The Analysis of the Dead Poets Society

Beyza Gündoğdu

This film, was shot in 1989, shows us the impact of the education system based on

stereotypes. John Keating, the lead actor of the film, is a successful literature teacher who

fights for this oppressive and stereotyped education system. Mr. Keating emphasizes that we

must move away from the disciplined education system and remove the limits. He is a teacher

who asked the students to address him as "oh captain, my captain", defeats the traditional

educational system and strives to ensure that the students look at the world from a different

perspective.

There are 7 students in Welton Academy who have different lives and at the same time,

they are members of the dead poets’ society. Todd is a self-reliant, shy and quiet student who

doesn't care much for his family. Neil is very successful in his classes. He is the favourite

student of the school and also the leader of the group. But he is forced to be a student as his

family wants because his father is very authoritarian. The others have different characteristic’

features but their one common point is John Keating. He is a successful teacher graduated

from Welton Academy. He tried to help them to move away from the rote-learning based

education system and achieve success with a new comprehensible education system.

All the teachers teach from a book and constantly impose memorization on students in the

lesson. For example, in the Latin class, the teacher wrote "agricolae" all over the board and

make them memorized it several times. The students are in no way communicating with the

teacher because the teacher is authoritarian. This attitude of the teacher reminds us of a very

traditional approach, the Grammar-Translation method. The class climate is according to the

GTM, so students are passive. Students are given a list of words in the target language and

they are expected to be memorized. Students are only required to memorize the lesson given
to them. Most of the class are based on teacher-student interaction; the student-student

interaction is limited.

However, in Mr. Keating's first lesson, he tells his students that famous saying: "Carpe,

carpe. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." After the class, the

students thought that the lesson was very strange but different. He always paid attention to the

feelings and thoughts of the students and was interested in them. In Mr. Keating's class

climate, he occasionally taught the lesson on the table, sometimes playing ball outside, and

sometimes playing music. The way these course works is connected with many approaches.

The Total Physical Response’s some significant points can be seen in Mr. Keating’s

classroom climate. Because the teacher used the expression "step on the table" to look at the

world from a different angle, and the students did what they said. In this method, the teacher

instructs the students "jump to the desk" and the students enjoy the same as in this course.

(Lardsen-Freeman, D. & Anderson, M., 2011) In addition, students' feelings are important in

this method. If the students feel good, then they will be successful. Thus, a supportive and

accepting learning environment is created in an effective classroom climate by reducing

special anxiety-reducing activities and techniques, so student’s anxiety is reduced. (Dornyei,

1994) Another important point is that students are wanted them to hit football balls quickly

while they read poetry. The teacher gives commands to the student and the student performs

that. As the students read their poems, the teacher opens music from the background and asks

them to sing poems with music. This situation is associated with Desuggestopedia. The

Desuggestopedia supports the students' singing with rhythm. Here, Mr. Keating asks students

to read poetry by topping out a rhythm.

All teachers, except Mr. Keating, follow the traditional education system and therefore

teachers don’t motivate their students in any way. Mr. Keating always tries to motivate and
create an effective classroom climate for his students. Mr. Keating was aware that the students

were under pressure because of this education system and their families. Therefore, he was

working in with motivation to make them feel more comfortable. For example, in his lecture,

Mr. Keating said: "No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."

“This couldn't ring truer. They're wise words, like those of Mr. Keating that can change the

world.” (Primeau, 2014) Mr. Keating motivated his students not to memorize things but to

succeed with their own ideas and words to change the world. The other example is, Todd was

shy and silent in the class; he said to support him: "Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't

mean choking on the bone." Todd suddenly found himself singing poetry. The teacher's

support and motivation worked. “Henry David Thoreau encourages people to make the most

of life, but Keating's clarification of this quote is a reminder to not move through life too fast

or at a reckless pace.” (Primeau, 2014) Mr. Hearting's coursework in course and authenticity

has opened up a different perspective for the students.

In summary, since Mr. Keating is aware of the damages that the students take from the

traditional education system, so he opposes to the old education system and therefore he gets

a reaction from other teachers. He has opposed the old education system many times but he

wasn’t successful. But when he sees that students who are following the new education

system that he created, so at the end of the film, he gives us a message that "losing is

sometimes the greatest victory."

References:

Lardsen-Freeman, D. & Anderson, M. (2011), Techniques & Principles in Language

Teaching, Oxford University Press, First published (2011), p. between 30-43, 134-148

Dornyei, Z. (1994), the Model Language Journal, Vol. 78, No. 3, pp. 273-284
Retrieved from

http://seas3.elte.hu/coursematerial/RyanChristopher/Dornyei(1994)_Foreign_Language_Class

room.pdf

Primeau, J. (2014), 11 Robin Williams’ ‘Dead Poets Society’ Quotes that will inspire you to

“Carpe Diem" Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/articles/35405-11-robin-williams-

dead-poets-society-quotes-that-will-inspire-you-to-carpe-diem