Representation

Analyzing the representation patterns in the film, "Dead Poets Society". The 1989 coming-of-age drama film directed by Peter Weir and originally written by Tom Schulman, gives us a beautiful yet tragic view and representation of growth, standards and expectations, the importance of finding your voice, and most importantly the pursuit of passion, even thought that is already a wide spectrum of real-life experiences, there is more to this film that we are able to deep dive into and uncover. In this film, we are presented with various forms of social groups each containing their differences with how they view life as they know it. We are presented with what it is to go through certain transitions in life as our characters start to learn how to pursue their deepest desires while in the process of turning it into art day by day. On the other side, there is the other group who are represented to be more conservative, with certain idealistic standards as they push themselves and others to strive for ultimate success; giving us an insight on what perfectionism can do to a person, especially if they are attempting to strive for something not because it is something the character feels is worth striving for but in order to meet certain expectations. Most importantly it provides us with a social movement which grows to become as we know, the memebers of the Dead Poets Society. To provide more profound insights, our film introduces one of the main character leads professor John Keating at an all-boys preparatory school that is known for it's ancient traditions and high standards. He uses unorthodox methods to reach out to his students, who face enormous pressures from their parents and the school. With Keating's help, students Neil Perry, Todd Anderson, and others learn to break out of their shells, pursue their dreams and seize the day. The film surrounds itself most importantly around these three main characters; along with Neil's father Thomas Perry who is the epidemy of the conservative and high standardized views which cause a drastic evolution of problems throughout both beginning and end of this film. In the beginning of our film we are introduced with representation #1. The school's traditional views of what success, discipline, and education "should look like". In the film we are provided with a close-up shot in the opening scene that focuses on a banner which displays the word "Tradition", which we learn to know that it is one of the four pillars of the school's philosophy. "Tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence." This already give us a representation of our first social group which is the school and it's staff along with parents etc. This is what they expect from their growing boys who we as an audience, think these are only teenagers who are still on the verge of trying to figure out life as a whole, but this is proven otherwise as we are given representation #2. The second representation is simply giving us the insight on real-life scenarios where parents tend to plan ahead for their child. This means, choosing the extra curriculars they are going to perform, choosing their life/career choices and even sometimes at extremes making choices of who their child is going to marry; making them marry into wealth, etc. This group of boys we are introduced with as of right now have no idea what it is they are truly passionate for, they only know the picture in which their parents have sketched out for them throughout the course of their entire lives. This film gives a really good representation of what that looks like for the people who have gone through those experiences. Representation #3, following along with the school's and Neil's father's expectation of excellence, we have a specific character who contradicts these views and acts upon his views in an inspiring way. In a scene where he is teaching his english class the poetry section of the book, he asks someone to read aloud, the reading sounds dull and doesn't enchance the true art that literature can contain. Keating is well aware, he uses different techniques than the rest of the professors at the school which is what makes his character so remarkable. Which represents what breaking the norm can look like. He goes on to perform an excercise of his own by making the students rip out the pages of their text-books in order to teach them what literature truly consists of. Here we see a moment of enlightment with Neil as Keating goes on to recite the iconic dialogue that follows after they rip the pages. (presented below). https://youtu.be/-7OE6bDfM2M?si=jC9qhH0x4LkdbJM7 (link to specific scene of the film) Professor John Keating, our former inspirer in this film as he opens the eyes of seven boys for the pursuit of passion. Not only talks about poetry in a realistic persective, but incorporates the poetry into real life. This is when the boys not only learn what they love, but learn to come out of their shells, to become men, and most importantly to seize the day. There is many more representations I can cover but as of now I am going to lastly cover one of the most important forms of representation of this film, and it is passion. One of our main characters as we know him; Neil is a good example of what this can look like but most importatnly what it can do to a person,if things were to go not as planned. Neil dreams of being an actor, we see as he desires to audition for a play but is not able to because of his father's conservative views. He feels as though an acting career will provide nothing but failure in his son's future. In a rush of achieving something he truly feels will fulfill his heart, he decides to audition for the play behind his father's back. Later on in the film, as his father gets an idea of the situation, he proceeds to make drastic decisions which will alter our characters final fate in a way we would've never imagined. A tragic act of passion, the representation of what it looks like to become consumed in your art, to want to not only perform it but to want to embody it, to become it. Not discussing furthermore the ending events of this film, I now say that this film is a well made representation of the male youth in the late 1950's with the following themes consisting of certain education standards, conformity and success, rebellion and passion, and men, women, and love. This coming of age gives us an insight of an artistic view of things, but also gives us a realistic view of the struggles and tragedies we can come to experience at some point in our lives. It is a perfect film that serves as a timeless reminder that conformity stifles creativity and hinders personal growth. It encourages one to pursue desires that can result in the means of love or success and challenge the norms that restrict our individuality. "Dead Poets Society" isnt't just a film about poetry, but a film in which we can all learn something from, which is to find a sense of fulfillment and discover our true purpose in life.