Through outdoor soccer games and the ripping of textbook pages, John Keating, an English professor, instructs his pupils of the dangers of conformity and the importance to seize the day. In Tom Schulman’s Dead Poet’s Society, the students of Welton Academy, an all-boys preparatory school, quarrel between tradition and individuality. Mr. Keating emphasizes the value of emotions, mystery and imagination through the teaching of romanticism. The realist administration of Welton founded on the pillars of “tradition, honor, discipline, [and] excellence”, contrast Keating’s passionate teachings. With stringent expectations, the classic film showcases the students’ struggle between satisfying their passions or conforming to society. Through Schulman’s characters Richard Cameron, Neil Perry, and Todd Anderson, the film represents this conflict.
The creation of traditionalist character Richard Cameron, Schulman promotes the realistic sparring partner of Mr. Keating’s teachings. In the beginning of the film Cameron holds the banner that says “tradition”, the pallor showcases Cameron’s role as the traditionalist in movie. Cameron, a meticulous, determined student, is eager to please his teachers and his parents. In Mr. Keating’s first class of the year when he first inspired many of the boys with his romantic philosophies, Cameron asked “Think he’ll test us on that stuff?”. Cameron’s remark proves that his only concern is his academic stature. In later days, Mr. Keating’s class is reading of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D, a preface of the book that allows one to understand poetry by grading its importance and rendering. Mr. Keating is disgusted by the realist idea that a poem could be subjected to the same scrutiny as “laying [a] pipe”. Whe…
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… again. Defiance of tradition and conformity to Nolan and the administration he stands for, prove that Todd is a transformed romantic.Through the characters of Richard Cameron, Neil Perry and Todd Anderson, the film explores the conflict between realism and romanticism. Richard Cameron represents the realism component as his traditionalist ideas and actions coincide with the administration. The character of Neil Perry represent the romantic as he urges to break free of his parents traditional viewpoints. Finally, Todd Anderson represents both a realist and a romantic. He begins as a realist but through Mr. Keating’s passionate teachings he grows to become a profound romantic. In one Keating’s classes he says, “we must constantly look at things in a different way,” this quote further reiterates the importance difference in viewpoints, either romantic or realist.
