Dead Poets Society | Analyzing The First And The Final Scene
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- čas přidán 10. 01. 2020
- So I've made another video on the Dead Poet Society, this time analysing the opening scene and looking at the theme of tradition in this film.
If you want to watch the first video - Dead Poets Society Analysis: The Death of Neil Perry, here's the link • Dead Poets Society Ana...
No one's favourite scene from Dead Poets Society is the first scene because it's easy to overlook in comparison to iconic moments such as O Captain, my Captain. It's a subtler scene that helps to weave in some of the themes later explored in the film such as tradition, discovering of knowledge, discipline, and an important motif of candles and light. Easy to overlook, but worth analysing.
Patreon link - / mylittlethoughttree
Music: Leav - One Day We Will
#deadpoetssociety #videoessay #robinwilliams - Krátké a kreslené filmy
*inhales* THANK YOU FOR SAYING TODD IS THE MAIN CHARACTER
Do some people think it's Keating?
My Little Thought Tree Most likely, since nowadays most people associate this movie with him and since it is Robin Williams, and the only scene they ever talk about is the end. And on some Instagram posts I’ve seen about the movie, I’ve seen comments of “is that Ethan Hawke?” meaning they don’t know much else about the movie other than Williams. But I think some people might also think Neil is the main character since it focuses on his story a lot and RSL is billed higher than Hawke.
My Little Thought Tree also, if you were to ask me who was the main character back when I first watched this movie, I would have said Keating. It’s taken many viewings and analyzations for that to change
@@mylittlethoughttree someone up above didn't realize Todd was the main character. I mentioned that Todd was the most changed. From my study of literature the main character is often the one most changed. I think the study of literature is a bit lessened in the past few decades. Keating is the catalyst--many catalysts (in chemistry) remain mostly unchanged.
@@taylorbuice4728 Todd is the most changed. In most stories the most changed in the main character. Many people think Keating because he is the inspiring catalyst, sexy, dramatic. Keating doesn't develop or change
Note who holds which banner:
Tradition: Cameron (the snitch who stays loyal to the school)
Honor: The cat sat on the mat writer
Discipline: Knox
Excellence: Neil
So what is the significance of the second one? I am pretty sure I get the symbolism of the banners Cameron and Neil are carrying. Knox... 🤔 Well, he was the "undisciplined" one, so in his case the symbolism seems to be reversed.
@@SilhouetteSE Not everything is significant. CatSatOnMat may have been one of the banner carriers simply because having too many of our main characters as banner carriers would have been too obvious. OTOH, he does honor Mr Keating at the end by standing on his desk. Knox is second to stand on his desk, right after Todd (just something to note).
@@julietardos5044 Oh.... OK. I thought when you said "note who" in the previous comment, you were onto something.
Yes, I remember the ending scene quite well. Have seen the movie more than 50 times, probably.
I don't think Knox has the discipline
@@SilhouetteSE where is the honour in a cat sat on the mat poem or laughing at the chrissy poem. Maybe that’s the answer
I had a teacher in middle school and high school who was very much like Mr. Keaton in Dead Poet Society. I remember one thing he said in one of his classes being, "If by the end of your time in school, all you know is the text from the books, I've failed as a teacher." That has always stuck with me and likely always will.
My favorite teacher was an English Literature teacher I had in High School. She had an amazing personality... I have lots of memories of her... But the most memorable thing she did is every day when we came to class she would start to ask us "What did you observe today?" And it wasn't pretentious it was inviting and she would explain and accept ANYTHING that was an observation or a thought we had. What a way to get our minds opening up and helping us feel comfortable before we would dive into text. Seems simple but it was MONUMENTAL.
Yea there’s more to learning and education than simply blindly memorizing facts
i honestly find amazing how the ending scene they didnt have all the students stand up together like its a triumph that everyone will follow, There are still students who conform and continuing with their work.
Not wanting the trouble of breakin from the norm.
It feels both sad and realistic realising by the end of the day not everyone will see it your way
I love watching people analyze such a masterpiece. You bring up a lot of clever points and profound ideas. I had no idea the opening credits were so symbolic.
They're very easy to overlook, aren't they? Glad you enjoyed it though, thanks for letting me know 😊
The man who plays the headmaster is Norman Lloyd. He’ll turn 106 in less than a month.
Knock on wood.
Wow! I just checked imdb, and he is indeed still alive!
He was a physician character in "St. Elsewhere".
rip ):
He passed away on May 11, 2021 at 106 years old, may he rest in peace.
12:01 Keating labeled as a "Thigh Man" near the bottom.
