If you watch, or re-watch, the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society (based on the book by the same name), you will be encouraged to look at things from different perspectives, develop your own understanding of what goes on around you, and seek to live an extraordinary life. Here is the quote that made this movie famous:
“I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.”
Yes, John Keating, newly-hired literature professor at the traditional Welton Academy for boys, is literally standing on his desk when he delivers the line. And he does not stop there, but tells his students to stand on their desks.
A word of caution: This movie is not for the very young or for the emotionally vulnerable, both of whom benefit from quiet guidance.
There are two ways to view things.
There is the collective view, and there is the individual view. In politics, for example, socialism leans toward collective action, while libertarianism relies on individual conviction. In our choice of school or work or our children’s education, we include how much direction or how much autonomy is available. Some look for collective, directed action. Others don’t.
In poetry, collectivists seek direction in “technique.” In his book The Sacred Wood, T. S. Eliot says,
“Hence, in criticizing poetry, we are right if we begin, with what sensibility and what knowledge of other poetry we possess, with poetry as excellent words in excellent arrangement and excellent metre. That is what is called the technique of verse.”
Romantics like poet John Keats beg to differ. In his letter of February 19, 1818, to his friend J. H. Reynolds, Keats suggests how someone might want to pass the day,
“Let him on a certain day read a certain page of full Poesy or distilled Prose, and let him wander with it, and muse upon it, and reflect from it, and bring home to it, and prophesy upon it, and dream upon it: until it becomes stale—But when will it do so? Never.”
This Just Vote No Blog, whose tag is “Suggestions for Liberty,” stands on the side of considering different perspectives and consequences, and developing individual thoughts and actions.
Of course, how far we lean towards individual actions depends on our innate characteristics (nature) and our upbringing (nurture). But, we can all at least consider it, look into it.
Examples.
Now, how about a couple of examples of folks who could have used some additional perspectives before pontificating.
Dead Poets Society was a fantastic box office success, and received or was nominated for several awards. However, some film critics were unenthusiastic, among them high-profile critic Roger Ebert, who said,
“None of these writers are studied, however, in a spirit that would lend respect to their language; they’re simply plundered for slogans to exort the students toward more personal freedom. At the end of a great teacher’s course in poetry, the students would love poetry; at the end of this teacher’s semester, all they really love is the teacher.”
In that film review, Mr. Ebert advocated for what the movie should have been, not what the movie was. He ignored what could be called the preface of the movie, in which the teacher Mr. Keating instructs his class to dismiss the conventional focus on meter and verse on the introductory page of the poetry textbook (he actually instructs his students to tear off the page!). Mr. Ebert missed Keating’s conviction that poetry should be felt, absorbed as a transforming potion, not studied like multiplication tables.
At the end, the boys in the class clearly see a different perspective to Walton Academy’s decision to fire Mr. Keating, and show their break with collective tradition in no uncertain terms. The assumption should be that those boys have taken to heart Mr. Keating’s urging to find their own voices and make their lives extraordinary.
For fun, search something like “What is the likely reaction of Gen Z to the movie Dead Poets Society.”
Results will mainly show that Generation Z feels frustration with the fact that nothing happens at the end of the movie, Walton Academy’s spirit of conventional elitism remains unchanged. And will show Gen Z’s discomfort with the movie’s dark turn of events toward the end.
A different perspective: An opinion piece from a parent and member of Generation X who convinced her teen and young adult kids to watch Dead Poets Society offers good insights into the difference between Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) and Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2010).
“Gen Z sees inspiring change through a systemic lens, not an individual one: The first thing my 20-year-old said when the credits rolled was, “What? That’s terrible! Nothing changed! He got fired and the school is still run by a bunch of stodgy old white men forcing everyone to conform!” My immediate response was, “Yeah, but he changed those boys’ individual lives, didn’t he? He helped broaden their minds and see the world differently.”
Self transformation comes before societal change.
This quote illustrates Mr. Keating’s call for individual transformation. It has been around for a long time, and comes from folks who changed a whole lot of things!
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Romans 12:2
