What Makes A Boy A Man

Daed Poets Society

There are certain films that can heavily shock your soul, then elicit your thinking, and finally change your life. No doubt Dead Poets Society is one of these infrequent films. It is a film about a teacher and his students. It is a film about perseverance and change. It is a film about love and cruelty.

The film is set in the United States in 1959. It shows us a series of things which happened to Mr.Keating and the young boys in Wilton Preparatory School.

Mr.John Keating is certainly the main character of this film. He is a respectable teacher with a high self-cultivation. He has an advanced conception which is different from tranditional educatin. The other two main characters are Neil, a boy who is keen on performing, and Todd, a boy with a little shyness. From Todd, I see how a boy grows into a man.

The film starts with the opening ceremony of Wilton Preparatory School. Todd, a shy boy, starts his school life with his roommate, Neil. On the first lesson, their taecher, Mr.Keating, just told them ‘Seize the day, make your life extraordinary’. He reads Whitman’s poet Oh Captain! My Captain. He taught the students to swim against the steam and to be themselves but not to perform. Students regard Mr.Keating as a different teacher.

Neil rebuilds the ‘Dead Poets Society’. The menbers fall in love with poets, as well as Todd. When Mr.Keating asks students to try writing a poem, Todd has no idea. Mr.Keating is quite angry. With Mr.Keating’s stimulation, the youngster first time shows great talent, reading his own poem loudly.

On the evening of Todd’s birthday, he talks about his birthday present which is the same every year and his brother ,who is so excellent that makes him feel inferior, with Neil, with sadness and a little self-mockery on his face. Neil encourages him a lot. Finally, Todd breaks up the disgusting present. Todd smiles to Neil, from the bottom of his heart.

Neil has a sading ending. After performing on the stage, Neil’s father takes him home and warns him again. He just wants his son to be a doctor. Feeling despairing, in the midmight, Neil commits suicide with a gun. Both Neil’s parents and the school think that Mr.Keating is the only reason for Neil’s death and decide to fire him. A second before Mr.Keating leaves the classroom, Todd stands up on the desk for his

captain, with the menbers of Dead Poets Society followed. At that time, Todd throws out his recreance and becomes a real man.

That is the end of this film. I have to say that Neil’s death is a certain event, whether there is a ‘John Keating’ or not. It is not hard to see the long distance between ideality and reality. What Mr.Keating said and taught just strengthens the conflict between Neil’s heart and traditional conception. Neil despairs, but Todd doesn’t. We can see that Todd learns a lot from Neil and Mr.Keating, such as optimist, perseverance, courage and many other qualities which he doesn’t have before. So he stands up, and dares to shout what he thinks.

I love the boy named Todd and his growth. I love the teacher called Captain and his freedom. I love the beauty of dream, as well as the cruelty of reality. The film is not only a profound story but also a sincere advice. Seize the day, make your life extraodinary. We just need to be ourselves and grow up step by step, with a clear conscience and a tenacious spirit, like a boy grows into a man.

第二篇：《死亡诗社》英文影评及观后感

Carpe Diem！

Dead Poets Society

Who are you?

What are you doing?

What do you want?

Many of us are losing ourselves because of the reality, frustration, the pressure or the authority. In fact, we are just like a chess, for others have arranged all for you. We spend a lot of time in those things we do not like. However, we are immature. We choose silence or choose to force ourselves to like it. We ourselves never dare to say "NO" loud, or never master our life in our hand.

Perhaps, you will defend for yourself, "This is no other way to do "; Perhaps you will say, "Now that everything looks the same, can I be unique "； Perhaps you will say, "This is the reality, and no one can beat it"; perhaps, very likely, you will become one of them and establish the authority of parents to educate your children. You have become a loyal defender of authority. There is an old golden Chinese saying: No one can exist who resists me .

However, all in all, cannot it change?

《Dead Poets Society》tells me that nothing is impossible. At that time, nothing is more important than yielding. What you have to do is to obey discipline and authority. To Rebel means no good results. In that old church school, in the solemn opening ceremony, taught by an 1

Carpe Diem！

old-fashioned and strict teacher, with the hope of the parents who have paved the road for them, they lose themselves. That "Tradition” "honor" "discipline "" excellence " quells them.

“Oh, captain, my captain! Where are you?”

Fortunately, they met with Mr Keating.

To help more young people to find his own, Mr Keating chose teaching.

He taught students to live. Students set up "Dead Poets Society" to release themselves.

He taught students not to blindly comply with authority. He asked each one to tear up the wrong page that others take as authority.

He encouraged the students to listen to the sound of heart. Then Knox read love poems to a girl, expressed his love bravely.

He encouraged the students to see the world with a new vision. He let everyone stand on a chair to watch the world.

He helped students overcome psychological barriers. And then Todd finally dared to express himself in front of everyone. Also, finally, It was he who first stood up and told the truth.

Oh, captain, my captain. We are so lucky to have you. Because of you, we lead a new life from now on.

Sad with the death of Neil. Neil put off all the clothes before the suicide and went away, naked, which meant he did not want to be under 2

Carpe Diem！

restraint. Neil's death is a tragedy. However, to win the war, something must be sacrificed.

I was impressed by the scene. Finally, students stood one by one on the desk to speak for Mr. Keating. Though Mr. Keating would not be back again, his impact on students will exist forever.

I think that their life will certainly become unusual and significant from now on.

At last, I want to dedicate some words to you. It is when Mr Keating led the students to find the meaning of life when reading Thoreau's poetry:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, and not when I had come to die, discovered that I had not lived.

Carpe Diem！

To me，seize all to find out the meaning of life and one day the world will be different because of you.

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