A true man of Culture
In community college I wrote an essay saying this movie wasn't very good, because my prof had given us four negative sources and only one positive one. It's nice to watch this video and be reminded that although I took the easy way out and wrote an essay criticizing :/ It's actually a great movie that I enjoyed watching a lot.
Peter Weir always seems to give his films everything he's got in him, and he typically gets great things out of his cast and crew too.
I briefly taught piano lessons to some of the children at church.
I taught my students by the songs in their books, but one of my students in particular had a harder time playing by the notes and was much better at playing by ear and experimentation/improvisation.
Generally I would use the last 5 or so minutes to let my students experiment on the piano or play whatever songs they wanted.
At first I really pushed the one student who struggled playing by the notes, and she focused and played the songs in her book perfectly.
But then I saw the look on her face: she was so repressed and unhappy. That's when I knew, I had to change the way I taught, at least when it came to her. My other students were relatively fine with playing by the notes, and may have even preferred it. What was the point of teaching her how to play the piano if she was miserable while learning?
From that point on, I still had my student learn by the notes a little, but her lessons became primarily focused on teaching her how to best play by ear.
I would tell my students, "My job isn't to teach you how to play the piano. My job is to teach you how to fall in love with music. Because if I can teach you to love music, then you will continue learning to play the piano (or any instrument) not because your parents make you, but because you want to."
Your editing is actually so engaging
Cheers man, I think I'm getting better at it
On the Scottish theme: Dead Poets Society, Ivy League schools, Rhodes Scholars...these are all associated with secret societies. Skull and Bones secret society, or Lodge, originated at Yale, which, I believe, is an Ivy League school. It's said that one of the original 'secret societies' was the Grand Lodge of Scottish Rites (or whatever it's called), located in Scotland. This is a plausible reason why Welton focuses on Scottish traditions. Great analysis! Cheers.
Another few thoughts on candles: both in Christian and Jewish traditions candles also are a symbol for the soul, when a person dies there is a tradition of lightning a candle.
This both connects to knowledge and tradition. Knowledge as a large part of a person's personality (and consequently maybe their soul) is what they know. A person who loses their knowledge through mental illness loses a large part of their personality. Tradition also connects to an idea of the soul. It is an unseen bond that connects a number of souls, even though generations. In a way tradition is a kind of afterlife. A candle also represents truth. Your soul is your "true you". Neil had his "true self" / his soul stifled by his father and so he can be seen as undergoing death of his soul before his real death.
Lastly and most importantly a candle symbolizes hope. Hope is a belief that even in the midst of darkness some good will be present.
Great videos, By the way!
I don't know if you've figured out the copyright thing, so I figured I'd share some tips I've learned over the years.
How to beat Video Copyright
- Change the image by zooming in, zooming out, make the window smaller and put it on a moving background [picture in picture/think dark storm swirling storm clouds in the back and the movie clip smaller on top], flip clips horizontally [doesn't always work], put moving graphics over the video [like snow falling], slow down/speed up footage, use filters [retro tv, scan lines, film grain, static/something that changes the image substantially], change color [black and white, saturation, contrast], put text over the screen [need to cover a large portion of the screen], tight editing of clips [5 seconds per clip/short clips back to back that don't line up with how the movie plays out], overlay opaque movie footage on top the original footage. You may need to use use multiple to confuse the bots. You just need to change the footage enough that the bots can't recognize it. Screenshots are a good route but if you absolutely must have footage, you can get around copyright with these other ways.
How to Beat Audio Copyright
-Talk over it [your talking needs to be significantly louder than the music/dialog and needs to drown it out], play two tracks over top one another, add sound effects that don't exist in the original [like a thunderstorm or rain/has to be a constant sound to confuse the bots], chop the track up [keep consecutive sounds bites from lining up], add music to a scene with copyrighted dialog, use less than 10 seconds [this is a youtube policy but won't stop bots from finding it, you can use the policy to fight but you may not win], distort the audio [like listening to it under water, doesn't always work].
~If you need any examples of these, please let me know. I'll happily provide them. Sometimes it is easier to understand if you can see them in action.
Companies to Avoid [not an exhaustive list]:
- Studio Ghibli and any Japanese studio. They don't care about copyright protections and won't accept fair use as a defense. I believe you already know this.
- Disney. Doesn't care about copyright protections, has legions of paid employees that peruse CZcams for content. Even if a bot misses it, simply showing up in search can get your video claimed/blocked.
