Forms of Dissent: A Take on Dead Poets Society and How It Probes the Audience to Think Critically

Written By: Lalitha Hasini Challapalli 

Edited By: Iniya J

Graphic Design By: Iniya J

Dead Poets Society is a rejection of conformism in the modern world. It is an extremely layered and nuanced take on dissent. It doesn't just challenge the idea of conformity in everyday life; it asks individuals to follow their instincts and destabilize structures of institutionalism, disciplinarian regimes, objective/empirical knowledge (and focus on the cardinality of creative expression), and patriarchal structures while emphasizing free will, free thinking, and making one's own choices. 

What happens when the freedom to choose who you want to become is in conflict with the institutions that have already decided who you should become?

The First Act of Dissent: Thinking for Yourself

Neil Perry lives under his father's choices, authority, and rules. Neil's father emphasizes Tradition, Honour, Discipline, and Excellence and wants his son to live by the choices he makes. 

This begins to change when his English teacher, Mr. Keating, starts teaching at Welton Academy. Mr. Keating acts as the catalyst who breaks Neil and all his classmates out of the shackles they have placed themselves in as a result of their restrictive society and the curtailment of their minds. 

Mr. Keating weaponizes poetry to transform the students and inspire them to introspect, explore their identities, and consider who they want to be. He uses poems like "The Road Not Taken" and the phrase "Carpe Diem" to inspire the students. 

This film challenges the notion of emotional expression through art and writing being considered feminine. Usually, boys sharing poetry, acting in Shakespearean plays, and expressing emotion were often perceived as “feminine” or "queer". Instead, this film presents the importance of male expression and emotional expression as unrelated to sexual or gender orientation. 

Keating introduces the boys to poetry and teaches them the value of emotional maturity and intellectual independence. He urges them to embrace their emotions, grapple with them, and use them to guide their path in life, even if that means taking the road less travelled. These lessons are not just helpful; they’re essential, and without them, it is impossible to develop into a self-governing, emotionally mature, free-thinking man. 

This is especially shown when Neil comes to ask Keating about how he can convince his father to let him act in the play. He urges Neil to show what he “feels” to Mr. Perry.

Dissent is expressed in the movie against the social norms of the 1950s, when the events in the film take place. Some or most of these norms even exist today, making the film’s ideas about conformity and individuality still relevant.

When Education Becomes Conformity

One of the clearest forms of dissent in Dead Poets Society is found in its portrayal of education. The movie also focuses on the dangers of conservative institutionalism, particularly through academic and parental institutions. 

Presenting two competing methods of education. The first is the process of rote memorization and blind obedience practiced by most teachers at Welton Academy. The academy has a standard way of teaching that every teacher follows without an individual style in the way knowledge is conveyed. At Welton, students are trained to obey authority and internalize whatever knowledge their teachers deem fit to pass on to them. 

The ideal Welton student obeys authority without question, memorizing Latin, trigonometry, history, and other subjects. Even a subject like English, which encompasses poetry, is taught using graphs and measurements rather than a subjective and creative analysis. Students are not taught to analyse or think using their own minds or put their hearts to work. Instead, they have to memorize graphs to understand which poem is the best. 

At Welton, education is just a means for students to enter a good college and later secure a good job. The Welton way is not designed to foster genuine passion for knowledge whatsoever or encourage critical or abstract thinking; it is designed to produce graduates who will go on to make lots of money.

The second way of education is the “Keating way”. By contrast, it is designed to get young people to think for themselves. Keating’s classes stress the idea that a “good life” must be structured around one’s unique passions, not society’s rules. He trains the students to think for themselves.

He uses humor, performance, and wit to encourage his students to think freely. He uses out-of-classroom teaching methods. He lets his students stand on desks, walk around the schoolyard, yell in class, and play sports.

Who Gets to Decide Who You Become?

The conflict between individual and authority extends beyond the classroom. 

Parental authority and ownership are represented not just in Neil's case but in every Welton student's case, where the parents pressure their children on who they have to be, what they have to become, and even what to say. 

Mr. Perry, the patriarchal figure of the house, constantly tries to control Neil and his life, constantly micromanaging his life, such as even his extracurriculars, despite Neil fulfilling all his academic expectations.

The same could be said of Welton’s understanding of success. The students are trained to achieve “success for the sake of success,” not for their own happiness.

This raises a larger question: when does guidance become control? 

In psychology, identity formation is a complex process that involves developing a clear and unique view of oneself and one's identity. It is closely related to self-concept, personality development, and values. Individuation is a critical part of identity formation, and it defines individuals to others and themselves. 

The concept of personal continuity refers to posing questions about oneself that challenge the original perception, such as "Who am I?" This continuity and inner unity are healthy identity formation, while a disruption in either could be viewed as abnormal development.

This process usually takes place in the teenage or adolescent years. When parents have too much control over the individual's identity, it suffocates them as it did for Neil.

The film presents this sense of authority through verbal symbolism. When Neil dies; his father’s repeated words "My son, My son," rather than calling him by his name or viewing him as his own individual, emphasize the ownership he has over Neil.

