Weir unfolds the narrative structure of Dead Poets Society around the Issue of Romanticism, a time where men who were Romantics searched for freedom In imagination and individuality. Weir crafts this in the film by editing in shots of nature that is free and wild, he chose nature because men who were Romantics believed it was nature that was the key to unlocking the soul. By comparing the confines of education with the freedom of Romanticism, Weir makes me realism that education has the power to crush a mans soul.
Director Peter Weir cunningly chooses to unfold the narrative structure around Romanticism because the freedom that men who were Romantics possessed contrasts with the restrictions of education. To make us realism this, Weir inserts long shots of nature, but not an ordered nature, nature that is wild and untamed because Walton Is a ordered school, controlled by strict rules and regulations to the point where the students seem Like they are In a prison.
A scene that reflects this Is where Weir uses a shot of an open field with a cluster of birds flying away freely then cuts to he stairwell at Walton, where the students are yelling and trying to get down the stairs in utter chaos. Walton Academy is a highly regarded single sex boys school, which thrives on the high expectations of the parents of students who go there. The standard Job of the teacher Is to ‘prepare the students for college, nothing more, nothing less. ‘ However, the new English teacher Mr.. Keating thinks differently.
Keenan treats his students as equals, not as objects to mould into the desired shape of the parents. Weir crafts this in the film by using a eye level shot when we first meet Mr.. Keating, the eye level shot symbolizes equality because Keating was once a student at Walton. Weir could have used a low angle shot, like he used for the headmaster in the opening scene to show that he Is superior to the students, but Keating Is not like the headmaster and other teachers at Walton. He teaches his students “Carper Idle,” to “seize the day” and teaches them to have their own beliefs and not to conform.
We see his teaching style ore clearly in the courtyard scene, where Keating gets three students to walk in a circle at their own pace and style, but they start walking in unison. Keating goes on to say that it is ‘important to have your own beliefs and thoughts even though others may think they are bad,’ then he quotes Robert Frost “two roads diverged into a wood, but I took the road less traveled by. ” At the end of the scene Keating asks everyone to left standing still, “exercising the right not to walk” he says, proving Mr.. Settings point exactly “to swim against the stream.
Dead Poets Society is a inspiring movie filled with subliminal messages about freedom and individuality. By comparing and contrasting education with Romanticism Weir makes me realism that with the restrictions education puts upon us as students and the expectations that come with trying to achieve excellences, our soul slowly diminishes until we are nothing but robotic followers of one another. However, it is only people who strive to be true individuals who can change the way they are educated to become free thinking and idealists.