I wish you all the luck. Working with copyrighted works is hard, especially when CZcams literally throws you to the wolves. If you are absolutely sure your videos fall under fair use, get a PO Box address and fight the copyright claims. You can appeal strikes and if the company doesn't take you to court/file paperwork within 14 days, their claim on your video is dropped + strike is removed + the company gets blocked from claiming the video again. However, companies sometimes will pay a proxy copyright company to claim for them, so this can be an ongoing thing. The unfortunate part of fighting is you have to give your address to these companies. That's where the PO Box comes in and protects you. If you do choose to fight, only appeal one claim at a time. CZcams now holds money from videos in escrow and it is awarded to the winner. You may want to private claimed videos until you can appeal the claims. Also, most of these companies have it set up to automatically deny your appeal [no one looks at it] and to issue the strike upon appeal [again no one looks to see if fair use or not]. If you continue after you get a strike, the claim usually gets dropped because no one is monitoring this and often times companies won't sue over pennies and take the chance of losing/setting copyright misconduct laws/getting in trouble for not considering fair use [this is a law now]. Please look up YourMovieSucksDOTorg
on CZcams and check out his copyright video. It is over 6 years old but still relevant. This will be extremely help to you.
My God, the fact you'd take the time to write all this for me. That's so touching, thankyou!
I have figured out a lot more since then, however there's still a lot of really useful advice in here. I think appealing more stuff is what I've been cautious with because I'm never sure how serious the threats of court and things are, so I need to appeal more. And yeah, I think keeping them privated until the claims are gone sounds sensible. I'll have to get ahead of schedule enough that I can afford to keep videos private while appealing, and still have something to release every weekend. Thankyou for all this, that's so kind of you. I have technically been going a year with the channel now, but there's so much I'm still learning
@@mylittlethoughttree You are very welcome. I've been through this, for many years, and it is rough when you are a smaller channel. There isn't anyone you can talk to at CZcams and you have to figure things out on your own. I've watched a few newer videos and you've worked a lot of things out for yourself. A lot of this information isn't widely known and has been collected through my years of consuming "infringing" content and learning techniques for getting around the bots. I remember my first copyright claim, my first strike [because I fought] and the anxiety riddled days waiting to see what was going to happen after my appeal. I can't say if companies are all bark and no bite, however I do believe your content falls squarely in education. I'm not a copyright attorney [talk to Leonard J French if you need one] but the stuff you make is well within fair use [in my opinion]. I wish you all the luck and hope you stick with the videos. It can be like pushing a boulder up a very steep hill at times.
Another small thing I forgot to mention. If you go the PO Box route and find that CZcams won't let you put the PO Box address into the copyright form, use the address of the actual building you have your PO Box in. I've never done the PO Box route and CZcams can be strict on what they will allow you to put in forms. No one says you have to play fair. ;)
Hi! I'm a little late to the party, but I just wanted to add a little something, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with your brilliant analysis, it's just relevant to the plot, and since you've talked about it in the video, I felt like I should share.
We actually hear the bagpipe music of the final scene earlier on in the film. There's a quick shot of the bagpipe player rehearsing by the lake, and it cuts to Todd finishing the poem due for Keating's next class. And I think it's very telling : that class is the one where Todd improvised and discovered his talents for poetry, and it's one of the scenes where we see him develop and gain confidence. And after that, we're guessing that the poem he was correcting with the bagpipe in the background must have been very good, and very much presentable to the class.
This bagpipe theme could thus be the musical representation of Todd cracking his shell, becoming a more confident boy, and maybe a real poet... I honestly don't know what I'm saying, I just hope it makes sense :)
Anyways, bagpipe music in this film could be analysed in the same way you analysed light and candles. On the one hand, it's traditionnal, and boring, meaningless (see the overused bagpipe theme); on the other hand, it holds a lot of sense and literaly embodies enlightment, discovery of self-worth, etc etc... (see the remake of the overused theme, that now seems new and fresh, and a better symbole for bravery and epicness)
Well, that's a shitty comment, I apologise for this! Hope I was clear enough for anyone to understand xx
PS: this video is just so good, it's even excellent. Enjoyable and educationnal! Keep up the good work!!!
That wasn't a shitty comment, it was great! I love reading comments like these.
I can't say I ever noticed that bagpipe scene you mention, perhaps I'll have to watch back and look out for it because that's a really good spot. I think that'd make perfect as well. The shy beginnings of what will become Todd full, triumphant roar of self-expression in the ending, or his yawlp, let's say. Thankyou for your thoughts 😊
Interesting observation. Todd's poem, unfortunately, was cut for time, but you can find it on YT.
Deleted scenes-some of them quite important for fleshing out the plot-were restored to the film for the Director's Cut version broadcast on USA network TV in the 1990s and reportedly were also included on the old laserdisc release. Peter Weir has said the film had to be cut down in time for its theatrical release via 'nip and tuck' and the DVD editions issued since unfortunately haven't restored these scenes.
