Anybody else disturbed by the 'messages' of the film ?

Keating is encouraging all these boys in a very traditional prep school to live these artistic indulgent lives

I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.

the main messages of this film are: always question dogmatic authority, and seize the day. they show us these messages through an English class, through poetry, but the core message is universal and, honestly, quite brilliant.

together the ants can crush the elephant.

I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
(Henry David Thoreau, "Walden.")

You sound like Neil's dad. Maybe you identify with him more than the other characters.

No.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=14spme0&s=8#.U_XRd2K9KK0

Wow, I'm amazed at how many of the people posting here COMPLETELY miss the point of this movie. Keating says: "Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone." He's not trying to turn them into a bunch of revolutionaries. He went to the school and knows firsthand the danger of blindly accepting the party line preached by the teachers and administrators. They're trying to forge a lock-step group of Ivy-ready boys who question nothing. Keating knows how dangerous that is (think about the Ivy-educated men who have led the U.S. in the last few decades if you think I'm exaggerating). Keating wants them to think for themselves, not simply accept the life choices being forced on them by parents and others. What happens to Neil is tragic, but life is tragic sometimes. Keating tries to get Neil to communicate with his father what he wants to do. But Neil's cowardice and his father's intractability combine for a tragic ending. I do agree Knox is immature, but what 17- or 18-year-old isn't. He knows he's better for Kris than her meathead jock boyfriend, he just goes about trying to convince her the wrong way. And then there's Nuwanda, the ultimate rebel. In the end, he only turns on Keating because he's coerced into doing so. The school, and its adherence to outdated, misguided ways, causes Keating' downfall. Neil's downfall has little to do with Keating and more to do with is broken relationship with his father. In the end, "Dead Poets Society" is not about a teacher guiding students into reckless behavior, but about a teacher showing his students how to live as their own persons, and not simply give in to the wishes of those in positions of authority. Those in charge are not, simply by the fact they're in charge, right. In fact, very often -- most of the time, in my experience -- they are wrong. They only seem right because they're the ones who blindly followed those in positions of authority to them. They follow like lemmings and expect everyone behind them to do so also. The problem with that is it makes us all lemmings -- instead of men and women who think for ourselves.

Agree with the OP...VERY well said :)

Regarding the OP's comments, I don't feel that Keating was encouraging these students to "live this radically indulgent life". He was teaching them to think for themselves. He was giving them context for what gives life meaning and encouraging to live a "well-lived life." There's a big difference. Is it a difference 15 and 16 year olds can distinguish between? Possibly and possibly not. I can see where what Keating was teaching could be viewed as "dangerous," especially for the timeframe of the movie, but I will bet that those student remembered Keating's teachings for the rest of their lives.

I completely disagree with the OP's suggestion that Keating should have left the moment Todd Anderson stepped on top of his desk to minimize the fallout to the student's lives. Enduring themes of the movie were to not let anyone else tell you how to think and don't conform simply to conform. Todd Anderson felt how Keating was treated was wrong. He couldn't stand by and do nothing. He acted according to his beliefs...a testament to the teachings of Keating.

For Keating to leave prematurely before other's could join Anderson, to minimize the impact to their lives, would be to completely go against everything he was trying to teach. It would be saying "conform, don't rock the boat, don't act according to your beliefs." I doubt that any of the boys who stood on their desks got expelled. While they could, it's impractical to expel them all.


Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Was it worth it?