Creative Writing

Assignment

Movie Review

Name Pradnya Sanamadikar

Roll no 1056 PRN 17020621249
Class SY-A Batch 2017-20
Name of the movie: Dead Poets Society
Director: Peter Weir
Screenplay: Tom Schulman
Cast: Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Josh Charles.
Genre: Comedy, Teen film, Drama

Review
Peter Weir’s audacious movie, “Dead Poets society” is a peek into a petite portion of the lives of
the boys and their teacher who live in an all male, prestigious prep school. The movie begins
with a series of establishing shots starting from a picture of a portrait to a close up shot of a
little boy dressed neatly in a slick uniform. The background score comprises of indistinct chatter
of people, indicating the frame of a public gathering, along with the dialogues. The following
establishing shots give a tentative idea of the location of the shot. Following a medium long
shot, discovering the characters of the movie entering into an assembly hall. The beginning of
the script marks the speech by the head master of this high school at Welton Academy. This is
followed by a tracking shot of the scenarios reopening of the school where the students are back
from their summer break.
Todd Anderson, who appears to be a young student who has newly joined the high school and is
new to everyone, is one of the main characters of the movie. Todd is the centre of the first few
shots, which makes the viewer believe that the story line will revolve around this character. But
later, as the movie progresses, it equally focuses on the group of students and not just Todd
Anderson.
The movie firmly speaks against conformity and the dominance, society and parents have
over their children. It depicts how young generation at that time is obliged to respect and be
obedient to their parents and elders. The beginning scene where Anderson’s father introduces
him to the headmaster, the viewers can see the distress in the eyes of Anderson and his
maneuver. The burden of living up to their expectations of him being as good as his brother, is
evident. Also, this scene is followed by introducing other characters of the movie. The small
conversation between Neil and his father also lays light on the dominance issued discussed
before. The next scene is composed of three to four empty shots, of a clock and a series of
flocks of birds flying. These shots are also called as montage, which usually indicate passing of
time. The next few shots are classes conducted by different teachers of different subjects. All
these classes are symmetrically shot following the usual courses of action until the next scene of
the classroom where the diegesis of the scene is interrupted by the entry of a teacher who marks
a new character.
Robert Williams is unapologetically flamboyant in playing Mr. Keating, the new English
professor. The students are galvanized by his unusual and maverick ways of teaching poetry. In
his first class, he inspires students by asking them about “carpe diem” which means “seize the
day.” He also utters a famous poem written by Whitman as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln. The
students are blown away by his idea of grabbing the opportunity and living an extraordinary life.
The following scenes describe the diegesis of the environment of an elite school where students
are scholars and determined to excel in their studies. However, the story line is averted when
Knox, another character from the group goes out at a family friends’ for supper and experiences
the bliss of nascent love.
The next series of shots portray bold and unusual methods of teachings by Mr. Keating.
Encouraging the students to tear out the pages of introduction from their poetry books which
explain a formula based analysis of poetry. He instills a passion for poetry in each of the
students.
The story line follows the discovery of the ‘Dead poets society ‘ by the students. This ‘Dead
poets society ‘ was is a name given to a group of former students of Welton who were driven by
poetry and which Mr. Keating was a part of. Later the boys decide to reinstate the ‘Dead poets
society.’
Keating’s passion for poetry is depicted in one of the scenes where he says “ We dint just
read poetry, we let it drip from our tongues like honey.” The other instances of Keating’s unusual
teaching methods include making the boys stand on his desk to explain how people have
different perspectives and opinions, asking them to walk in the courtyard with their own unique
style to illustrate conformity, ask them to yawp! He also gives lessons of poetry through sports.
The story line follows a series of incidents that show the growing bond between the students and
Mr. Keating. The somber climax of the movie leaves the viewer perplexed. It also gives the
viewers a sense of despair as to how society blames on someone determined to bring a change
but does not follow the traditional norms, for something the society is responsible for.
The movie is a masterpiece, an excellent portrayal of how conformism crushes the soul and kills
a passionate artist. The climax shot where all the students stand on their desks is sure to give
goose bumps. It simply inspires the viewers to seize the day and follow the heart.