I love your casual tone and great editting. Such an underrated channel
Thanks! That was one of the videos where I felt the editing came together well. Kind of you to comment 😊
I feel that him standing among the light in the end is him being the candle meaning he has the knowledge of true tradition.
All i can say is - good job man. Really good job. Nice, funny editing, superb choice of music.
Really good little thoughts xD, nice choice of words. Don't give up! Try to keep up with good work.
Thanks man, the encouragement does mean the world. With all the support I've been getting I don't think I possibly could give up. I'm just going to keep trying to post videos every week and keep enjoying the process
Worth noting: the mural with the "ideal students" was created by the famous painter N.C. Wyeth, many decades before filming, so it wasn't created for the sake of symbolism of the scene.
I like your analysis, and think it's pretty neat that Peter Weir and crew looked at what they had to work with and pulled those three out of a mural that I would guesstimate (based on recollection as a student there) is 200 sq ft or more.
We’ve all had one or two grate teachers like Keating. I remember one who left me with some words that stuck with me, she said the things you learn hear most likely won’t really be useful in life, but the effort required to play the game of school i, it requires a curtain level of discipline that if mastered now, sets you up to do well in all aspects of life in the world in which we live. Trigonometry won’t be helpful unless you end up studying engineering, mathematics or something similar, but the effort and discipline required to learn it in order to pass an exam, the critical thinking required to comprehend how it works and why it works and everything required to get through school with even a halfway decent grade is absolutely relevant. And it took me a while to notice this, it wasn’t till after I finished high school. And to be honest, high school was mostly just a drag, save for those moments of clarity given to me by the few fantastic teachers who stick in my mind. School is a game, if you play by the rules, skills learned aren’t those the actual content teaches you, but rather what the act of playing the game does. Learning the ins and outs of a book you’ll never read again and would have never chosen to read so you can write assets on it isn’t helpful, but learning to write well is, learning to think critically is and learning to have some grit is. This is what I would go back and tell my teenage self in their moments of abject apathy regarding school.
Awww the little kids; I love that they show the new students entering as the main characters were once little children starting out
The most important scene is the courtyard scene, here Mr Keating is spelling it out for the boys about conformity and that going against the flock and their wishes will make you question your own ideals and thoughts and how you will have to stand up for what you believe in at some stage in life.
omg that scene still rips me to shreds, even without the rest of the movie and your analysis talk over the top. oh captain, my captain.
That's one of the best films ever made. Your analyses is really thoughtful and beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
I just realised how similar this school is to the private school culture where I live...the whole speech thing you commented on at 7:59 made me realise...they don't inspire kids but rather advertise to the rich to show off how good their school is. In reality anyone however, performing low isn't given help but instead kicked out of the school so they can maintain a good reputation.
Most of those outstanding students are getting by off their own hard work...the teachers don't really help but instead take credit for their work.
You're awesome, I'm so happy I found your channel. You're great at delivering complex ideas and simplifying them. As someone who's standing before two roads that diverge in a forest, this movie is important for me and you put it into words.
Then I'm glad it's been helpful. Thankyou for letting me know and for your support. Whatever this dark diverging forest is, I hope you find your path. Or maybe you've already found it, and it's the courage to trust the path that you're looking for. This film has also been a great help for me at times
You should look up the true meaning of that poem before you use it as fodder to make you sound profound in comment sections.
@@darrelldarrell8168 You could enlighten me instead of being passive agressive
I am always such a fan of detailed video essays, especially on subjects I love, or in this case completely adore. The opening statement about the painting and about what it represents immediately hooked me. It continues to astound me how people can look deep inside a film, past the shell right to the core. Whether you are revealing the true meaning or giving it a new meaning is debatable, but both are equally important. I believe that however 'deep' a film is, it isn't as profound as one that can be given meaning and purpose by the viewer. What I'm trying to say is I really enjoyed your video, and I will be subscribing in the hope that you make more in the same vein.
Thankyou! I like that comment 😊 and yes, I will and have been continuing on with similar videos. Not all of mine are film analysis, because I upload weekly and there's no way it'd be humanly possible to manage an analysis video every single week, but they are the heart of my channel. I did an earlier one on DPS as well, but that's very old with bad audio, and I'm remaking it to re-upload sometime soon
The "saintly" figure at 5:45 looks like Columbia, the human incarnation of the USA. She appears to be holding the Declaration of Independence, and is backdropped by the US flag.
It seems they used Columbia as a representation of Republican/Conservative ideals held within the school.
