By: HAYLEE SAESEE
Staff Writer
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American film directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman. The film is well known for its inspiring, endearing, and emotionally engaging message. Set in Vermont in 1959, it follows the lives of a group of boys who attend an elite conservative boarding school known as Welton Academy. Former alumni of Welton Academy, John Keating (Robin Williams) or ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ takes on the new role of teaching English, but in a way that others may view as unorthodox. Despite the school’s high value of tradition and standards, Keating encourages the boys to value themselves. The phrase, ‘Carpe diem,’ Latin for Seize the Day, is one of the most significant symbols in the film. It emphasizes the value of freedom and self-expression, ultimately impacting the lives of these boys as they begin to discover their true passions and purposes. The principles that Keatings teaches are based solely on poetry and free thinking and how they affect the human race and the way of the world. Regardless of the views that others have on Keating’s methods of teaching, he makes it his life’s goal to be an example of individuality. In theory, this further strengthens his underlying message that we only live once and, for that reason, should live on our own terms.