Dead Poets Society

345 Words2 Pages
The movie, Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir is set in an American private school during a time of romanticism in the first half of the twentieth century. Dead Poet’s Society negotiates the transition of poetry and life as an unconventional English teacher encourages a group of private school boys to seize the day. The boys intimidate the teachers youth by reforming the dead poet’s society and getting in touch with romanticism and their true inner life. However a fathers controlling nature pushes Neil Perry to his limits as the stress of all work and no play takes its toll. It is this scene where Neil sacrifices himself that has greatest impact and adds overall effectiveness to the movie. This is the scene where an immense change in mood and feel are exposed through the use of signs and symbols. Using analytical devices such as camera angles, lighting, music and props it is possible to deconstruct and make significance of how certain analytical devices help add meaning and overall effectiveness to the movie. These include lighting, camera angles and music. How they add effectiveness and support to the movie will be examined throughout this analytical essay. It is at the start of the scene where Mrs Perry is smoking that a link can be made with a previous scene involving the boys and a Dead Poets Society meeting. One significant link can be made with the lamp shade which can be seen beside Mrs Perry while she is waiting nervously for Mr Perry and Neil. This particular lamp is identical to that which was used to hide the Dead Poets Society statue, it is also apparent that the boys where also smoking while in the cave. These two signs suggest a clear link to the cave scene. While in the cave the boys were seen to be enjoying themselves and having fun, they were being portrayed as free. This link with Mrs Perry and the cave suggest she feels as though she is
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