52in52: Dead Poets Society

This is another movie that is going to need a spoiler-free and spoiler section for discussions. The spoiler section will be after the movie list.

Spoiler Free

I loved this movie. As someone who was highly pressured to go into STEM and is slowly growing his appreciation for art and literature, I resonated with a lot of the messaging of the movie. The movie follows a group of students at an all-boys prep school as the new year begins. They are taught by a new English teacher, Mr. Keating, who is an alumni of the school. Mr. Keating opens their eyes to what it means to create and appreciate art. The movie depicts themes of conformity vs freedom, expressing oneself, following your passions and appreciating the arts. Though there’s a lot I like about the movie, in the lens for modern day, some aspects don’t hold up as well. Women’s only roles were to be characters of beauty and to be obtained, which led to a scene that, at the time, was probably meant to be romantic but comes off more sexual assualt-y. Trigger warning, the movie also contains suicide, if that is something you can’t watch.

The movie is explicit in its messaging, and I think it does it well. The sciences and law are important for survival, but art and creativity are what it means to be human. The pursuit of the arts should not be scoffed cause thats where culture and an appreciation for life are developed. I give the movie a 5/5. Next week’s movie is Call Me By Your Name.

The list:

Spoilers

For this spoilered section, I wanted to start with how different scenes showcase the themes of the movie. One of Mr. Keating’s lessons covered the importance of personal freedom in a society of conformity. The movie starts with an introduction to conformity with the setting of the prep school. In the welcome lecture, the students stand together and chant the school’s motto. However, almost immediately after, as the students are moving in, we see Neil and his group of friends break from that conformity by mocking the school motto behind closed doors. Throughout the movie, each character acts against the conformity of the school, whether it’s smoking, making a radio, joining a play, submitting an anonymous opinion piece or standing up for their teacher. Focusing on Neil, his father has set a plan for him. Neil is to be a doctor, and once he is done with school, as his father says, Neil can do whatever he pleases. But Neil wants to act now on his passions. He knows the med school path is not for him and finds ways to break that conformity, like reviving the Dead Poets Society and acting in the play. When Neil’s father finds out about the play, Neil is forbidden from participating. Mr. Keating’s advice to Neil was to explain to his father that this is a passion, and his father would finally understand. Instead, Neil lies to both his father and Mr. Keating and performs without confronting the issue. It was a daring action, but as Mr. Keating says earlier in the movie, “Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone. Sure, there’s a time for daring, and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for”. Neil’s actions end with him literally choking on the bone and dying in the end. Neil’s father, in a way, choked on the bone as well. He was brash and “daring” as he quickly decided that military school was the only option instead of acting with caution, resulting in him losing his son, which he was trying to avoid in the first place. I think this shows that freedom can be forced, but there would be consequences if not approached properly. In an ideal world, Niel’s father would understand and come around, but the world is not ideal, and therefore, we must play by its rules and dance our way to gaining our freedom. There are flaws with this worldview, but I enjoyed the way the movie portrayed it.

Todd was the prime example of the importance of self-expression. He was introduced as a timid character, unable to speak for himself. Overshadowed by his brother’s legacy, he just seemed like a character who wanted to keep his head down and do what is expected of him. Later in the movie, he says that, in contrast to Neil, he doesn’t see himself as a person who leads others or someone that others would want to follow. Slowly, Mr. Keating brings out Todd’s ability to express. In the final scene, Todd pleads for forgiveness, and Keating takes a moment and hesitates. I understood this moment as Mr. Keating deciding if he wanted to be daring or cautious, and in the end, for the sake of his students, he chose to be cautious. Todd, on the other hand, chose to be daring. He stood on his desk and said his final lines to show his respect for Mr. Keating. This inspired many of the other students in his class to do the same. The movie ends with Todd being the person he said he couldn’t be.

As with most movies, it isn’t without its flaws. The movie fails the Bechdel test horribly. Yes, the movie is about boys in an all-boys school, but of the 5 female characters of the movie, 2 are mothers who are on screen for a couple of minutes in barely any speaking roles, the 2 girls that Charlie invites to the Dead Poets Society meeting and Chris. The latter 3 characters have no substance whatsoever, their existence as characters is to be objects to be claimed. Frankly, the 2 girls could have been cut from their scenes, and it wouldn’t have made a difference to me. Chris follows the dating the jock but falls for the nerd trope. It’s a teenage boy fantasy where they believe that with enough effort, any woman can be theirs. Not to mention the problematic forehead kiss. As small an action as it may seem, it is inexcusable and sets a bad precedent for teenage boys watching the movie. My friends and I also discussed the suicide of the movie at length. The action was extreme, and to my friends was out of place. I think it fits fine, but we agreed that there should have been more at the end showing the problems with that action. Not just for his friends and family, but also, for example, the inability of Neil to continue in the arts for the time he had.

Overall, I really did enjoy this movie, and I’m glad it gave me so much to think about. Review suggestions 19