Dead Poets Society is a 1989 film that explores the impact that an English teacher, John Keating, had on his students through his unorthodox methods of teaching and unique perspective on life. The film stars Robin Williams as John Keating, an English professor at the extremely conservative Welton Academy and a former member of the Dead Poets Society, and Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, Dylan Kussman, Allelon Ruggerio, and James Waterson as Neil Perry, Todd Anderson, Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, and Gerard Pitts, respectively, as senior students at Welton Academy. Through his teaching methods and literature-inspired beliefs, Keating is able to inspire his pupils to pursue their personal goals and do what they want to do as opposed to what they are told they are supposed to do. It is Keating's unorthodox approach to teaching that first grabs the attention of the boys in his class. Unlike their other classes, which are...
Curious to find out more about their new teacher, the boys find Keating's picture in an old yearbook and notice that he was once a member of the Dead Poets Society. At this point in the narrative, the boys have never heard of, nor do they know about, the Dead Poets Society. Seeking to break free from the regimented structure of Welton and carpe diem -- as Keating has inspired them to do, this group of boys seeks to restart the Dead Poets Society in order to explore their ambitions.
"An older, more experienced teacher questions whether 15- to 17-year-old kids are really ready yet to handle Keating's brand of freedom. 'Gee, I never pegged you for a cynic,' says Keating. 'I'm not,' says the other teacher. 'I'm a realist.'… Although there's a carefully placed scene in which Keating tries to make the distinction between unfettered self-expression and self-destructive behavior, the principles behind the re-formation of the Dead Poets
Thus he becomes, much like the title sailor of Herman Melville's Billy Budd, a figure who is martyred as a result of intolerance. Budd draws the ire of the captain of his ship because he is attractive and charismatic in a way that defines conventional maritime rules and conventions. Budd is literally hung out to dry upon a mast, while Williams is only symbolically strung up -- but the kind
Surprisingly, Keating successful leadership was not imposed on his students, even with the fact that he influenced them greatly and was challenging in his teaching. Transformational leadership is present all across the motion picture as Keating goes through great efforts to assist students as they put their problems behind. The influence that Keating has on students is limited by none other than himself, as he trusts that most will do
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Homer in Hollywood: The Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? Could a Hollywood filmmaker adapt Homer's Odyssey for the screen in the same way that James Joyce did for the Modernist novel? The idea of a high-art film adaptation of the Odyssey is actually at the center of the plot of Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt, and the Alberto Moravia novel on which Godard's film is
" Roxane is the lone woman, idolized as a beautiful creature of a courtly love scenario, little more. Her feelings for Christian, even before she receives letters she thinks are from the handsome and empty-headed young man, are similarly idealistic. "Roxane: His face shines with wit and intelligence. He's proud, noble, young, fearless, and handsome.... Cyrano: Handsome! Roxane: What is it? What's the matter? Cyrano: Nothing.... it's... it's... it's only
This is why Homer is killed: he has lied to Emily and to the townspeople, and his deceit is punishable by death (at least, so it seems to Emily -- if Blythe is correct in his analysis). This is why the tension that exists between Emily and the community comes to the forefront in the first place: "Every human lives in a social environment and is influenced by surrounding
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