Table of Contents
Film Critique
For this film critique, I watched the movie Dead Poet’s Society starring Robin Williams. I felt this film greatly reflected the topics that we have covered in class this semester. This movie is all about motivating your students, and when the time comes, using your own advice to motivate yourself during certain situations. Throughout the film, I noticed the practice of multiple topics we have learned about. I loved this movie because to me, it showed the positive side of teaching and I feel that it portrayed the best qualities of the information we have learned this year.
Creativity
Mr. Keating was a very creative teacher. His ideas, his methods, his ways he got his class to be involved, were all creative in their own way. The first thing he did that showed creativity, may be very broad, but very true. Mr. Keating managed to get students that would have never even thought about poetry, to love what they were doing and use it in their everyday life. I think this shows creativity because you have to have many tricks up your sleeve to get someone to like something, they never really gave much thought to. I believe that his actions behind this movement were also very creative. If a teacher does something funny in class, or something out of the norm, you’ll most likely remember it for days, months, or even years to come. One instance this is seen is when Mr. Keating stands on his desk in the middle of teaching a lesson. His purpose behind this is to show his students that he is seeing his classroom at a new view. By doing and saying this, he is telling his students how important it is to look at things in life, specifically poetry, to see things at different perspectives and perhaps see what the author sees, and just maybe discover something you believe, see, or think, that you didn’t previously realize. In this instance, I believe Mr. Keating is using the concept of self-instruction. I believe this is the case because he’s teaching the students how to change the way they look at things and think, in order to understand new concepts. Another thing I noticed Mr. Keating doing was teaching his students to get the mastery process. He got their input, their ideas, and turned it into something they loved and identified with, poetry.
Value
I believe that throughout this film, all three forms of value, intrinsic, utility, and attainment, were seen. For the first one, intrinsic, I believe this is seen many times throughout the movie. The kids in this movie really, truly enjoyed poetry and learning things from Mr. Keating, which made them purely enjoy the topic of poetry. Because this was something that was enjoyed by the students, they were more motivated to be involved and really work and read and understand the poetry they were currently reading. The next value that was seen in this movie was utility value. I thought of one instance specifically when watching this movie and that was Knox. When Mr. Keating is discussing what poetry is useful for in their current and future lives, he says, “…no, to woo women.”. When he mentions this, he notices that Knox, one of his students, seemed a little more interested than normal. Eventually, it is revealed that Knox is interested in a woman and he had never thought about the fact that women may like a man that does poetry, so this sparks something in him. I looked at this as utility value because he saw a means to an end with his poetry. He realized that poetry could lead to a goal in his life, which was dating this woman he met at dinner. The last value I noticed in this film was attainment value. I believe this was portrayed through the fact that many of the students wanted to succeed in the world of poetry and they were motivated by the fact that they were learning something new.
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Situational Interest
Even though I have already mentioned it before, Mr. Keating displayed situational interest whenever he stood up on his desk trying to make a point about seeing something from a different view point. This is situational interest because they are events that may be temporary, but they trigger the attention and the interest of the students being taught. As I mentioned above, sometimes a teacher does something that isn’t the usual thing, and it sticks with you because it was unique, and that’s exactly what happened in this scene. Another scene from the movie that promotes situational interest the same way standing on the desk did is when Mr. Keating walks the students around in a circle to teach about conformity in general, and more specifically, conformity when it comes to poetry. This can sometimes create a ripple effect too, because people who aren’t in poetry will start to wonder why these students are doing these things and why their teacher teaches things the way does, which could spark their interest, making them interested in poetry, which is a prime example of situational poetry.
Another form of situational interest that morphs into personal interest is the situation with Knox. Because he is trying to “woo” the girl he met at dinner that he likes, he is more involved in the topic of poetry. This is personal interest because it is something that pertains to himself, and something that he wants to accomplish for the sake of himself. Another form of personal interest regards Todd Anderson, one of the students. Even though many students showed situational and personal interest regarding Mr. Keating’s carpe diem lesson, I chose Todd because he was so focused on the quote throughout the movie. At the beginning of the movie, you see that he takes not of this in his notebook and it eventually morphs into an internal conflict within himself throughout the movie. He struggles with his decision to, how to, and when to use the lesson taught with carpe diem.
Self-Efficacy, Long-Term Expectations, and Short-Term Expectations
The Dead Poets Society was a place where the boys were able to keep themselves in check and make sure that they were being their best person. They used this club to ensure that they were promoting all three things, self-efficacy, long-term, and short-term expectations. Specifically, I believe this club helped the boys with self-efficacy because this was a place where they could work on themselves and their schoolwork while still being comfortable. It allowed the boys to practice skills that outside of the classroom might be intimidating but because they were so comfortable in their society, they felt that it was just a way of building themselves up before experiencing it on their own, such as handling critique and advice when it came to their poetry.
The next thing that I felt was most portrayed by Neil, was long term expectation. Because Neil joined this society, he was exposed to new ideas and new hobbies that he never considered before. Neil experienced a lot of pressure at home from his parents about what he was going to do in the future and I believe that by joining this club, he was able develop new long-term goals and expectations and break out of the mold his parents had formed so long ago. Neil was able to rediscover himself and finally become his own person.
For short-term goals and expectations, I’m going to revisit Knox again. As I have mentioned before, Knox was interested in a girl he had met at dinner and wanted to pursue her. He did this with the help of poetry and gaining a sense of confidence by working hard to understand and become someone that was experienced and well versed in the world of poetry. This is an example of short-term expectancy because it was something that was solved by the end of the film, in a short time but it’s also something that could morph into a long-term expectation or goal. This shows that sometimes a goal may be short term, but once you accomplish it, it can be turned into a long-term goal by working hard.
TARGET
Target is something that I feel can used in the classroom very easily and in a very productive way. The first letter in target that I feel was well addressed in this movie was R. This means that recognition is given to all who make progress, not just those who receive A’s. I felt that Mr. Keating was really good at making sure that his students felt appreciated and that their work was being recognized. For example, in the film, Todd Anderson wasn’t one of the characters that loved and felt comfortable with poetry right out of the gates. Todd tried to hide the fact that he had been writing but when the boys found out, they were all really happy for him and the society made sure that he knew how excited they were that he was finally really enjoying and taking part in the club.
The next letter that I felt was being used well was the first T. I believe this because Mr. Keating was getting his students to think in new and different ways, challenging the way they would normally think into using new and unique methods. He made sure that his students saw the true value of what they were learning, intertwining new lessons and ideas throughout the way, and made sure that they recognized the fact that what they were learning was important.
Another letter I felt was used throughout this movie was A. This means that authority is shared with students and exercised considering their needs/feelings. I believe this was used throughout the film because I felt that Mr. Keating allowed his students to have a sense of independence and a sense of leadership in the classroom. He wasn’t controlling, and he promoted the independence and unique thinking of students to become their own person and to practice and live their life through the quote of carpe diem.
Personally, I loved this movie and I think it was a great lesson for teachers, new and experienced. I think this movie showed a true understanding of the classroom and provided great examples and ideas. Mr. Keating was a teacher that truly loved what he did and it showed through his passion and his teaching style.
