CARPE DIEM - SEIZE THE DAY - MAKE YOUR LIVES EXTRAORDINARY.
I will give you my reasons for choosing this movie but I encourage you to offer your own. Most people love watching movies and today thanks to technology there are no shortage of films available to buy, borrow, rent or view.
I watched Dead Poets Society two months before beginning my career as a French teacher. I immediately identified with the eager and unorthodox English teacher portrayed by Robin Williams. He taught in an elite boys only prep school set in the early sixties.
The students sent to this school were expected to reach the Ivy Leagues and no lower or they were counted as failures. Williams believed in using creative methods to teach his lessons. In fact, his first lesson was to have each student rip every page out of the ancient and rigid English textbook and throw them away.
Williams taught literature and Shakespeare as if it is something to inspire students and perhaps even enjoy. The teenage students gravitated to him. One student, Robert Sean Leonard, takes Williams message to heart and appears in a local Shakespeare production which enrages his father. This sets up the pivotal scene in the movie.
I won't tell you the whole story except to say that Dead Poets Society could easily have been used instead of one of the Shakespearian tragedies which we all were forced to study in high school. All the elements were there and it would have been more relevant to students. Perhaps I would have enjoyed Shakespeare with a teacher like Williams. Most students endured it.
Williams, becomes somewhat of a tragic hero in the movie. Having taught for a few years before leaving it behind me, I have to say that his actions in the early parts of the movie led him to the eventual end. The one little guy doesn't beat the big machine in the real world. He doesn't usually win on screen either. Williams' character took on a Golaith, a tad too tall for him. Still he overshadowed all of the other teachers in the drab boys school and brought life to it.
Some of the other actors like Hawke and Leonard have gone on to greater roles and the movie helped Williams move on to more serious roles. The movie continually inspires the audience and the students with the poetry, acting, music, scenery and drama. It's one of those few movies that doesn't preach. Instead it opens up many questions and allows the viewer to think about them. I've seen the movie about a dozen times since that summer night in 1989. I bought the VHS Cassette and I would shell out for a DVD if I had to some day. CARPE! DIEM - SEIZE THE DAY - MAKE YOUR LIVES EXTRAORDINARY.
