Dead Poets Society is an all-time classic boarding school movie that projects many invaluable life lessons, such as “carpe diem.” As with many other boarding school movies, this classical piece is still revolving around self versus higher authority. Yet, it gives a slight spin by highlighting the importance of literature.

Todd Anderson, played by young Ethan Hawke, started his high school in an elite all-male boarding school in 1959 in the Autumn. There he made friends with Neil, Richard, Stephen, and Gerard, and Charlie. During their first class, they met John Keating, an English teacher who has an unorthodox teaching method in a conservative school. Throughout the movie, Keating teaches his students to think outside of the box and incites their curiosity about literary works. And like many other comings of age films, this film also touches the subject of exploring passion and goals in life. But, despite it looks happy, there’s a tragic element to this movie. The ending includes Todd, who was reserved stands up on his desk and started saying O Captain! My Captain followed by his other classmates as Keating was about to leave the school.

The setting of this movie may give a clue to the plot of the film. Dead Poets Society is set during the Autumn, which often represents maturity, adulthood in contrast to spring which signifies new birth or childhood. The characters started their school at Welton academy during the Autumn, and the tragedy happened in the winter right after Neil played Midsummer’s Night Dream. The choice of the play fitted as Midsummer’s night is translated as winter that often symbolizes the end, desperation, and aids in providing painful messages and giving hope for the spring to come.

After this movie was released, in 2000 there is also a similar movie titled The Emperor’s Club, which is also set in a boys boarding school yet puts classical study as the device that helps drive the plot. However, that movie received terrible ratings in comparison to Dead Poets Society. During The Austin Film festival, Tom Schulman mentioned that his agent sarcastically said it was a bad idea to write about the topic, years after its release. He added that a movie about boy schools in the ’50s and no girls were the worst possible film idea. But Peter Weir wanted to make a movie out of it only if Schulman altered the ending.

The screenplay of this movie is also part of Schulman’s journey. During that, Schulman also mentioned that the character Todd was based on his life. It was his journey to figure things out as he was a shy person and was afraid of public speaking. So, he finds this movie quite personal, and he mentioned that he tried to find a hundred reasons why Peter Weir was wrong because he wanted to alter the ending. Eventually, the end changed from a very tragic conclusion to more of a bittersweet ending by both party agreement, Peter Wier and Schulman.

The choice of fashion in this movie was fitting. It is a boarding school where the students wear uniforms, yet the minor details hint at the characterization.

Watching this movie was like watching my class presented on the screen minus an unorthodox teacher who tries to teach literature in a fun way. Though I had some fascinating professors that try to make us think out of the box, I still wished John Keating would be my teacher to make me more interested in poetry.

I would say a boarding school movie is one of the kinds of movies that I enjoy watching from time to time. I like how it has a motivation element, as it often talks about a transformation journey. Indeed, it will be a bonus if they have an exciting plot device, such as, in this case, the Dead Poets Society.

This movie is also a reference to the Academia aesthetic genre, an internet subculture that views knowledge as king which its subscribers have formed a community around the desire of learning. Dead Poets Society references classic Academia, a sub-genre in academia aesthetic that encompasses all the other academic sub-genres. After watching the movie, you will notice that fashion has the critical colors of classic Academia, such as beige, brown, and white. Unlike Dark Academia which revolves around classic literature and Euro-centric, classic Academia revolves around general literature. When you watch this movie, you will spot some keys to traditional academia sub-genres. There are more boarding school movies for Dark Academia than classic Academia, which made Dead Poets Society an excellent reference to the classic Academia aesthetic.

Even if you are not into Academia aesthetic, this movie is fun to watch. Even if you are older, you can always watch this movie to reminisce about your school days. Not to mention, there’s still something you can take from this movie, such as the idea of Carpe Diem.