At that level, very few people are political. Once you rise in the ranks you are learned on how politics is just personality differences being magnified and used to divide. I agree that it is Columbia or another of the goddess's the elite worship or revere for whatever reason but I think its more to do with the idea that a female god figure is schooling them. Columbia is probably more representative of a womb itself, not political leanings. All things, physical and mental, must be born. They must be gestated in a womb before birth. The elite know this law of nature and encode it symbolically in all kinds of media. These boys are being reborn at the academy. To be REborn means to get ran through the womb again. I think their philosophy is that these goddess's are just a personification of feminine, gestational, nesting, inward motifs. So the boys must start the movie, process, journey of rebirth with entering a large room/womb with a vaginally shaped doorway. They get processed for a given amount of time (semester/trimester) and they are graduated through the same banquet hall/womb that they started in. Rebirth. The purpose of school, training, enlightenment, etc.
I think Mr Keating puts it best "I always thought school was about teaching children how to think for themselves". These schools, as glamorous as they are, only hold up because they have authority over the children, and when someone as Mr Keating comes and gives the children the gift of thinking by themselves, the schools slowly lose their reputation and power. The glamorous traditions that they publicize to the parents constantly are starting to break down, and that scares them. That's the reason they took Mr Keating out, he knew how bad the system was, and if he kept teaching the children about it, the children would rebel too. And to try and fix their mistakes, they reinforce their authority. Like in the moment one of the kids gets physically assaulted by one of the teachers for misbehaving. Schools aren't made to make intelligent kids, they are made to make obedient kids.
That’s why the kiss ups succeed bc they just are goody goodies
I think you make some very valid points, especially with the passing of knowledge and poets and free thinkers casting off the obedience that the students are being taught. I've always thought it more about the type of knowledge, rather than tradition and obedience versus free thinking. You could say Einstein and Newton were free thinkers, and I believe they would be honoured by Wellton. I think combined with Theroux's quote and the focus on Neil's desire to act, and the dreamscape of A Midsomers Nights Dream, it is more about the type of knowledge. THey are being asked to embrace art - in Theroux's words to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life". The school, and Neils's father, are teaching teaching them to embrace "all that was not life". In other words, to become buisnessmen and lawyers and doctors and to embrace a life that has no poetry and literature and philosophy and art.
As I see it, the central crux of this movie is that it portrays the norm as a scientific and rulebound world that has become cold and synical, and dismisses everything less rational as idealistic and a dream and not realistic. for. The more primal representations of poetry in the cave, the mix of soccer and poetry, Keaton (Williams) covering Todd's eyes, blocking out the rational to embrace his "barbaric yawp: his cry of rage against the world, all embrace the deep emotionality of art. Neil's inability to live without art, without that deep primal, emotional connection to the world, is what killed him. The boys standing on the desk at the end, as well as a tribute to the teacher that inspired them to find the light of expression of art and poetry, is a triumphant denial of the 'rational' that the headmaster, and through his proxy the world, reject. The boys who did not stand are pictured as bowed down over their desk, beaten down already by the cynical, rational world they are being prepared.
There are a lot of ways to deconstruct this movie, of course. Your 'obedience verses free thinking' is a great deconstruction theory. You can read look at it through gender, and look at it as the many was to define masculinity. A lot of others too, which is one of the reasons its such a great movie. Thanks for your analysis.
Brilliant analysis. I especially loved your thoughts on the candle/light motif and I think there's a lot more that could be said about it. Notice that, at their first meeting, the boys fail to light a fire and instead settle for using flashlights. They haven't managed to ignite their real passions yet so they settle for an artificial imitation. Eventually they do make it. Artificial light is replaced with real fire and the students' true passion starts to come out.
With this interpretation, the smoke they produce while trying to light the fire gains a new meaning. It represents an earnest but failed attempt to bring out your real self. If you don't fully commit to lighting a fire, you produce smoke (which obscures vision making it, in some way, the opposite of fire). No wonder that smoke makes a return in the form of a smoking gun in Mr Perry's office. The same office where, just moments earlier, Neil tried but failed to communicate his passion for acting and where his suicide is, once again, failing to do the same.
Love your insights.....especially the bagpipes 'shudder'. My stomach still aches from laughter. Thank you.
I love this movie so much and I’m so happy to see someone break it down and explore the meaning behind it
Oof your analysis is amazing! I love this film and have rewatched it over and over but all your points were new to me and really (if it's possible) made me see the film as even better!
Thankyou, that's very kind. I wanted to try to say something a bit different to most other video essays on the film here, so it's heartening to know I managed that
appreciate your work here dude, DPS is my favourite film and your analysis is spot on and well observed.
