#Im very proud of it

[everythingisawayoflife]

OKAY LIKE TWO PEOPLE SAID I SHOULD SO LET ME TALK ABOUT THIS, its gonna sound like nonsense. Trigger Warning for discussions of Suicide, Self-Harm, Mental Health. Please read at caution cause I discuss a lot of sensitive stuff here.

So my scene analysis paper was exactly as it sounds, we watch a movie of our choice, and analyze it from our textbook, America on Film: 3rd edition. I chose Dead Poets bc it had been a minute since I’ve seen it and I also have seen it enough times to be able to analyze it. So I chose Neil’s suicide. a very chilling scene that when broken down, says a lot, for saying very little. so first lets get into the biblical allegory.

When we first see Neil, he opens his window and slowly puts his Puck crown on his head, like so:

This combines two major elements of the main biblical parallels at play: The Agony in the Garden and one of the major Instruments of the Passion, The Crown of Thorns. For those who have not grown up around Christianity/don't pay attention to it, here are some brief yet thorough definitions of the terms I just threw around:

Agony in the Garden: The night Jesus and his disciples spend in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus spends the entire night praying and wrestling with his inevitable crucifixion. Some scriptures add that he was sweating blood during this but it depends on which translation you read. The Agony really shows Jesus' human side and can best be seen in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar's most pivotal number, Gethsemane, which I've linked here.

The Passion: A collective name for the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. Essentially all of what Easter is. Passion's archaic definition is suffering.

The Instruments of the Passion: Notable relics and icons from the Passion. These include the Crown of Thorns, the cross itself, Holy Lance, Veil of Veronica, and more.

Anyway, the entire first part of the scene shows Neil, who moves slowly and deliberately. No one else in the entire house is awake and he has become one with nature, by opening his window and feeling the winter breeze. Neil bows his head, presumably IN PRAYER, before we cut to the next part. While Christianity has become decentralized in households across America, it was still very crucial in 1950s America, especially in WASP-y domains. So, it would be correct to assume Neil's family is Christian, especially of how Welton is structured (i.e. the main meeting hall is basically a chapel, they sing hymns, etc.).

Jesus Christ was crowned with thorns as a way of mocking him. He was put on trial because according to the Romans, he claimed to be a God, which because the Romans adhered to their set pantheon, it was considered sacrilege and blasphemy. Jesus only ever responded (again, depending on the translation), "You say that I am." So they wanted to mock his authority and placed that crown on his head. Neil is essentially mocking his own authority because the entire movie he has tried and failed to have authority over his own life. His father continuously shoots him down and refuses to listen until the final break when he tells Neil he is sending him to military school. For Neil, he believes it was foolish to think he could even persuade his father just a tiny bit. He expresses this from the moment we first meet Mr. Perry to the final argument.

Where Jesus wears a crown of thorns, Neil's crown is woven with what appears to be fruits and maybe flowers. Flowers and fruit have had sensitive and romantic connotations throughout all of history and are often represented in classic art and literature. Neil is making this sacrifice in the name of art. If you notice throughout the entire movie, anytime death is mentioned, the camera is focused on Neil. It is brilliant subtle foreshadowing and it eats me alive every time it happens. Neil knows what he is about to do. Robert Sean Leonard played this scene beautifully and I so badly want to discuss all of this with him.

Continuing on, we watch Neil make a silent descent down the stairs and he is entirely shadowed. This gives the audience the implication that we already see a ghost:

Neil needed theater like he needed breathing and when theater was taken away from him, his life force was gone. The whole of Neil already died. We see this resignation with his final line:

"I was good. I was really good."

Neil already views himself as dead. He speaks of himself in the past tense. So Neil walking silently through his house as if he were already a ghost is so haunting. I mentioned earlier that Neil knows what he is doing. In Christianity, suicide is considered a sin. We see this in The Divine Comedy, an Italian narrative written by author Dante Alighieri in the 1300s CE. In the first and most famous section, Inferno, when Dante and Virgil arrive in the Seventh Circle and come across those who have committed suicide where they have been turned into trees. The only exception to this is Judas Iscariot, who is being feasted on by a three-headed Satan. Now again, Judas dies two different ways depending on which biblical translation you read but typically the narrative is this:

Judas turns Jesus into the Sanhedrin for 30 pieces of silver and when he discovers Jesus is to be crucified, Judas hangs himself.