The Morality of Conformity

The opening scene of the film conveys the preeminence of conformity at Welton Academy: Welton’s students dutifully file into the chapel, dressed in the same school blazers and reciting the same “four pillars” of success at Welton: tradition, honour, discipline, excellence. 

In a way, conformity, with its blind emphasis on sameness and repetition, is the real villain of Dead Poets Society. The movie rebels against this too. They aren't individuals; rather, they are Welton products dressed in Welton blazers. Their morality is not of their own; rather, it is produced by the institution and encouraged by their parents, as seen in the scene where Todd's parents ask him to stand up and recite.

This connects back to identity formation.  Developing one's own moral code is integral to becoming an individual. Personal moral code refers to an individual's own set of beliefs, values, and principles about what is right and wrong. As individuals mature, they may accept, modify, or reject values they were taught during childhood. 

By repeating the same principles in every context for many years while the students live at Welton, the institution’s conformity robs students of their autonomy and agency to form their own principles and their authority to decide what values to apply to their lives.

Further observations on the film and how it employs other themes to convey its message : 

A Freudian Take

In Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the human personality is divided into three parts: the id, ego, and superego. These components constantly interact, shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and emotional responses. The id is the most primitive part of the mind. It is entirely unconscious and driven by the pleasure principle, seeking gratification of desires. The superego represents the moral standards and ideals we have internalized from parents, society, and culture. The Ego acts as the realistic decision-make which helps to carry out the desires of the id in a realistic way. The film can be interpreted through the framework of attributing characters to the id, ego, and superego.  The students represent the id, while Mr. Keating is the ego, who breaks students free of the weighted moral and societal component of the superego as he emphasizes the cardinality of expressing oneself through acceptable ideas.

 As Keating’s students learn more and more from him, they’re inspired to rebel against their parents and the Welton administration. However, many of the students also misinterpret Keating’s ideas, celebrating rebellion for its own sake and thus exercising their id irregularly. 

Initially, when they realise their id against the superego, they immediately act upon it foolishly. For instance, Charlie Dalton pulls an elaborate prank on Headmaster Nolan, seemingly for no other reason than to embarrass Nolan in front of the entire student body.  Keating later reprimands Charlie for his actions, suggesting that pranks and similar kinds of rebellion can be harmful when motivated by childish destructiveness, rather than sincere conviction, hence emphasizing the role of the ego. In general, many of Keating’s students mistake the thrill of disobedience for genuine passion.

Keating’s lessons in non-conformity and “seizing the day” could be interpreted as inciting rebellion, but ultimately, Keating is really a moderate figure. This is why he can be represented as the ego.

Rethinking Masculinity

Why the film stands as such a refreshing rarity in masculine portrayals is because it manages to defy the dated and cartoonish “traditional” male archetypes without swinging to the extremes of the contrary, like we often see in modern cinema. 

Many of today’s films insist on feminising traditionally masculine characteristics to show men in a positive light; male friend groups acting under a female friendship dynamic; fathers playing a maternal role in the family, as if the only time a paternal relationship can be shown in a positive light is when it’s not particularly paternal at all.

When the Film Speaks Without Words

Visual rhetoric employed throughout the film. Scenes in which Mr. Keating teaches are usually brightly lit and full of a yellow chromatic scale. When Neil dies, winter, snow, and dark settings without light are used to show loss.

Behavioural contrast is seen in the way Keating and other teachers behave. Keating's body language is free; he constantly uses humor. He stands on tables. He makes "hissing" sounds to make the classroom activities more fun. The other teachers have a rigid, stern body language and use a highly academic linguistic tone.

During his performance as Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Neil Perry wears a crown of flowers on his head, and before he dies, Neil puts on his crown. The crown of flowers might allude to a famous Biblical symbol, the crown of thorns that Jesus Christ was forced to wear before being executed. Just as “crown of thorns” has become a symbol of suffering and sacrifice, the crown of flowers suggests the way that Neil will sacrifice his life for his love of art and beauty. I also believe that it means that he, for once, wants to feel like an actor before he finally ends his life.

The ‘Artist’ vs. the Life Chosen for Him

As Mr. Keating emphasizes free will, making one's own choices, and free expression, Neil realizes what he truly loves: acting. He chooses it even though he was taught not to be individualistic. 

He auditions for a play and gets the role. He invites his father to the play, who himself realizes his son's brilliance and talent. However, like any patriarchal figure in an elitist setting, for him, tradition, honour, and discipline mattered more. Mr. Perry rejects the idea of Neil becoming an actor. This is a heavy contrast between the artist and the job-oriented graduates. Neil wanted to be an artist, someone who expresses himself through the art of acting.

Martha Graham, a famous dancer, said that a dancer dies twice — once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful. They die when their art is robbed from them or when their art gets exhausted. 

This can be applied to any artist, even an actor. Neil dies his first death when he is rejected from pursuing his choice of becoming an actor, and cannot see a life with his art still a part of it. He loses his hope to live, and thus, he dies his final death.