Most of us can look back at our years in school and remember fondly at least one teacher that made a difference in our lives. For me, it was my sixth-grade science teacher who took a class that I had little interest in and got me to the point where I was able to pay attention and pass. This teacher was not only personable and easygoing; he made each of us feel like he really cared, and because of that, I wanted to pass that class. It was no surprise to any of us when this teacher went on to win an award by the state for his efforts to get through to a bunch of adolescents with more on our minds than mere science.
It is virtually impossible to watch Dead Poets Society without thinking about my personal experiences that year in sixth grade. But on top of that, I was reminded, while watching it this morning, that I had only seen this film in a classroom setting. It was a film that teachers would play for us in class as a way to inspire us to be free thinkers and to show us the dangers of conformity; a laugh when you consider the setting. Evidently, this is still something that is being done to this day. When I told my son, who just graduated a few months ago, what film I was watching today, he said he watched it in class, too, and could tell me all about it. Some things never change, evidently.
Director Peter Weir saw something in lead actor Robin Williams back in 1989 that told him this man had the potential to deliver a great dramatic performance. While Williams had tried his hand at drama in the past, he was primarily known for his over-the-top comedic chops in film, television, and on the stage. Good Morning Vietnam proved that he could handle both sides of a character in a single film with his zany radio persona juxtaposed with the seriousness of the Vietnam War. He may have started out in such manic roles as Popeye and Mork from Ork, but he had much more potential than just that.
Dead Poets Society is an absolute showcase for Robin Williams; a film that allowed him to show a bit of brevity while at the same time being a serious drama with some major consequences in the end. Williams is playing John Keating, a new professor teaching at Welton Academy, an Episcopalian all-male preparatory school in Vermont. This private school proudly boasts tradition and rigid structural education, something Mr. Keating doesn’t believe in. He sees life as an opportunity to find yourself and pursue that which will bring you the most happiness. He encourages outside-the-box thinking and viewing the world from a different perspective.
This is a far cry from the strict structural teachings the other professors utilize and the parents expect, especially Thomas Perry (Kurtwood Smith), father to junior student Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard). On the first day of the school year, Thomas informs his son that he won’t allow Neil to participate in the school newspaper because he believes it will interfere with his studies. When Neil protests, he is taken to task by the immovable Thomas who has no interest in what his son wants, only what he believes is best for him. This will become a particularly rough sticking point later when Neil wants to try out for a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Neil is assigned a new roommate, Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), which introduces Todd to a small group of friends: Knox (Josh Charles), Richard (Dylan Kussman), Steven (Allelon Ruggiero), Gerard (James Waterston), and Charlie (Gale Hansen). On the first day of class, the boys, accustomed to the other teachers, are surprised and uncertain how to respond to their unconventional poetry instructor, Mr. Keating. Keating has them read the boring and unenlightening introduction to their textbook, then, dismissing the prose as stupidity, has them rip it out of the book. He wants them to see poetry not as a dissection of rhymes and meters but for the raw emotion it elicits. He leaves them with a challenge: Carpe Diem (Seize the Day). Gather your rosebuds while ye may. These boys may be destined to be bankers, lawyers, and doctors, but they should not lose sight of who they are along the way.
This message rubs raw the administrators of the school who do not see their jobs as ones of teaching the young men to be free thinkers. Keating, in one conversation, states: “I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.” This statement is met with the cold response: “At these boys’ age? Not on your life.” Keating is there to teach and to educate at an institute that feels their only goal is to mold young men into uniformity; to churn out mindless clones who may be successful in their educations and careers but failures in life. These two conflicting worldviews will eventually come crashing against each other.
Keating’s teachings and example lead to some minor disobedience amongst some of the students who, taking a page from his own time at Welton, form an illegal poetry group that meets at night when they should be in their dorms. It also inspires Neil to forge his father’s name on a permission slip so he can try out for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This act, the first real act of defiance against his father, leads to a real tragedy when things come head-to-head between them. Keating takes the blame for the outcome, and it becomes obvious to the school that his way of molding young minds is incompatible with theirs.
Dead Poets Society is all about finding your voice and not being bound to conformity. It is okay to not want the future your parents envision for you. It’s also okay to want it, so long as you don’t lose track of who you are in the pursuit of it. Children are their own people, and we cannot force our wants and desires on them, especially if we want them to still be in our lives once they grow up and are on their own. This is personified in the relationship between Thomas and Neil, but it is hardly the only one here. We may not see the other parents, but there is the distinct impression that the other boys are in much the same boat.
It is questioned at one point why Keating is there in the school, and his response is that he wants to be there because he loves to teach. The real question should be why he is in that specific school where his worldview will not be accepted by his peers. Perhaps that is why he is actually there; because he attended school there earlier and knows what he brings is desperately needed amongst the boys. There is no denying the young men are not happy being forced into the mold the school has for them. The school, however, has no use for outside thinkers nor of teachers that have an agenda beyond force-feeding the men straight from the textbook.
This is a thought-provoking movie that has a point to make and does so through situations we all can relate to in some form or another. We’ve all had classes or jobs that do not reward those who question the way things are and how we are all expected to be. There are times when we have to conform, and there are times when we should be questioning things. “There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.” “Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone.” This is a film filled to the brim with such pearls of wisdom. This may feel like preaching, but even if it is, it is something we can all take to heart anyway.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Steven Haft, Paul Junger Witt, and Tony Thomas
Best Director: Peter Weir
Best Actor: Robin Williams
Best Original Screenplay: Tom Schulman (won)
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Release Date: June 9, 1989
Running Time: 128 Minutes
Rated PG
Starring: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, and Kurtwood Smith
Directed By: Peter Weir
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