You are so so detailed in your videos. Brilliant, what a service. Thankyou
I can talk about this movie all day long. It changed my life . There simply aren’t many movies, as beautiful and moving as Dead Poets Society.
I watched this movie for the first time in high school at a summer college prep program, while a professor analyzed the themes for us. Actually, it was more of a college prep program for one particular school's special honors program, run by said professor. We were encouraged to be very skeptical of Mr. Keating and his ideas. I did go on to enroll in that honors program, which had a lot in common with the stale tradition showcased in the entrance ceremony. Seeing this analysis brought back the good and bad memories of that time.
I just found your channel and am hooked. You say everything with such a modesty and somehow, a simultaneous potency. It would have been so easy to just say that this film was anti-establishment and anti-tradition but I really loved how you took the position that the beautiful irony is that it actually is about the profoundness of tradition, just as long as you give to it your own meaning. What a thoughtful analysis.
I didn’t think I would enjoy this when I watched it but I actually found this really interesting and you brought me a new perspective on one of my favourite films :)
Thank you so much for making this video. I've been thinking about this movie and writing down my own thoughts on it, and I love your analysis here. I appreciate your perspective immensely.
There's a lot of insights to make about the film so I imagine you have some great thoughts of your own. If there's anything I haven't thought of, I'd be interested 😊 glad you enjoyed the video though
i really love this video a lot. it’s one of the first i put in my “watch later” folder and it just keeps popping back up and i just keep watching it. love it a lot and the thumbnail is so good it’s a little bit of nostalgia seeing it every time
Ahh damn, thanks! I very rarely rewatch my own stuff but I do remember finding this one really fun to make. I should do more scene analysis like that again
So great. Just overwhelms me. I should be going to bed now, but I'll watch at least two more of your vids!
beautifully put reminder of this film- oh captain my captain
The story is about the struggle between truth and lies, about free thinking versus blind following, and how important that struggle is in allowing you to make the most of your life.
thx for reminding us how great movie DPS is, with a clever message 👍. I eagerly await more movie essays from you in the future, your great😄.
i binge watched so many of your videos today and I've got to say your channel and the person behind it, are simply amazing. You words things so nicely, looking forwards to all your future uploadings!! I haven't had the chance to see everything yet but will you ever consider analysing books?
Well literature is my background much more than film is. I have a BA in literature and I'm attempting to become an author. The difficulty is a) reading a book takes a lot longer than watching a film, which means I couldn't do at my current weekly upload pace, and second that it's harder to make the video entertaining for those who don't know it.
I've done a bit of poetry analysis though, and I'd like to try bigger stories sometime. Itd have to be over a holiday break though probably
Great movie. Great analysis. Great video.
This was a really interesting video! Good job! :D
I'm heartbroken when seeing the number of views and subscribers you have, you go in-depth and probably spent hours making this. You deserve subs and likes and a path toward a famous CZcamsr.
Hahaha well... it did take an embarrassingly long amount of time, I won't say exactly how long 😆
In all seriousness, I'm touched that you'd say that. To try and give an honest reply, it can be a bit disappointing with some videos that I'm hopeful will get a lot of views, only to find they get about 50 in their first week. Sometimes that feels disappointing. Most of the time, I genuinely feel blessed though because of the comments people write and the way people reach out and connect. The fact you'd leave a comment like that means much more to me than views.
And to be even more honest, I felt shy when I started this channel and worried after every video I uploaded in case people wouldn't like them. 7 months on, I feel confident now. I've learned to trust I am doing something that does really interest people. Maybe someday the algorithm will pick me up and then there'll be a lot more interested people, but the fact there are any in the first place is a blessing to me.
Really enjoying your videos! I'd love to hear your analysis of "The Remains of the Day". So many great scenes with deep psychological undertones worthy of interpretation.
Funny, it hadn't occurred to me that Todd was the main character. I didn't really think of the movie as having a main character. I would have said either Mr. Keating or Neal (sp?) was.
I've always thought Todd was the main character. He was the most changed by the events of the story (save for Neal being dead and all)
@@BY-bj6ic That is true, but while Todd certainly added to the movie, the plot could have taken place without him.
Dylvente I think the real plot was a boy, Todd, that needed to be broken out of his shell and find a way to let his soul eventually soar. It’s like life, we can be greatly changed by events that we aren’t always the central figures in.
I thought everyone was the main character in a sense. I find myself relating to everyone. Mainly Todd, Neil, and Keating. But I find that even if you are told who is the main character. The main character could be someone that stand out to you. To me it was those three characters
do a third part!!! i love it!!!
