Dead Poets Soceity

The Dead Poets Society Analytic Essay Brogan Young

The film ‘Dead Poets Society’, directed by Peter Weir, is about the triumph of individuality over conformity to the norm. The film examines this and why it is so. The main plot follows the lives of several young school boys at Welton Boarding School. A new English teacher arrives and teaches the boys about poetry. His teachings change their lives forever, for better or worse. The first scene opens to a shot of a painting showing several school boys. The camera slowly pans away and onto a boy who looks no different than those in the painting. It is made to show that he could blend right into the painting- showing that nothing had changed between the years of the painting being produced and now. Furthermore, the scene shows the ceremony of initiation for the students. Banners depicting the four pillars of the school are marched into a hall, that resembles a church, with bagpipes playing ‘Scotland the Brave’. Importantly, the banner leading the way represents Tradition, making it seem more important than the rest. Also, although it would not been important until later, is that Cameron is the one carrying the Tradition Banner. Moreover, the ceremony itself is very ritualistic in its manner. It is about the passing of the light of knowledge from Teacher to student and then student to student. It is made physical by the Headmaster lighting a student’s candle and then that student lighting his peers’ candles. The boys themselves wear a strict dress code and no boy is distinguishable at a distance, masking any individuality that they have. The boys are also shot with camera angles that look down on them. This makes them seem smaller, less significant than the teachers. As the ceremony draws to a close, Mr. Nolan the Head teacher introduces a new English teacher as Mr. Keating. He is made to stand out from the other teachers because as the camera pans along the row of teachers, Mr. Keating is the only one that has not got grey hair. This immediately shows that he is different from the other teachers. Overall, the scene gives the impression that conformity is better. The Dead Poets Society’s first meeting takes place in a dark, damp cave somewhere in the nearby forest. The scene starts with Neil finding a book on his dormitory table. On further investigation, Neil discovers that the book belonged to Mr. Keating entitled ‘A Century of Verse’. Also writing on the inside cover is a poem about by Walt Whitman about ‘sucking all the marrow out of life’. This shows that Mr. Keating is encouraging the boys to go out and re-form the Dead Poets Society. As the boys are leaving the school, they pass the painting from the first scene. This shows that they are rebelling against the system but also that there has always been rebellion in the school and full of people who want to be Bohemians and strive to be individuals. As the pass, we are only shown their shadows and not their full profile. This shows the secrecy of their adventure and that they do not wish to be caught in the act. Continuing on from the idea of secrecy, as the boys run through the woods they are shown in black, adding to the idea of secrecy. The music accompanying their little escapade is an eerie, almost ethereal piece of music. It makes the quest of the boys seem even more secret but also more forbidden. The forest is dark and the shadows of the trees loom out of the gloom. As the boys run through the forest, their coats’ hoods are up and the pointed cowl gives them look of ghosts or spectres. It complements the idea of the secrecy. But as the boys settle into their makeshift meeting room that is the cave, they begin to show their individuality. The boys must uses torch lights to illuminate the dark surroundings, often only being able to light their faces, making it look like they are in the spot light as the read out the poems. The only other light comes from a small hole in the roof of the cave, only dimly lighting the

cave. This makes it look like they should not be there, the darkness and the secrecy of their escapade. Also the torch lights on the faces make them stand out as the recite the poems, individuality. As the meeting progresses, Neil is the first to read out a poem. It is the one that Mr. Keating wrote on the inside cover of the poetry book, a Century of Verse. Then Dalton is the first to read out a poem he personally composed. Then Meeks ends the meeting with a poem that gets out of hand very quickly. The boys beat makeshift drums and pluck at stringed instruments. They march out of the cave repeating the same verse louder and louder, lost in the merriment and jocularity of the evening. Overall, the scene shows that it is good to be an individual and stand out from the crowd and encourages the viewers to be individuals as well, so that they can participate in events like this. One of the most important scenes is the film is that depicting Neil’s death. The scene is set during winter, giving the idea of death and passing straight away, foreshadowing Neil’s demise. Neil is in a play, playing one of the central roles as well. He does this even though it is against the wishes of his father, and his father made his wishes quite clear. Mr. Keating nevertheless encourages Neil to take part in the performance, to defy his father and show him that he is good at acting. When Neil sees his father standing at the back of the theatre from behind the stage, he decides that it is probably best to go on and continue anyway. The speech given by Neil’s character Puck is almost directed at Neil’s father. While not outright saying that it is to his father, the words seem appropriate, asking for forgiveness if any wrong doing was done and saying that he will make amends. But Neil’s father is not changed by the speech and once the play is done he hurries his son out of the theatre and into a car. Mr. Perry gives little to no time for Neil to talk to his fellow actors or the friends who came to support him. The Perry household is introduced by a shot of a family photograph surrounded by a cigarette and an alcoholic drink. This shows that there are troubles in the family, particularly that the mother is stressed by the conflict between father and son. As Neil and his father enter an argument almost breaks out immediately, with Neil on the defence. The argument is centred on the father and son. The mother is shown to be in the back ground, not taking part. She is also placed in the middle if the two disputers, placing her allegiances with neither her son nor husband. During the argument, Neil stands up to his father, literally. But unfortunately, he can’t find the correct words or any words to say and is forced to sit back down and allow his father to win. But as everyone sleeps, ethereal music strikes up and it foreshadows something sinister. Neil stands isolated and alone. The crown he wore during the play was made of twigs and other natural things. As he wears it, he gives the look of Jesus when he wore the crown of thorns before he died. It brings forward ideas of death and sacrifice. Neil creeps down and into his father’s study. With a stolen key, Neil opens a desk drawer and takes out an object wrapped in cloth. We can’t fully see the object but the edge would appear to be the muzzle of handgun. We don’t hear the gunshot but as he cut to a shot of Neil’s father, we see him awake with a start- probably from the sound of the gunshot. After searching his Neil’s room, he climbs down the stairs and into his study to discover the body of his dead son. We never fully see Neil’s body (nor would you really want to) but we only see his hand and a pool of blood. This scene gives the idea that conformity is safer than individuality as it was being an individual that pushed Neil to kill himself. Mr. Keating, a main character, shows non conformity in both the way he teaches and how he lives. From the beginning we are shown that he is different by the camera panning across the other teachers and then Mr. Keating standing out of his youth. Mr. Keating was a pupil of Welton and whilst he was a pupil, he rebelled against the school by forming the Dead Poets Society. During his return to the school, he encourages the boys to re-form the society. This also makes him stand out because he is the only teacher seen to be inciting rebellion amongst the students. Keating also places the boys’ lives above that of his own. As Neil enters Mr. Keating’s room, Mr. Keating puts away a letter to his girlfriend to talk to Neil. Keating feels that whatever Neil has to say is more important than corresponding with his girlfriend. The teachers expect Mr. Keating to fit in well because as he was a pupil he would know what

