Most movies portray teachers as miserable and cruel to their students. But few are portrayed like John Keating, played by the legendary Robin Williams, in Dead Poets Society. Keating walks into Welton Academy and starts a revolution against the rigid and obedient academy. He makes the students rip pages out of their textbooks, stand on desks, shout verses of poetry and most dangerously, think for themselves. To the audience, he seems like the ideal teacher that is passionate, inspiring, and brave enough to challenge the unyielding system. But the film shows how inspiration, in a controlling society, can lead to disastrous and beautiful consequences.
Welton Academy is a school of discipline and compliance. The school’s pillars, “Tradition, Honor, Discipline, Excellence,” tower over the boys like commandments. They march through the hallways in unison and their futures are entirely planned out by their parents. In comes John Keating to this well cogged machine, who despises these rules and authority. He challenges the students to think differently. He tells them that life is short and they must “seize the day”. To these boys who are pressured to live up to their parents’ expectations, his words feel like a breath of fresh air.
The beauty of Keating’s teaching is how it changes something in each student. For Todd Anderson, the quiet, introverted boy, it’s him finding his voice and coming out of his comfort zone. For Neil Perry, it’s the courage to pursue acting—his passion—despite his father’s disapproval. These moments are electrifying and powerful as the boys directly challenge socially accepted rules and embrace their differences. Even the cave meetings of the “Deads Poets Society,” where the boys read poetry in candlelight feel like a rebellion against the strict order of Welton. Keating’s teachings give the students not just the permission to think and dream, but the words to express them.
But the film never lets the audience forget the cost of defiance. The more the boys begin to think freely, the more dangerous it becomes. Their rebellion draws pressure from teachers and parents who expect them to follow the rules. Specifically, Neil’s story becomes the heart of this tragedy, the boy who dared to “seize the day” only to find the world won’t let him. His act of defiance ends in death, the ultimate consequence of the society punishing individuality.
This is where Dead Poets Society becomes more than a story of an inspiring teacher to his students. Keating’s philosophy is a fine line between inspiration and destruction. His teachings have the ability to save the students, but in a system opposed to emotion, it becomes ruinous. Neil’s death was not because of Keating’s lessons, but because of the institution and his father’s inability to support his one true passion. Keating lit a spark in Neil, but the world wouldn’t let it burn further.
Cinematically, Peter Weir tells the story through the contrast. When the boys are at school, all the frames are symmetrical and tight. They only loosen up when they’re with Keating or in the cave. Even sound design mirrors freedom and repression; silence dominates scenes with authority figures like the principal and parents, while poetry and laughter echo through the caves. In the final scene when Todd Anderson stands up on the desk, it becomes one of cinema’s greatest emotional endings. It confirms that Keating’s words permanently changed how the boys see the world. Dead Poets Society reminds us that art and ideas are powerful because they’re dangerous. They upset, they challenge, and they uncover truths that those in power would rather keep concealed. “Seize the day” isn’t just about living unfettered but being brave enough to be yourself in a world that rewards conformity. The film ends with a haunting question: What is the cost of thinking for yourself and is it still worth it?
