STOP comparing 'Emperor's Club' to 'Dead Poets Society'!

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Sadly (IMO), most viewers don't appreciate The Emperor's Club or at least I seldom see positive comments about it here. It's often accused of being a copy of Dead Poets Society although why, I cannot fathom, as I find few similarities beyond both being set in a private boys' school and the boys in each engaging in some illicit antics involving girls -- which isn't exactly unusual! If TEC had been released before DPS, I doubt very much that DPS would be accused of being a rip off!

DPS is the story of the students, in particular two of them. TEC is the story of the teacher.

DPS doesn't even cover a full academic year. TEC spans the course of at least twenty-five years.

DPS has themes revolving around individuality and the old unoriginal but ever popular teenagers rebelling against oppressive adults. TEC has themes involving honour and integrity, as the OP suggests, in particular this teacher's one unethical choice, not nearly as popular a theme but much more original.

DPS is ultra dramatic, dramatic events (one in particular) and dramatic ending. TEC is kind of a quiet, reflective film, much less drama.

The DPS teacher never actually teaches his students much of anything other than encouraging them to seize the day. He unwisely promotes impulsive behaviour in an age group normally far too inclined to impulse. He claims to want them to think for themselves, yet forces them all to rip out pages of a textbook because he disagrees with its (admittedly ridiculous) approach to poetry. He spouts off a line or two of poetry now and then as slogans to support his message of doing your own thing but these students are almost never asked to actually do any work. They seldom read entire poems, don't study them or the poets in any depth. Instead they spend class time standing on chairs, listening to Marlon Brando and John Wayne Shakespeare imitations, and running around a courtyard. He totally fails to prepare them for college English classes where it would be assumed they are acquainted with the essentials of poetry analysis, rhyme, metre etc.

TEC teacher is a competent individual who actually does what he's paid to do -- teaches his subject. In his case, it's Classical History (again, not likely to be popular with viewers). Complaints are made that he expects his students to memorize facts. Indeed, which I don't find negative as they also study 'the big picture' and learn these facts in connection with the relevent principles. These students are actually expected to work hard and learn something. He relates the Roman Emperors and other ancient historical leaders to his ongoing theme of contribution to society -- something he tries to inspire his own students to make.

I much prefer TEC and find DPS, which I once loved, hasn't held up well with me upon subsequent viewings or greater scrutiny.

Neither of these movies is worth five minutes of "Les Choristes"

Call me cynical, but I think you should be yelling at the studio for allowing the project to be named 'Emperor's Club'. Something I think they did to foster comparisons with another club, the 'Dead Poets Society'.

The names are structurally very similar. That coupled with obvious aesthetic similarities is what drives comparisons. I'm sure it sold a few tickets too.

For what it's worth I just had the opportunity to watch the two films in as many nights... Agreed that the films are distinct. DPS is my favorite though. Not even close.

I agree so much with this thread. I can't really understand why so many people called it a rip-off. Teacher movies are a genre now; just because you have a movie about teachers and students, doesn't mean it ripped off DPS (which wasn't the first of its kind, anyway). And I didn't even really enjoy TEC all that much, but for entirely different reasons. I can't even fathom how anybody could even think that it was a rip-off.

Good point but no way is this a great film and no way is this better than Dead Poets, very good acting by Kevin Kline and Emile Hirsch though. Apparently I'm not alone in this thought, it has a 49 rating from Metacritic.

Yes, the gist of the two movies was very different, exemplified by the initial scene where Hundert reminds one of his students to stay on the path ... not because he needs to fit into a box, but because he should be walking (and feel honored to walk) in the path of the great men who came before him.

DPS exemplified finding one's voice regardless of the opinion of authority; EC exemplified following the path of virtue exemplified by worthy authority, or at least that true authority came from living a life of virtue.

I think the mis-titling of this movie to put it in the same marketing category of DPS is one reason for the confusion, but really it's just the cosmetics that are similar, while the thrust of the movies are very different.

Kudos to the director and writer, who did not take an easy out but were willing to let everything remain exactly as it seemed -- the character a man showed in his youth determined his own destiny. Any "feel good" aspect to the movie was hard-earned; Hundert was revered by those who valued his virtues and shunned by those who valued expediency and power. And that is exactly how the world works. So a person must make choices that they are able to live with.

Actually DPS for me was all BS.. it was so pretensive and unconvincing in the end. Emperor´s Club for me is on a totally different level, MUCH better than DPS for so many reasons. It is simpler yet deeper and more realistic. The teacher here is a human being that can be wrong and right, that can take both decisions and face the outcome afterwards. Williams on the other hand WAS a failure of a teacher but until the end the film regarded him as just a misunderstood mastermind. I fail to see how he was a success, and also that film was anything else (sex, girls, impulsiveness) than love of true poetry and moral issues. It didn´t show people stand up for what they believed, it showed them commit suicide. It didn´t show people admit when they were wrong, and it pretended to encourage free thinking when all it did was another form of censorship. I gave DPS a 5 and this an 8.