the rules were and be willing to follow them. More importantly, he expected to stress the importance of the rules on the boys. However, Keating tries to give the boys an experience that he never had at school and make the boys think for themselves. Keating seems like a good teacher but he went too far when he encouraged Neil to go against the wishes of his father. Throughout the film, Mr. Nolan the Headmaster is made to seem important by the camera angles used. Whenever the boys are in his presence, his is shot with an angle looking up to him. We see this from the very first scene, the indoctrination ceremony. Mr. Nolan is looked up you and the students (and the parents) are looked down upon, although this does change near the end of the film. In the final scene, Mr. Nolan takes over the class from Mr. Keating. As Mr. Keating leaves the room for the last time, the students begin to stand on the desks. For the first time, the camera looks up to the students. Mr. Nolan is seen to break his usually calm demeanour and runs frantically between desks. We look down upon Nolan as he does this and the boys are shown to have risen above the headmaster. They have triumphed. Throughout the film there are many static and dynamic characters. Some examples of static characters are Cameron, Mr. Nolan and a few other students. Cameron is a good representation of a static character because even from the first scene he is seen to be the embodiment of tradition. As the ceremony begins, he carries the banner for tradition. At the first poetry lesson with Mr. Keating, Cameron does exactly as he is instructed; crossing out his graph when Mr. Keating says that the idea he had copied is ‘excrement’. Cameron also makes sure that he rips out the introduction neatly, using a ruler to produce a clean tear. He has no direction that he has set himself but instead follows the rules and regulations that are set out by the school and the teachers. At the end, after Neil’s death, Cameron is the first to offer the information that he knows about Mr. Keating, confessing about the Dead Poets Society and Mr. Keating’s involvement- endangering Mr. Keating’s position as a teacher. Cameron does not change through the course of the film. Todd, however, is a good dynamic character. Along with Dalton, Knox and Neil, Todd changes thanks to Mr. Keating’s teachings. At the start, Todd is very shy and insecure about himself and his abilities, always unsure if he is ever going to leave the shadow of his older brother. But as Mr. Keating forces Todd to Yawp (a barbaric shout) in front of his class mates, Todd starts to become more confident. Mr. Keating also forces him to compose a poem on the spot, which shows Todd’s poetic abilities. At the end of the last scene, Todd is the first to stand on his desk, staying in there by himself for a long time. Even as Mr. Nolan is shouting at Todd, Todd does not come down, showing his respect to Mr. Keating. The themes of the film are individuality, conformity and tradition, and they are very strong and prevalent throughout. Individuality is shown in the meetings of the Dead Poets and the English lessons with Mr. Keating. It is strongest when the boys are going against the rules that are set down by the school and rebelling, doing their own thing. Conformity is strongest at the beginning of the film, especially when we see them in the initiation ceremony and the assemblies that are held in the school. Everyone is shown to look, behave and be the same as the person next to them, not standing out from the crowd. Tradition is also a strong theme but not as strong as the others, nor is it as important. Tradition is still vital to the film’s plot however and Cameron is the best way of showing the theme. Whenever he is prevalent in a scene it is usually showing tradition and obeying the rules that have been laid down for decades. From the first scene when we see him holding the banner for tradition to the last when he confesses all his knowledge of the Dead Poets Society, Cameron is always shown to follow the strict guidelines of the school. In conclusion, I think the students triumphed over the system but only marginally. Nothing is shown to have changed in the system due to their efforts. However, they have become better people,

more confident and sure of themselves. In that respect they have triumphed. When Mr. Keating leaves, we are shown that life will carry on as normal, nothing having changed in the system. But it is the boys themselves that have changed and triumphed over themselves. They have become almost totally different, Todd is more confident, Dalton is more expressive, and Knox has a way to show his feelings. They are different. This is effectively shown by Dalton taking Mr. Keating’s teachings and making them his own- changing them so as he is not just copying. Knox is shown to get the love from Chris that he couldn’t have done otherwise. And Todd, a once shy, self-doubting boy becomes a confident individual. He is the first- and for a while the only- student to stand on his desk and show Mr. Keating respect- his salute to Mr. Keating. All in all, the students become different people, individuals, and they no longer follow the norm or conform to the schools ideals.