The movie I chose for my analysis was Dead Poets Society. One of my favorite movies of all time and an incredible one to psychologically analyze. I imagine you have already seen this (who hasn’t) but spoiler alert just in case.
Abnormal Behavior:
One of the main characters in Dead Poets Society is Todd Anderson. Todd’s main features seem to be his quiet nature and shyness but this is too limiting. A more thorough look into his character reveals signs for both social anxiety disorder (SAD) and avoidant personality disorder (APD). SAD and APD are closely related as they both deal with feelings of anxiousness and inadequacy. SAD deals more with specific feelings of anxiousness associated with social situations. Todd displays these from …show more content…
Erik Erikson stated that the specific psychosocial task of adolescence is trying to find a role. Neil Perry, another main character, is doing just this. His whole life he has been living with his father’s authoritarian nature. His father wants him to go to medical school and become a doctor with nothing in between. Neil, though, has always wanted more than this. He solidifies this when he auditions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Neil begins to figure out his role as an actor. It is what he loves to do and who he believes he is. His father won’t have it, though. After Neil auditions without his approval his father almost makes him quit the play. In a conversation he has with Mr. Keating about talking to his father, he tearfully states, “I can't. I’m trapped”. After his performance Neil’s father screams at him and says he will enroll him in military school. To him, Neil will become a doctor and that will be the end of it. Neil had found his role but his father ripped it away from him. He doesn’t want to disappoint his parents but he doesn’t want to abandon who he is. It is this harsh role confusion and authoritarian parenting that eventually lead to Neil’s suicide. He couldn’t act and he couldn’t not act; he felt trapped. He saw no other way out, which is evidence into how damaging authoritarian parenting can be. Especially when it comes down to who someone is. If their child has …show more content…
Dead Poets Society does the same. One of the main conflicts in Dead Poets Society is conformity versus individuality. The school's desire for conformity versus Mr. Keating's desire for the opposite. Each of the main boys conform because it is all they know how to do. How the movie deals with conformity is a lot different from how social psychology deals with it. The movie deals with why we should strive not to conform, but social psychology deals with why we do. In a scene where Mr. Keating is demonstrating conformity, he tells the boys to walk in any way they want to. The boys begin to walk, but one character chooses not to walk, “I’m exercising the right not to walk”. Despite it being an act of rebellion, he is one of the only ones who understands the activity. Mr. Keating wants the students to find their own way, their own path, and their own future. He went to the school too and he knows how much they try to stomp out all individuality. He wants something different for them and he wants they to be individuals. This, I thought, was a really interesting take on the movie’s relation to social psychology. I liked seeing conformity taken from another angle than it was in the social psychology unit. It brought a whole new perspective to my
Abnormal Behavior:
One of the main characters in Dead Poets Society is Todd Anderson. Todd’s main features seem to be his quiet nature and shyness but this is too limiting. A more thorough look into his character reveals signs for both social anxiety disorder (SAD) and avoidant personality disorder (APD). SAD and APD are closely related as they both deal with feelings of anxiousness and inadequacy. SAD deals more with specific feelings of anxiousness associated with social situations. Todd displays these from …show more content…
Erik Erikson stated that the specific psychosocial task of adolescence is trying to find a role. Neil Perry, another main character, is doing just this. His whole life he has been living with his father’s authoritarian nature. His father wants him to go to medical school and become a doctor with nothing in between. Neil, though, has always wanted more than this. He solidifies this when he auditions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Neil begins to figure out his role as an actor. It is what he loves to do and who he believes he is. His father won’t have it, though. After Neil auditions without his approval his father almost makes him quit the play. In a conversation he has with Mr. Keating about talking to his father, he tearfully states, “I can't. I’m trapped”. After his performance Neil’s father screams at him and says he will enroll him in military school. To him, Neil will become a doctor and that will be the end of it. Neil had found his role but his father ripped it away from him. He doesn’t want to disappoint his parents but he doesn’t want to abandon who he is. It is this harsh role confusion and authoritarian parenting that eventually lead to Neil’s suicide. He couldn’t act and he couldn’t not act; he felt trapped. He saw no other way out, which is evidence into how damaging authoritarian parenting can be. Especially when it comes down to who someone is. If their child has …show more content…
Dead Poets Society does the same. One of the main conflicts in Dead Poets Society is conformity versus individuality. The school's desire for conformity versus Mr. Keating's desire for the opposite. Each of the main boys conform because it is all they know how to do. How the movie deals with conformity is a lot different from how social psychology deals with it. The movie deals with why we should strive not to conform, but social psychology deals with why we do. In a scene where Mr. Keating is demonstrating conformity, he tells the boys to walk in any way they want to. The boys begin to walk, but one character chooses not to walk, “I’m exercising the right not to walk”. Despite it being an act of rebellion, he is one of the only ones who understands the activity. Mr. Keating wants the students to find their own way, their own path, and their own future. He went to the school too and he knows how much they try to stomp out all individuality. He wants something different for them and he wants they to be individuals. This, I thought, was a really interesting take on the movie’s relation to social psychology. I liked seeing conformity taken from another angle than it was in the social psychology unit. It brought a whole new perspective to my