Dead Poets Society

The film "Dead Poets Society" produced by Peter Weir, experiences many themes throughout the film. Conformity, romance, and poetry are just few of the many themes. A few students form a group together against the school rules, Knox, a member of the group, falls in love with Chris, a beautiful girl that attends the high school not far from Welton Academy, and finally, the group that the boys are all in is all about poetry.

     A group of boys attending Welton Academy are accompanied by a new teacher for the year. Mr. Keating, the new teacher had a unique way of teaching the boys. He mainly focused on getting the students to think of things in a different way. The first unit in the book that was yet to be taught, was about poetry, but Keating had a better way of teaching it. By ripping out the pages in the book, the students would now have to think for themselves. The poetry that the students learned helped them break partially away from their parents and were able to make decisions alone. Poetry helped the students focus on what they wanted to do with their lives and not what their parents wanted best for them. 

    There was a group of boys in Mr. Keating`s class that really took an interest in his teaching and the topics in class during the poetry. The boys conformed a poetic group passed down by Mr. Keating. The group allowed the students to express anything they have had locked up and any sort of feeling. The downfall to the new group they have formed, it involved them sneaking out in the mitts of the night while everyone else was passed out. It remained a secret for quit some time, until it all started coming out, and the boys were busted.

    Throughout Peter Weir`s theme filled film, Knox, a member of the group, fell in love with a beautiful girl named Chris. It was tough for Knox to see her all the time due to her attending a regular high school away from Welton and her also having a boyfriend. Knox proved his love to Chris using the poetry he had learned in class from Mr. Keating, and slowly gained her heart as she gained his. Knox had to deal with the other issue of his group and how it was becoming much more then a secret, but he held in and managed to succeed with Chris but ended up failing with his group after one of the members committing suicide due to his parents.

     All in all, the movie explored the lives of teen boys who were fed up with listening to what their parents had for them and what their parents wanted them to do in life. The group they had been in helped the boys discover who they really are. The short lived freedom really left an impact on all the boys lives.