Dead
Poets Society 1989
Directed
By: Peter Weir
Lauren
Potts
Simple and Good
Who would have thought poetry could free
the minds of you teen boys? We are told
to obey our parents but what if they don’t?
What if your parents want you to be a doctor but you want to be an
actor? Why should you obey them just because your parents tell you? Dead
Poets Society tries to free the minds of young teen boys on the brink of
manhood though the art of poetry through their teacher. Like Heathers
this movie deals with teen suicide, conformity and peer pressure.
In this prestigious boys academy, a
group of you men take a poetry class. In
this poetry class they are taught “carpe diem” size the day. With passion and conviction their teacher opens
his student’s minds to be the man that they want to be, instead of the man
their parents want them to be. Although Mr.
Keating (the teacher) gets through to the boys it isn’t enough for Neil Perry
who commits suicide because his parents want him to be a doctor but he desperately
wants to be an actor.
Neil’s parents like the other boys
parents are forcing them be things that they don’t want to be. Their parents are pushing them to conform to
society, instead of living for what they want to do. A lawyer, doctor, and scientist are just a
few professions that seem to be socially actable to the parents in this film. They did not question what their children want
to do with their life. They merely put pressure on them to succeeded,
which proved to be too much for Neil.
The boys in this film are able to
learn to have a voice and to stand up for what they believe. Like any great battle causalities happen,
Neil was one, but the rest of the can choose to live for themselves instead of
living for their parents.
When
the teacher and the boys are in the classroom many different shots are
used. When Mr. Keating first looks into
the room it is a close up, in that shot he has a slight grin on his face
alluding that he is excited to teach. In
one sequence a tilt is used to show new information. Mr. Keating asks the boys to stand on top of
his desk for them to see that there is always another view of things. In another scene when Mr. Keating is reading
poetry to the boys, an over-the-shoulder shot is used, in this shot you can see
the passion Mr. Keating has for poetry. In the very beginning of the movie the establishing
shot is a church filled with people at a ceremony, the boys are goofing off and
the adults are listening with great intent. This sets the tone of the movie
showing the inner battle that the boys and the adults/parents will face
throughout the film.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I will take away the saying “carpe diem” I
heard it before and knew what it means, but seeing this film made me remember
how important it is to “size the day.”
Life is too short to pass it by.
Doing what you love is far more important that doing what society thinks
is okay.
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