It was in this context that I came across Dead Poets Society after watching the movie “Boys Choir”, which is also recommended below the movie.The story takes place in a high school called Wilton Preparatory Academy in the late 1950s. This college is known for its calm and serious teaching style and high rate of advancement, as the students inside, the ideal is to enter a prestigious school, all the teachers, parents to “ensure that they are sent to a prestigious school” as the goal, the school’s motto is also “tradition, discipline, honor, excellence The school motto is “Tradition, Discipline, Honor, Excellence”.
The arrival of new semester literature teacher John Keating was like a spring breeze, breaking the school’s rigid style from the traditional rigidity of a prestigious school. Keating took the students to listen to the sound of death and think about the meaning of life in the school history building; to tear apart the rigid books and learn to learn by heart and feel the book of life and life; to let the boys run on the green field, release their nature, speak their ideals and use poetry is to make a roar; to encourage the students to stand on their desks, look down on the world with a new perspective and rethink. The teacher’s free and diffuse philosophical thinking resonated strongly within the students, and they gradually learned to think and seek for themselves, bravely pursuing the path of life, even breaking the door ban and re-establishing the Dead Poetry Club, striking a song in the cave.
Keating is a good teacher and a friend who can talk to everyone. His education is emotional, inspiring, guiding and experiencing, which nourishes students’ hearts like spring breeze and rain, and the once obedient students, under the guidance of Keating, break through the cage and are full of passion to find the love in their hearts and strive to realize their hot ideals.
Keating uses the power of poetry to inspire the repressed nature of these 17-year-olds, their unlimited potential that cannot be released. Charlie began to show his talent for pranks; Knox recklessly to pursue his love; Neil for the first time against his father’s wishes, to achieve his dream of acting, even the always timid Todd, also in Keating’s inspiration, jumped on the table to recite their own poetry. And when Neil, one of the main characters, faced with his father’s opposition, hesitated whether to continue to act in the theater, he came to Keating for answers. So on that cold snowy night, Neil wore a crown of elven flowers to retrace the bright moment of self-blooming, and then decided to end his young life in the altar of dreams.
Neil’s death brings the play to a climax, giving the audience a deep shock, allowing them to see the persistent pursuit of ideals and beliefs lurking in the hearts of these children, and their determination to resist dogmatism and reality. But undoubtedly Neil’s death throws another question to the public, the young children in the face of the forces that block their pursuit of their dreams and still can not fight the only thing they can do is to die? People will face death with fear, choose suicide requires more courage, if not ashes, desperate to the extreme, will not want to give up life. But at the same time, the real problem with his suicide is that he did not have a good balance between his dreams and reality, and just because a person has dreams does not mean he needs to be free from reality.
I believe we all have an answer in our hearts. The evolution of human beings and the development of the world cannot be separated from the impetus of great human ideas, which are born precisely at the moment when they touch the depths of the soul. The environment can shape a person, and everyone comes into the world with their own life code. When we all grow up under the same education, being oppressed and bound, only by breaking through the confinement can we let our thoughts choose themselves. As the beginning of the movie says, “Death, is drawing all the essence of life.” But I think that only when we really face the abyss of despair, watch the serious chase, look for hope, and have our ideals crushed in front of us, can we be worthy of “death is to draw all the essence of life.” Otherwise, death is just death.
In the early morning after that snowy night, the members of the Dead Poets Society walked in the snow. Neal’s roommate, Todd, looked at the snow-white sky and earth, the pale earth was silent. He smiled, smiled beautifully like an angel who fell to earth, he said softly “beautiful.” But his gray-blue eyes, the grief could not be hidden. Finally, Mr. Keating also became a scapegoat for the death of Neil was expelled from school, when Mr. Keating came to the classroom for the last time to get his scarf left behind, looking at the teacher with a smile, with a gentle gaze on their own, Todd finally brave despite the principal’s threat to stop, stood up on the desk and said the sentence that Mr. Keating taught them “Oh! captain, my captain!”, and finally part of the people who were awakened, also stood up on the desk with “Oh!
Mr. Keating was relieved to see this scene because he knew that the seeds of freedom had taken root in the hearts of the students, and that the most valuable thing in life is to meet a teacher who truly enlightens the soul. Although Mr. Keating has left them, the idea of freedom will be passed on from generation to generation. No matter what anyone says, words and ideas do change the world.