Friday, December 6, 2019

Dead Poets Archetypes Essay Example For Students

Dead Poets Archetypes Essay Directors use many different techniques when filming a movie. Unlike other forms of storytelling, movie directors have completely control of what the viewer sees. An author picks words to describe what they see, but most words have multiple meanings. This can lead to confusion about many scenes in numerous books. Stage directors can pick the set, the costumes, and the actors, but what an audience member sees is still up to the work of others. Also, no two shows are ever identical, so you could see a play on a Wednesday, and then go on Thursday and things would append differently. Films, however, are completely under the directors control. Once something Is filmed and added, It stays that way forever. That Is what gives them such great power, but also great responsibility. One of those responsibilities is making their message and theme clear to the audience. This is achieved in Dead Poets Society by the use of the Trickster and Scapegoat Archetypes though Mr.. Keating, as well as the Monmouth Archetype through Todd Anderson. The Archetype of the Trickster Is one of great Importance to both the characters of a film, and the risers. The Trickster uses elements such as shock and humor to get his message across to the people around him. In the case of film this is to the audience of the picture, and the characters in it. This character is one that can bring humor and entertainment to a film, but most importantly it expresses one the greatest messages the film contains. Without the Trickster the audience would not receive the message in the same manner the characters do. Often when the characters of the film are shocked, the audience Is able to feel that emotion, and share In It. If the same usage was being conveyed by the Benevolent Guide, then the message would have likely not been made clear, or relevant, to the audience. For the message to be made clear by this Archetype, the audience members would have to be going through the same trials as the characters, which is highly unlikely, making the Trickster a valued and important character in film. In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams character John Keating Is the Trickster of the film. Keating takes the seemingly cookie-cutter prep school world and tries to rebel against It. Mom of the first scenes of the film are of classrooms with normal searchers teaching students. It is hard to distinguish one teacher from another in the collection of clips. Most are speaking in the same monotone voice, lecturing to their class from the textbook in their hands. Then we are shown Keating. Mr.. Keating breaks the rhythm of this orchestrated institution. He does not read directly from a textbook In the front of the classro om. In fact, one of the first things he does Is walk out of the classroom and begin speaking to the students In the hallway. He brings them to a wall of pictures and shows them the similarities between the photographed boys and themselves. He then begins to speak to the boys about their similar fates, and how one day they will end up dead just like the boys in the pictures. This first experience with Mr.. Keating leaves the boys, and the audience, in a slight state of shock. He presents their world to them in a way that no other teacher what it stands for. Keating also shocks the students when he has them rip out the beginning of their poetry textbooks, which explains what poetry is and how you should rate it. The students are reluctant to do so at first, possibly thinking that this is a trick. Slowly, though, one by one, they rip out the beginning pages. This is a large step for Keating and for the boys. It shows that Keating is beginning to get through to them, and they are beginning to trust him. Ripping up parts of textbooks goes against everything these boys have been taught their entire academic careers, and it shows great faith and influence on the part of Mr.. Keating, for them to do such a thing. This also demonstrates Settings relentlessness to break away from the society he and the students are in. Poetry Argumentative EssayWhen Nils father discovers that he is still in the play, he takes Neil home when it is over. Once home, he tells Neil that he is going to drop out of his private school and enroll in military school. This would extend Nils academic career, and abolish all hopes of becoming an actor. This is too much for Neil to handle, and that night he kills himself n his fathers study. His parents needed someone to blame, and they looked to the school for help. Keating was an outcast in the school society by every standard. He had different teaching styles, different beliefs, and different ways of interacting with students. He pushed the boys to believe in themselves, and not Just to believe in what they were told. This caused him to be disconnected from the rest of the staff, his peers on the school society. These factors led to him being the perfect Scapegoat for Nils suicide. His different ideals and motivations became viewed as the fuel that pushed a student o far, and to his breaking point. What Nils parents failed to recognize was that it was not Mr.. Keating that was responsible for Nils unhappiness, it was they and their oppressive attitude. Mr.. Keating only let Neil know there was a way out; he did not decide which door Neil should go through. As for the Monmouth, it is fulfilled by Todd Anderson. Todd is able to come full circle with a new appreciation on how he should live his life during this film. In the beginning he is Just like every other boy in the school. He does what is expected of him because that is Just the way things are. The boy is meant to go to school and hen do what his father does, or what his father expects of him, at least until he is on his own. Through meeting Neil, and taking Mr.. Settings class, things being to change for Todd however. Suddenly he is looking at things in new and different ways. Things as basic as poetry can now be examined in new ways, which leads to his examination of more important things. This is held true all the way to Nils suicide. The suicide seems to hit all of the boys hard, but it devastates Todd the most. This is made clear when he breaks away from the other boys and runs toward the frozen lake in anguish and completely broken. Todd knows why Neil killed himself; he could not take sacrificing his desires to fulfill his parents expectations. Todd also knows that Mr.. Keating did nothing wrong. Without going on his Journey, Todd would not have been able to gain this insight into the lives of the people around him. Toddys Journey is finally completed when he stands on the desk, as Mr.. Keating is about to walk out expulsion from school, but that no longer matters to him. He does not belong in this cookie-cutter society that he once fit into perfectly. His Journey gave him insight, and allowed him to transcend his former state of mind.

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