In Biblical times, despite suicide being marked as a sin, in Judas' case, because he wanted redemption from his bad act, it was viewed as an acceptable death. So for Neil, this suicide is a redemption for betraying his father. A small parallel, maybe even a bit of stretch, but it is there for me nonetheless.

Back to Jesus, Neil's descent down the stairs also parallels to the walk along the Via Dolorosa or the Way of Suffering. It is the path Jesus walked to his crucifixion, a long and arduous journey. The walk is about 2,000 ft (600 Meters in Metric) yet this is a man who has been beaten, starved, tortured, who was also tasked with carrying his own large wooden cross, but that's besides the point. It was a slow and painful walk and Neil's deliberate footsteps are exactly that. Skipping ahead, Neil finally arrives to his destination. The choice to do it in his father's office was absolutely on purpose. Neil comes back to the spot he emotionally died, the moment he lost everything. We get just a brief bit of hesitation for Neil. He fiddles with the key to his father's desk. He holds it gingerly and turns it over in his fingers a few times before reaching down to unlock the drawer with the gun. This goes back to the Agony in the Garden, which again, is best expressed in Jesus Christ Superstar's Gethsemane:

Why I should die?

Eventually, Jesus resigns himself to die:

Alright, I'll die! Just watch me die! See how I die!

Neil does not go silently. I don't know if I'm hallucinating or have really keen hearing, but I swear you can hear the tail end of the gunshot simultaneously as the dirge-like music cuts and Mr. Perry gasps awake. I might just be making that up but I don't know tbh. But anyway, while Jesus resigns himself, the following lyrics express frustration with God and the life that was already planned for him when he has a selfish sense to live. This song and musical really delve into the debate of how much human and God was Jesus Christ and it really opens the door for his human side. He expresses selfishness and a want to abandon his mission. He is hesitant to die. He is hesitant to die painfully. Like I said earlier, Neil hesitates ever so slightly.

Then I was inspired Now, I'm sad and tired After all I've tried for three years

Cause not only is God, well, y'know, GOD, he is also Jesus' father. A father who had planned out a whole life for his son and while his son goes along with it, he has a desire to live outside of that. Sound familiar? And I really am trying not to be sacrilegious or anything! I grew up in a Christian household but outside of that, theology has always interested me and I've learned to view it from an academic standpoint. As for my beliefs now, I'm still unsure, and I don't think I ever will be sure and I think that's okay. We're getting off topic, so let me get back on track.

The final time we see Neil alive is him sitting at his Dad's desk, gun wrapped in cloth with Neil gripping it:

He looks sure, with maybe just a flicker of sadness. The entire scene Neil has looked serene. And not like the calm kind of serene, the morose kind. Solemn, I think is a better word for it. Neil's soul has died. Neil is about to crucify himself and become a Dead Poet. He has fulfilled the purpose of the poets they read about in the Society. He lived life as full as he could only for it to be cut down so short. That's the tragedy of it: Neil had so much life to live and so much more to contribute to the arts. But Neil's father killed that passion, killed that love. Earlier in the film, Keating recites the Whitman poem, O Me! O Life! In summary, the poem essentially states that life itself is what makes life worth living. It's a question and answer poem. The speaker wonders what about life is worth living when it is full of constant suffering. They get an answer: life itself is. You being here on Earth and having an identity is what makes it worth it. Neil doesn't see that worth anymore. Life without the arts, his friends, Keating, is not worth living for him anymore. I really recommend reading that full poem, linked here, it is so gorgeous despite it being so short. That sweaty-toothed madman had a gift.

I think that's pretty much everything. There have been a MILLION think pieces on Todd and Neil's whole relationship (TLDR: those boys are GAY) so I didn't get into it here, mainly cause I wanted to focus on Neil and the real meat of my rambling, which was the Biblical allegory. I feel like I said a whole bunch of nothing and it might not make sense to me in the morning but it feels good to get it all out. I love this movie and I love Neil and I love Biblical allegory.

I also hope that this post communicates that suicide is not the answer! Please reach out if you have feelings that make you feel unsafe or need someone to lean on. My DMs are always open and I will leave the major crisis hotlines if needed.

