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Post by infromthemist on May 28, 2008 8:30:25 GMT -5
Ahhh...another awesome film. To me, this movie boasts one of Robin Williams' finest performances. An all-around fantastic film!
Anyone else agree?
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Post by willtreadway on May 28, 2008 12:26:17 GMT -5
I do agree. It is one of the great "boys growing up" movies. My parents wouldn't let me watch the end when I was little. They always turned it off just after the play was over. I was allowed to watch The Shining, Alien, and An American Werewolf in London, but I couldn't watch the end to Dead Poet's Society.
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Post by shaggyrand on May 28, 2008 12:36:57 GMT -5
I'm kinda meh on this one. I want to like it, but I just can't. Mainly because I hate the end. I always feel cheated. It's a visual bludgeoning.... 'See! People are NOT conformists!'. But they are. At the end, he should go in, they all look at him, they feel guilty for what they've done, you want one of them to stand on their desk, none of them does, and he leaves. Fade to black. The movie wants to be important but it isn't. There's no challenge to the audience, there's nothing to think about. It doesn't want you to have to find your own response to what you just saw.
But I have this problem with many movies that other people love.... (I'm glaring with hate at you Funny Games....)
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Post by infromthemist on May 28, 2008 12:46:01 GMT -5
But isn't that the whole point of the film, shaggy? To show human nature in it's truest form? Personally, I think the movie showed us that, no matter how good a person's intentions are, in many cases he or she will inevitably follow the crowd so to speak, no matter what the cost may be. Rare is the person who can thumb his or her nose at conformity (every single time) in order to do what is right. But that's just my take on it.... And to Will...why wouldn't your parents allow you to watch the ending? Do you think they worried about how it would affect you?
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Post by shaggyrand on May 28, 2008 12:58:14 GMT -5
I think it didn't show that at all. That was the whole reason they stood on their desks at the end. They traded one version of conformity for another. But that's not how, I felt, they tried to present it. 'Now they stand on their desks and are independent thinkers.... just like their mentor!' I think films like this should challenge the audience, there is no power if you take the hand of the audience and bash them over the head. Not just Dead Poets, but all movies of this type, strike me as an insult to everyone... and encourage general dumbing down. Maybe it's just me...
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Post by infromthemist on May 28, 2008 13:01:41 GMT -5
I get what you're saying, Shaggy. I suppose that my take on it was just different from yours.
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Post by willtreadway on May 28, 2008 13:27:35 GMT -5
Mist: Yeah, I think it had to do with the way that the character Neil decided to deal with his issues in the end. My parents didn't want me to think that his "conclusion" was acceptable. Shaggy: I agree with both of you on this. You're right in that this movie is mass-marketed non-conformity. For some people, such as myself, this was a gateway movie of sorts. It lead me down the path of finding deeper movies that could challenge me. Kind of a learning to crawl before you walk kinda thing.
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Post by infromthemist on May 28, 2008 13:43:34 GMT -5
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