an article of The Guardian in 2011, is noble in its attempt to inspire the audience to follow their
dreams and to appreciate poetry but has failed in terms of characterization and making their

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theme across. It is a film that though has charmed the hearts of the audience; it contains quite a
number of flaws and misconceptions. It is not particularly awful but compared to other films
such as Freedom Writers, A Separate Peace and Dangerous Mind, Dead Poets Society is
lackluster and its plot is burdened by mountains of sub plot. Although a lot would beg to differ,
Dead Poets Society is not a masterpiece; rather it is an above average attempt to showcase nonconformism and poetry.