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Dead Poets Society is a 1989 film that explores the impact that an English teacher, John Keating, had on his students through his unorthodox methods of teaching and unique perspective on life. The film stars Robin Williams as John Keating, an English professor at the extremely conservative Welton Academy and a former member of the Dead Poets Society, and Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, Dylan Kussman, Allelon Ruggerio, and James Waterson as Neil Perry, Todd Anderson, Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, and Gerard Pitts, respectively, as senior students at Welton Academy. Through his teaching methods and literature-inspired beliefs, Keating is able to inspire his pupils to pursue their personal goals and do what they want to do as opposed to what they are told they are supposed to do.
It is Keating's unorthodox approach to teaching that first grabs the attention of the boys in his class. Unlike their other classes, which are...
Curious to find out more about their new teacher, the boys find Keating's picture in an old yearbook and notice that he was once a member of the Dead Poets Society. At this point in the narrative, the boys have never heard of, nor do they know about, the Dead Poets Society. Seeking to break free from the regimented structure of Welton and carpe diem -- as Keating has inspired them to do, this group of boys seeks to restart the Dead Poets Society in order to explore their ambitions.
While the newly re-formed Dead Poets Society gives these boys a venue to have a meeting of the minds, so to speak, it is Neil's decision to pursue his interest in acting -- against his father's wishes -- that forever change the Dead Poets Society and Welton Academy. Though Neil is extraordinary in his portrayal of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, he has been participating in the play behind his parents' backs. Neil's parents are more controlling…
References
Haft, S., Witt, P.J. & Thomas, T. (Producers), & Weir, P. (Director). (1989). Dead Poets Society
[Motion Picture]. United States: Silver Screen Partners IV.
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