Love the part where you mention how the bagpipe songs contrast in beginning and end. I like to think in the end the new song plays loudly because its a song that’s been replayed and rewritten the whole movie and now they’ve created something new and released it for all to hear
Excellent essay!
Thanks!
This just popped up in my recommended but you should check out plato's cave allegory, I’m not as eloquent with my words but it’s comparable to the points you made in this video with the candle motifs and such.
I really enjoyed this, it was great :)
Enjoyed and agreed with your analysis. But I just had to point out that it's "Cue: Applause." Thanks for doing this.
Oh damn, did I write queue? 😂
adding onto the chalck painting of the saint with the boys looking at him from bellow I feel works as a parallel to the scene of mr keaton kneeling with the class around him, looking at him as he says thta endlessly quotable quote lol the one about how medicine and law are honorable persuits but poetry romance and love are what we stay alive for. I think this could be interpreted in two ways which are polar opposites 1 Mr Keaton is being compared to the saint figure in a negative light, it implies both sets of boys are looking up to these men, they see them as role models unquestioningly 2 because the saint is positioned above the boys it shows how out of touch and anachiable the expectation of being like him in. In the contrary Keaton kneels down showing how he understands them and doesnt feel above them. He is also real and nit drawing in the chalk quality like you analyzed very well, i hadnt thought about it before but will definatly be taking it into account from now on
The shadow of the light at 14:50 is distinctly flame-shaped...
this is beautiful
Great stuff!!!!
I love the movie, and was looking for a good analysis. You definitely delivered, and raised my expectations of other commentary videos.
Thankyou 😊
Hello you probably are not going to read this, but I just watched this movie in advanced English and it meant so much to me that you went into so much detail!
Thankyou, glad you enjoyed it ☺️
So I went to the school that the film is based on. I haven't seen it in a decade or more and mostly forgot about it. There weren't any bag pipes and the youngest kids were a little too young (you couldn't start until 7th grade), but it the rest is more accurate than not (the movie takes place long before I was in school so there are some discrepancies). The school was founded during the civil war and since has designed an atmosphere of importance and age that they try to force into everything. The honest truth is that this movie has struck on the bullshit at the heart of it all. A tradition that comes from genuine events is arguably meaningful because of its grounding in reality but manufactured tradition is almost always overbearing and detrimental to a genuine culture. It was a good school and there were teachers like robin williams character that stood out but over all it was just a school with an extra helping of ritual. I could've done without jingoism and classism in the lecture rooms and self aggrandizement.
the reason scotland (and a general english identity) is placed so highly in the southern US private school tradition is as a wallpaper for racism. It represents the peak of a predominantly white country's power. Nowhere in the us is anglican so they can't take up an english cross but they use the saint andrew's cross as a stand in (episcopalianism vs anglicanism). I don't mean to say that all school officials are racists but the traditions are meant to idealize a false narrative of racial supremacy and this is an often unrecognized and always unspoken facet of the school tradition. Another aspect beyond the subtle racism is classist undertones. When I was in school there were three scholarship kids (myself included), so called because are parents weren't sickeningly wealthy and it was made clear at every opportunity that we didn't deserve the ground we stood on. The stifling culture is derivative of cognitive dissonance in the traditions and their applications to modern times.
Rant over. just wanted to put my two cents out there because this strikes incredibly close to home. excellent analysis fellow, you earned yourself a subscriber.
I'm not surprised by what you wrote. Never experienced myself of course. "Scent of a Woman" touches on the classism rather heavily
@@BY-bj6ic its kind of crazy how much of it hides under the carpet despite the egalitarian ideals we hold so high.
@@voxhominem I don't think it hides at all. We just can't talk about it because we are supposed to be a class-less society.
@surfer dude There is some of that but a lot of it is forced to encourage jingoism. this is from this wikipedia page and the source is a really good book if you're curious. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltire#Others. "The saltire [scottish flag] is used on modern-day Southern U.S. state flags to honour the former Confederacy.[13]"
I'm very interested in when you went to St. Andrews because I did not have the same experience that you did at all.
I was there at the time of the filming (being an extra was a great thrill -- I'm @6:27, standing beneath the blue flag, and some other scenes), but found the fictional school had very little in common with my real school, thankfully, aside from the fantastic architecture and a beautiful campus.
Nice Video dude!
I hope you'd also do an analysis of Mona Lisa Smile. The two movies are quite similar.
Never seen this movie, here after going down a robin williams rabbit hole. Looks really inspiring though!! ❤️
Shine light! One candle makes a difference!!!
