Film Analysis - Week 36 - Dead Poets Society (1989)

Film Analysis – Week 36

Dead Poets Society (1989) – Directed by Peter Weir

Starring: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke

This film is a Drama with comedic elements about a prep school in the USA with children destined to become doctors, lawyers and accountants. The school prepares the children, drilling them with sophistication yet none of them have the choice to do what they want. The film uses one individual teacher as a conduit to a better life, Mr. Keating, the students English teacher, teaches them about poetry and ways to ‘seize the day’ (carpe diem) giving them a new perspective on life. This film cleverly uses Williams’ character Keating as a way to connect with the inner desire of the audience, cleverly addressing an issue at the time for both parents and students. The mix of comedy and realism throughout the film makes for a very clear message allowing the audience to mix with the characters , feeling as though they are really alive and have lives that they want to live. It is unclear where the direct inspiration for the film arose, however it is well known that many situations such as the ones presented in the film have happened before in real life. The ways that film goes about using Keating’s teachings in the film, allows it to seem believable as a teacher avoiding the norm and trying to help the students think outside the box. It is a very narrative driven film that requires the audience to pay close attention and empathise with the key group of students alongside Keating in the film. The film explores themes of education, liberty, choice, inspiration, love, poetry, authority and conformity.

The film has had many copycats and must originate from similar ideas in the past, one such example is ‘The School of Rock’ (2003) in which an unorthodox teacher goes out of his way to liberate the students. This narrative concept is very clever as it uses the norms and expectations of such a prep school and flips it on its head. Keating represents the kind of teacher that everyone as a child wanted, the kind of laid back and inspirational teacher that invokes the passion within his students. Keating uses his love of poetry to inspire the students and for them to go outside of their expectations, set by their other teachers and especially by their parents. The key message of the film is carried along throughout, showing the audience the true value of education and also letting children do what they desire with their lives. However the point isn’t driven home until one of the students, Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) commits suicide due to his father decisions against his own. The point of choice is huge in this film and is one of Keating’s key messages. The filmmaker’s used this film to go out of their way to spread the word through cheer and comedy, but also to drive the point home using a serious ending. At a time where this issue was at its peak, the filmmakers decided that it was time to put an end to the cruelty that was being foregone on students and their choices towards life.

This film, being quite a narrative focused film, earns many accolades in this department. One such is the fact that the film uses many unique subplots in order to more deeply enrich the story and for the audience to better relate to and empathise with their characters. Each key character has a small subplot within the film, either relating to their personal life or their life within the school. Each member of new Dead Poets Society has a unique trait which the audience, by the end of the film can easily identify. This enables the audience to clearly resonate which each character. Knox (Josh Charles) has a budding love story throughout the film, which resolved in the end due to his persistent passion for a girl. Meeks (Allelon Ruggiero) is known for being overly smart and therefore helps each student recover when their work is falling behind, Neil falls in love with acting and auditions for a play of Midsummer Night’s Dream, Charlie (Gale Hansen) defends the honour of the Dead Poets Society, Todd (Ethan Hawke) is nervous about his personal feeling and doesn’t like to speak out loud, but realises his skill and passion for poetry and Cameron (Dylan Kussman) rats out Keating because he thinks that he is disrupting the gang’s learning process. Each point of the character’s arcs is solidified early on allowing the narrative to be predictable but it a clever and satisfying way.