Dead Poets And The Graduate: Movie Analysis

There are plenty of similarities and differences in both The Dead Poets and The Graduate. While both were based around trying to be free of an oppressive environment and the main characters becoming who they wanted to be, The Dead Poets did a more adequate job of showing this. The Dead Poets not only showed the boys breaking free of strict rules and regulations, but actually had a reason laced behind it.
First, The Graduate was about a young man named Benjamin who had just finished four years of college. Throughout this time he was always told what to do and what his next step would be. This leads to him doing practically anything that was asked of him. So really in short, the only thing Ben needed to do was learn to become his own person and stop being such a pushover. By the end of the movie he becomes somewhat rebellious and goes to Elaine's wedding to stop it not only because he’s in love with her, but because he wanted to go against her father's instructions to
stay away. This doesn’t really finish up the movie really. They escape the wedding and get on a bus all ecstatic at their escape, however, they soon lose their excited demeanor. Now they realize that they don’t really have a plan for the future and the movie ends, so really there is no resolve to the movie.
The Dead Poets does a significantly better job of showing an evolving story line. The movie starts with multiple kids returning to Welton High. Welton is a strict boarding school that is for kids whose parents want them to receive a higher education. The faculty on parents domineering and expect the kids to conform to all rules and instructions, even if that's not what they want. Now Mr. Keating, the new english teacher, is quite the opposite of the other adults. He is very free willed and more into living life on a whim. His favorite motto is “Carpe Diem” which means seize the day. Keating begins to teach the boys that you have to experience life for yourself and not let anyone tell you how to live. This is shown by his statement about not using the grading scale for how to see if a poem is good or not. He talked about how a poem is great by how well it speaks to the person reading it. Using these analogies, Keating shows the boys that they have control on who they can be.
The issues each boy had in The Dead Poets was resolved by the end of the movie.
Neil, one of the returning boys, had a distant relationship with his father. His dad would not let him do follow his dream of becoming an actor because he didn’t believe to risk was worth the reward. Also, it would interfere with his schooling to become a lawyer or doctor. Keating inspires Neil to take a chance and try for the play, which he get's the lead, but then his father confronts him and orders him to bail a night before the performance. Neil later talks with Keating about what his father told him, Keating then gives Neal advice to tell his father how he really feels about acting and assurance that he would understand. However, Neil doesn’t actually talk to his father at all and does the play anyway. When his father finds out, he brings Neal home and informs him that he is going to be switching schools. Neals reaction to this is to later that night get his dad’s gun and commit suicide. This sets the ending in
motion. Neil wasn't the only one to be influenced by Keating’s teaching, but is the only one to take things as far as he did. Todd was helped by Keating in the way of being pushed out his comfort zone. Todd at the beginning of the movie was a extremely shy and quiet kid. One day in class, Keating brings Todd to the front of the room to help him create a poem because he did not make his own like he was supposed to. With a little help he gets Todd’s inspiration sparked and helps him create a pretty epic poem. Also with everyone having been accepting of his poem, Todd seems to open up and become less shy. Now, Knox was a little different of a story. He was inspired by the phrase “Carpe Diem” that keating always used. This, and his friends hyperactive encouragement , he musters up the courage to talk to Chris. He later takes this same courage and not only makes, but recites a poem to Chris to show his love for her. The Dead Poets and The Graduate were both decent movies. However, The Dead Poets had a little more to it and actually seemed to finish the coming of age versus how Ben just kind of did something crazy. This is why The Dead Poets seemed to show the boys breaking free of their repressive situations with a little more reason to.