Have you ever considered why the school is called Welton? It could easily be seen as welt on when you consider its ways of enforcing discipline. It's odd that Cameron holds the first banner and leads the other boys because he is very much a follower rather than a leader. I think the saintly figure with the stars and stripes wrapped around him in the painting is meant to be Jesus. Not sure if you mentioned this in your other video, but when the boys first go to the cave, the symbolism of the Gothic architecture and their hoods reminded me of monks. In the early days of Christianity, the monks who followed St Anthony into the desert were the great romantics of their day. Theirs was a quest to find God and truth, and they claimed to have found God in the silence of their hearts as they dwelled in caves that blocked out the noises of the world. In the final scene, it's worth remembering what Keating said to Todd after he came up with the madman poem - "Don't forget this". Todd clearly hadn't forgotten the teacher who helped him to find himself.
My interpretation of excellence as one of the four pillars is that that's what they expect from their students. Welton is a preparatory school and they boast in the opening about the boys going off to ivy leagues. I think being not only your best but the best, in academics, sports, and as a member of society, is what that's getting at.
I have a lot of thoughts about how Welton and the parents demand this excellence and perfection from the boys...
hey so funny question, how would I go about citing this video in MLA format if I'm paraphrasing some points you made in a research paper...?
Wow, now I feel honoured 😅 thankyou. In terms of how you do it, I'm not sure. It's been several years since my days of university essays and I can't remember how it works. I could barely remember at the time without having to endlessly check. I know you can though, because I did quote youtube videos at points. Google should have an explanation somewhere but I'd also advise checking with your professor or someone
loooooooooooved it
Just as you speak of "tired old men" : Watch the tired old man, sleeping mouth open, during the speech 7:41 of the headmaster (:
The link to your other Dead Poets Society video that you posted in the description leads to a private video. Just wanted to give you a heads-up!
The headmaster even looks like a demon or the repear there to collect souls.
they're once who left the cave (cage) first (plato) and came back with enlightenment - unlike the once who never left the (their) cave/cage and just idolizing shadows of a past that may never had been
omg
*hits bong*
What... if it's about how society is built off of dead poets?
bro...
1st class really enjoyed that 🙂
Can you do Before Sunrise?
Thank you! I’ll pass my English exam in peace🥰
is no one going to talk about "Thigh Man" on Keating's yearbook page
Any idea of the name of that first little boy? Wondering if he’s been in anything else. Looks so familiar
The movie works by showing both sides of an argument. Yes, it shows how seizing the day can lead to great gain - Neil on stage, and Knox holding the girls hand in the audience. But it also shows that dropping discipline for your dreams can lead to great loss.
I would argue that, while tragic, Neil's suicide is not actually a consequence of "dropping discipline." While discipline as a theme shows up throughout the film, the pillar we see associated with Neil is excellence. Neil carries the banner for excellence. Neil is expected to excel in everything he does and act the model son. Neil is held up as an example to the other students. When Neil finds something he truly excels at in a meaningful way (acting), he embraces it. While art is more freeform than medicine or mathematics, Neil still commits himself to the role; he is still disciplined. Neil is still in pursuit of excellence, but now it is on his own terms. The moment when Neil says "I was good. I was really good." is the moment he realizes that no matter how much he may excel, it will never be enough for his father. The futility of this endless pursuit of a very specific kind of excellence is what drives him to commit suicide.
I sing my song for all to hear, lol.
Yeah I felt the same when the bagpipes started...
I hate bagpipes.....
and I'm Scottish
you should watch Handsome Devil, I think you would like it :)
0:35 I think the word you're looking for here is 'Susurration' 👍
I love learning beautiful new words, thank you!
Bruh that dude really does look like a young Lionel Hutz
What a Post Moderm Peter Pan you are my friend.... Ciao!
👍
Lots of clicks around thanks for your comments
bunger
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Anytime you say "anyway..", I think no no, go on...
im gonna be honest i love this video essay but, todd being named as the main character is something i disagree with i believe theres no "main" character its the brotherhood the boys made with each other with help from Mr Keatin thats the "main character"
as an ex private school kid let me tell you HOW TRUE this is. they want it to be impressive for the parents to give them money :D glad I left LOLLLL
here here...
Dead Poet's Society in a nutshell.
"A sincere sweeper in the street is far better than the charlatan meditator who meditates only for the sake of making a living. - Krishna (Bhagavad Gita As It Is)"
"27...You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people’s bones and every kind of impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. - Gospel According To Saint Matthew chapter 23 verses 27-28 (International Standard Version)"
Interesting analysis. Wrong, but interesting.
Minute 2:55 that's call Discipline...
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I think you're overanalyzing everything hahaha