Dead Poets society

A movie Review
Carpe Diem. Literally means, seize the day. This dictum, apparently flat and hard to understand,
is turned into an impassioned story of the Dead Poets Society, a story that loo!s hard at life,
where even death will never "e without decorous meanin#.
The idyllic, almost familiarly simple plot ta!es place at $elton, a presti#ious "oys% school in
&ermont where discipline, e'cellence, honor and tradition are creed. (ere the "oys wear the
same clothes, ta!e the same dinner and follow the puritanical tutela#e of the school to "ecome
#ood men and law a"idin# citizen.
)ut the normal routines of teachin# are challen#ed "y the orthodo'y of the new Literature
teacher, *ohn +eatin# ,Played by Robin Williams) throu#h -.ueer% activities such as rippin# the
pa#es of their te't"oo!%s superficial analysis of poetry, +eatin# starts a conflict "etween
opposin# value formation systems. Throu#h humor, he instils the misfortune of delimitin#
#uidelines which do not leave much room for thin!in#. (e tells them the importance of personal
ima#ination and individual importance. (e shows them the how to see thin#s in others
perspectives, to strive to "e e'traordinary. (e unleashes individually where it was constrained "y
a supposed education that cans the individual even while it claims to li"erate him from
i#norance "ecause of his enthusiasm the "oys revived the Dead Poets Society, a #roup of youn#
men who savoured and -suc!ed the marrows out of life% their clandestine evenin# meetin# are
their form of defiance.
+eatin# contrasts education and mere trainin#. /ndeed, learnin# depends on an educational
system that is not apathetic to chan#e. This opposes, prevailin# socio0cultural sanctions which
call for o"edience at the e'pense of creativity. The movie particularly the suicide scene may have
raised eye"rows in paternalistic society such as ours, which condones such -education%, and
considers the -illumination% dan#erous. The suicide, however, if it see!s to show the value of
self0e'pression, may "e pushin# thin#s too far since it shuts out the opportunity to e'perience
other ways of !nowin#.