Dead Poets Society Analysis

Dead poets society

In this essay, I discuss the film Dead poets society written by Tom Schulman in (1989). I am going to write a lot about the film, as this is what interests me the most, but also go over a couple of topics that revolve around the plot.

Plot

The film dead poets society is based in the 1950s America. The story follows the lives of a group of boys attending boarding school, but the film revolves mostly around Todd Anderson. He prefers a life in solitary, avoiding social relations and is terrified of failure. Shortly after arriving Todd is invited to a group of already existing friends. Consisting of his roommate Neil Perry and other hallway neighbours such as Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Gerald Pitts

He is the youngest in his family and has many expectations laid upon him due to the success of his younger brother, who also went to Welton and was Valedictorian and a National merit Scholar. In class, he can´t speak to anyone in a position of authority and is even shy to fellow students. I think his worst fear is not feeling that his life has any purpose, that he can´t contribute. His insecurity gets the better of him. In class, an assignment is to write a poem, which Todd later does not complete. He told Keating he spent hours writing only to have thrown it away. This is an example of Todd´s struggle between romanticism (a style of art that emphasises the imagination and emotions) and realism (understanding what is real and possible in a particular situation and the ability to deal with problems in an effective matter). He dreams of a future of possibilities of expressing himself, only to have his realistic expectations crash down on him and turn these positive thoughts to smoke. However, by the end of the film, Todd finds his voice by proving he could stand up and express himself when it really mattered. Todd is the first one to stand on the desk in respect for

He doesn’t undergo a change in personality during the film. He is more of an extrovert, compared to Todd being more of an introvert. However during the film, Mr Keating inspires him to pursue his dreams and live life to the fullest. “Carpe Diem” He realises that his passion is acting and proceeds to land the role of Puck in a Midsummers night´s dream at the local theatre. After the, play Neil starts to tangle himself in a web of deception by not informing his father of his true passion, lying to Mr Keating When his father finds out and demands he quit the play. Feeling trapped and wronged, Neil decides to see his fate, by taking his own