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》影评

《死亡诗社》观后感

在教育电影的心灵史的课堂上看了很多有关教育的电影，也倾听了许多老师同学对这些电影的感悟，我觉得收益颇多，也感悟颇多。但在这么多精彩的影片中，给我留下最深刻印象的还是《死亡诗社》这部作品。在课堂上并非是我第一次观看这部电影，但无论重温几次，它还是可以带给我深深的震撼，这是一种心灵上的触动，历久弥新，这也是我选择这部电影写一些感想的原因。

《死亡诗社》的故事发生在上个世纪五十年代末一所名叫威尔顿预备学院的中学里。这是一所升学率不错的重点学校，拥有一百多年的历史以及良好的声誉。学院的校旨是所谓的四大支柱：传统，荣誉，纪律，卓越。可是这一切，却因为基廷这个异类老师的出现而改变了。在他的课堂上，他鼓励学生站在课桌上，用一个崭新的视角去观察周围的世界；他向学生介绍了许多有思想的诗歌；他所提倡的自由发散式的思维哲学在学生中引起了巨大的反响。由于基廷的出现，七个男孩托德，尼尔，查理，诺克斯，米克斯，皮茨和卡梅隆的生活也在悄然改变。比如诺克斯爱上了一个女孩，在三番两次的胆怯中终于鼓起勇气捧着花束去了女孩子的学校。比如尼尔终于鼓起勇气参加了学校的文艺演出。但影片的结局却稍显沉重，在尼尔父亲的反对下，无奈的尼尔最终拿起了父亲书桌里的手枪，指向了自己??而在七个男孩中的卡梅伦向学校报告了关于基廷老师鼓励他们组织死亡诗社之后，

基汀只能选择离开。但在基廷离开的最后一节课上，孩子们一个接一个的站了起来，他们反复吟唱着惠特曼的诗句：“啊，船长，我的船长。”影片就这样结束了，引发了人们无穷无尽的深思。

有人说基廷对传统教育的反抗最后还是失败了，但我想从基廷的角度看，他对传统教育模式的反抗 并不能说是失败的，毕竟他的思想已经影响到他的学生，渗透入学生的思想中。在他离开的时刻，学生也给了他坚定的支持，这对于一名老师来说是幸运的。自古以来对教育的反思甚至是反抗都不是一蹴而就的，每一次的成功都是站在无数次失败的基础上，所以总要有人勇敢的跨出第一步，成为光荣的先驱者，而基廷正是这样的先驱者。他将自由思想的种子播撒到学生的头脑中，这是十分难得的。尽管最后发生了不幸的事，我想着也是一种血的警醒，来呼唤人们的觉醒。从卡梅隆的角度看，我觉得他向学校告密的行为也并不可耻，毕竟每个人都有选择的自由。正如他所说：“需要有人为尼尔的死负责，而基廷是最合适的人。”在反抗传统的过程中，牺牲自己的利益需要勇气，也需要付出很大的代价，而我们并不能去逼迫所有人都接受这种代价，接受新的思想，所以我觉得卡梅隆的做法无可厚非。在无数先驱者中，注定有无数的人湮没在历史的长河中。从尼尔的角度，他热爱戏剧表演，但父亲的强烈反对导致他无法继续追求他的梦想，所以他选择了死亡。虽然他的反抗方式过于强烈，但却可以理解。我时常会想，人活着是为了什么。有些人活在这世界中，浑浑噩噩，为了活着而活着。有些人想着自己的目标，不断追求，不断开拓，实现理想。不管怎样，每个人对自己的存活都

有自己的定义。当一个人觉得活着已经毫无意义时，也许他便会选择死亡。从这里可以看出，尼尔是用生命在热爱着戏剧表演，所以当他了解到也许以后再也无法从事他所喜欢的表演时，他选择了死亡。不同于大多数人的观点，我觉得死亡并不一定是悲观的，人没有权利选择是否要降生到这个世界，但人该有权利选择是否继续留在这个世界。死亡并不是一种懦弱的逃避，因为并不是所有的人都有勇气选择死亡，相反它是一种最强烈的抗争。不管一个人选择活着还是选择死去，都不该成为别人诟病的话题。死亡是一个人在生命中的最后一项选择，所以必定是深思熟虑的决定，我们能做的只是尊重。所以我觉得尼尔的死并不是生命的结束，而是生命的选择，也是他对梦想对自由最后一次的追求。

影片中的尼尔为了自己的追求选择了死亡，这样的死亡也许是青春中最激荡的篇章。而在现实生活中，近几年青年学生的自杀率也居高不下，反观青年学生自杀的原因，多是生活学习压力的产物，这不得不说是教育的失败。这与现行的教育体制也有一定的关系，虽然今天的我们有一个相对宽松的环境，自我价值越来越受到重视，但应试考试的教育体制仍然束缚着我们的思想。所以当我们迷茫，找不到方向时，往往选择最极端的方式结束自己。尼尔的束缚是他的父亲，而我们的束缚来自于现行教育体制所引导的社会导向。我想我并不是要对教育体制进行多么强烈的批判，因为这也许是在现有国情基础上最公平、最合适的体制。但是随着社会的发展，我们势必要对这样的体制进行反思，进行改革，那么未雨绸缪就是一件必要的事了。同时，

我们也需要像基廷一样的老师，像尼尔一样的学生去探索，去反抗。

《死亡诗社》这部影片使我们产生了对教育，对青春，对生命的反思，让我们不由自主的探寻生命的意义，不由自主的思考教育的弊端，不由自主的感叹青春的激烈，我想这才是它真正的价值所在。一部好的影片留给人们的该是无尽的思考，而《死亡诗社》给了我这种思考，也希望我们可以在这种反思中有所收获，而不仅仅停留在思考的层面。