Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets SocietyTo describe what transcendentalism is to someone would just take too long and knowing my skills of explaining, I won‘t even try. So, to sum it up as short as possible. I would have to use one single phrase from the movie “Dead Poets Society”. It’s said by Mr. Keatings on one of his first days teaching. As he’s standing behind a group of kids and he tells them to “seize the day”. That to me describes all of what transcendentalism is, it tells them to have no regrets, to stop and smell the roses, don’t follow rules just because they’re there, do it because they mean something to you, follow your gut instincts. I find all these meanings in that one little phrase. Most people are afraid to do what Mr. Keatings had told them to do. Seizing the day would mean that you would have to be yourself, to make your own choices. With a school like Welton people did become afraid and they lashed back, trying to get people back to the original rules and the everyday routines.
In the beginning of the movie, all the boys did as they were told, they said the four pillars as they were told and they followed what ever there parents had told them even if it wasn’t something they wanted. One good example of this would be when Neil Perry’s father had told him to drop out of his Yearbook editing class. No one, not any one of them had the guts to go against what there father’s wishes. Later when Mr. Keatings showed up, he taught them that they had a mind of there own and that they could use it on there own. He had also taught the boys how to see things from there own perspective, to let them see what life had in store for them. When the boys found out about the Dead poet’s society they were all excited to rebel and to rebuild this once lost society of reading old poems and to be free at the same time out in an open cave. This was only the beginning of finding themselves.
All the boys did different things that had made them feel alive, that made them feel themselves. One that stuck out at me was Neil Perry’s. All he had wanted to do was to act in a play; he had wanted that more then anything else. When he finally got the part he was overwhelmed with happiness. He knew that it would have gone against his father’s wishes if he had gone on with his play. So he decided to go on with it with out permission. In the end his father did find out, and no matter how much Mr. Keatings had told him to tell his father how he felt about acting he knew that it wouldn’t change his fathers mind. After the fist night his father had met up with him in the theater and brought him home. As they were talking about Neil’s actions, one thing that Mr. Perry had said struck out at me, it was when he said “why do you insist on defying us?” With this one remark it was said that he had no idea how much it had meant to Neil to be on that play. And after the suicide He still didn’t know. And he will never know. All he’ll do is to place blame on the closes thing to him, and it was Mr. Keating that had taught the kids to supposedly rebel. In this case I don’t think it was the teachers teaching that got to Neil but, in a way it was Neil’s fault for being to chicken to speak out, he had the perfect chance to do so, that moment of silence could of changed everything. But he didn’t. But then again even if he had told his father how he felt about the play it wouldn’t have done much of a difference. His father didn’t care about the play anyways it was a dead end road so why even take it. Neil knew he had done well with the play and in the end right before he had killed himself he had felt good about the play and he felt alive.
Finally in the end of the movie when the boys all stood up for Mr. Keatings when he was about to leave, this was the only way that the kids could show how much he had meant to them. In the beginning of the movie Mr. Keatings had told them to get on top of there desks and see things from a different point of view and also that they can’t always follow the road that has been rode on all day. And they did, Todd in the end was the leader of the pack by being the first one to stand on top of his desk commending Mr. Keatings on his job by doing the final thing. He stood up on top of that desk for Mr. Keatings saying Oh captain my captain. Most of the other boys followed in his footsteps and also got on top of the table. Mr. Keating had made a big impact on those boys’ lives by teaching them to become more of a transcendentalist, and they will never forget that.
I’ve seen this move many times now and only this time did I really understand the plot behind this movie. Between Mr. Keatings, the kids, Todd, Neil, and Nwanda. I still don’t know if I was able to explain Transendentalism in the form that you wanted me to, but i did see it in the movie and I do understand it a lot better then before. I really enjoy this movie. It’s actually taught me a lot of stuff watching it this time around. And I hope that I was right with the idea of “seize the day” thing.