ANGELO GABRIEL S. CAPULONG.

AUGUST
20,2019

HUMSS 121-02. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY AND

CITIZENSHIP

"DEAD POETS SOCIETY: A CRTIQUE PAPER"

Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society is one of the most brilliant film an individual could
watch. It is a movie with bold principles which engages people not to conform to a basic,
systematic, by-the-book world. The film revolves around an uncoventional literature
teacher, John Keating, and his unorthodox teaching styles to his students. Keating's
approach towards learning was quite controversial, promoting nonconformity and free
thinking. With his not so normal way of teaching, his students were curious about his
past scholastic life. One thing leads to another and his students then revived what was
once a dead secret club, Dead Poets Society, in which they gather to read and recite
poems. In addition to that the movie is surely filled with wonderful principles and
quotable quotes pertaining to liberating philosophies and a radicalized life.

Besides its' wonderful plot line and amazing content, the film also displays community
principles that can be found on our subject, Community Engagement, Solidarity and
Citizenship.

The film shows a definition of community through the secret club organized. As a
community was tied together by a common interest the Dead Poets Society was also
tied together by one common shared interest, which was poetry. We can also see the
principles of the importance of a community being shown in the club. One of the
principles are to develop activities and services to generate aspiration and confidence in
which are seen in the club through their poetry reading. The poetry reading and making
allows them to vent upon their current social issues and give them courage to do
whatever they aspire to do.

We can see a certain community typology existing among the lads in the film.
Gemeinschaft is visible to be seen through their bond and intimateness, showing care
and support to each other. The bond that they were having were homogeneous and full
of sincerity.

In conclusion, the movie shows us the importance of being radical and not agreeing to
be underdogs of the world's universal views. We are encouraged to live a life of non
conformity, full of liberation, free to do our aspired roles in our community. Yet with this
also comes the importance of having a community to represent, one that supports your
back, shares a common interest with you and makes you feel a sense of
belongingness.
Before I say what are the things related to our subject Coummunity engagement and
solidarity let me first give you q quick preview of this story. This movie takes place in
New England during the late 1950s at the Welton Academy for Boys. The movie
revolves on the character of Todd Anderson, a lonely and painfully shy teenager who's
feeling the pressure because he must live up to his older brother's reputation in Yale.

The School itself is a community because the Student's are sharing the same goals; to
pass the School year and, also, diversities occur in between the Students and faculty
members; some are cheerful, some are shy, and such. While on the other hand, this
large community also composed of smaller communities residing it; faculty members,
circle of friends among students, and School workers which also refers to as a Social
group. So, Mr. Keating, who plays the character of a professor, also plays a major role
in the story whereas he was a wonderful teacher who teaches his Students not just the
curriculum but also values in life, especially, his passion about poetry. He made his
students build a strong bond or relationship with him that it makes them be curious
about Mr. Keating's past, then here they found out about the late group Dead Poet's
Society where Mr. Keating used to be whereas this was also a community composed of
small group of Students who shared common interest in poetry.

At the beggining they just playing along and taking the ritual of the Dead Poets as some
sort of a fun but later on they found out the real essence of the society and emotional
bonds formed between them.

This story tackles about a bunch of community sectors or groups which relatively
correlated with our subject.
Dead poet society is about a group of students who got interested in a club called Dead
Poet's Society, it is a secret club dedicated to taking the meaning out of life. To do so,
the members would sit in a cave near a certain pond less than a mile from School
grounds and recite poetry, philosophically drawing life lessons from it to enhance their
lives and appreciation of literature. One of them named Neil convinces them to start up
the Dead Poet Society once again. The boys began to learn how rhythm and language
in poetry can enhance their own learning and life experience. Their class teacher, Mr.
Keating was also a Dead Poet Society member before. He order the boys to write an
original poem. Mr. Keating wants his students to be a free thinkers but the other
teachers think he was stupid for doing that by reciting a poem. Mr Keating always make
a way to demonstrate freedom and non conformity. One day, Mr keating tells todd, one
of the students, to stand up and recite his poem. Todd didnt do his homework so he
made improvise poem and he refers to whitman as the snaggly-toothed madman. The
rest of the class applaud with Todds efforts. And by that Mr Keating successfully
reaches out to Todd and builds his confidence. This story tells us about the essence of
life.

Like in our community, we have different roles and purposes. But before knowing that
we have to know ourselves too. We have to come out of our comfort zone. We must
develop our love to our society also, because sometimes we often forget that we are
part of the community and we must love it. The Dead Poet Society story makes us
realize to be responsible and seek for the real meaning of life and our purpose in the
community by making own poem and reciting it with feelings.