988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call for support

741741 - Crisis Text Line, text TALK to speak to someone for support.

writing a final paper on dead poets society for my film class and my page limit is THREE?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANNOT DELVE INTO THE QUEER SUBTEXT OF NEIL AND TODD’S RELATIONSHIP AND THE PARALLELS OF NEIL’S DEATH TO THE PASSION OF CHRIST BUT ALSO MAYBE JUDAS ISCARIOT’S DEATH??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DON’T HAVE ROOM TO DISCUSS THE CHRISTIAN IMAGERY??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANNOT FURTHER DELVE INTO THE TRAGEDY OF NEIL’S DEATH AND THE IMPACT IT HAS ON EVERYONE AROUND HIM???

i need a Cigarette.

somebody let me write this essay. pleak.

[sharksandjays]

your voice is so far

—

Wahoo finally finished this project it took FOREVER!! Anyways this is what I thought about the SECOND i saw those nunchucks in DR. Do with this what you will

[ashmcgivern]

A Draconified King

[hackfurs]

x🐇🔴x

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

THOAM ISSUE 7 PAGE 33

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ISSUE 1 - ISSUE 2 - ISSUE 3 - ISSUE 4 - ISSUE 5 - ISSUE 6

[hawkflame999]

Some fanart by @berryblu-arts

I loved it because I headcanon that Kai was a bit feral at first and Wu had to deal with it. (or did he? Wu is 1/4 Oni and 1/4 Dragon after all~)

but yeah.

Kai was feral.

also, feel free to make fanart and/or comics and/or fanfictions about it

[theearloftophats]

Stay for good this time

I keep forgetting to post on tumblr oops. Fixating on Palia again lol. I've drawn little else other than Einar and Rorik, my galdur oc. They're old and in love (source: trust me bro I was there)

[pancakemolybdenum]

at last. part 7 meguca gang

part 4

part 5

part 6

villains

[cetrouz]

Behold, my American Arcadia animatic:

Content coming non-stop from me hehe

[wlw-cryptid]

look look look i made an animation . ive only tried animating like one and a half times before

[fridgerat]

[as8bakwthesage]

just saying, I think i wrote a kickass artist statement for a residency program application! btw this is specifically asking for my perspective as an indigenous artist!

As a child, I wasn't raised within my culture. Due to colonisation and ethnocide/genocide, many Indigenous peoples were forced to hide who they were to protect themselves. My family, for the longest time, shunned that part of us. But now I am reaching out, I am learning more about my people and myself. And this has impacted who I am as an artist as well. My work recently has been focused on Indigenous struggles, anger, and our indomitable spirits. It also focuses on gender and how Western gender roles have impacted my life as well. As a Two-Spirit person, I walk between worlds of men and women. When once my ancestors could live as they are and be accepted, I struggle because of the Western world's dependency on outdated and ridiculous notions of what a man or a woman must be. And I reflect that in my work. My rage at the injustices of the world burns and fuels me to fight, to speak out, to not be silenced by my oppressors. I feel as though my work and personal values are reflected in this quote by Kwame Ture, a Black civil rights activist: “There’s a difference between peace and liberation, is there not? You can have injustice and have peace, so peace isn’t the answer, liberation is the answer. That’s the white man’s word - peace. Liberation is our word." Liberation from oppression, liberation from pain, starvation, rape, and death purely because of who we are. I believe in a freed Turtle Island, I believe in a freed Palestine, and I believe in a freed world. I need my work to scare you awake from your slumber of believing all is right with the world. No, nothing is right until all peoples are liberated from the shackles of oppression and cruelty. I want to show you the cruelty, the brutality, the horrors of the existence of Indigenous peoples. But also shows you the kindness, the love, the resilience we must have for one another. I am a storyteller, and I want to show you the end of Western imperialism and colonisation - a better world for all of us.

[avatar-of-the-bitch]

Donning my armour (putting the hood up on my hoodie) and kissing my wife goodbye (holding my buildabear axolotl So Tight) before I leave for the war (posting a fic on ao3) where i will stay and fight for many moons (I am procrastinating studying for my finals)

[vomitpukey]

Springtrap my bbg ily

[kai-the-rye]

I crocheted Jax

@gooseworx

[rivenantiqnerd]

16 sentence writing tag!

I was tagged by @lordfenric-writes in this three months ago, so here it is.

This is the (probably) going to be the opening line of Runaway Un-Royal

Luvenia Morvell, daughter of Sir Morvell the Trustworthy, known to her friends as Vinny, had always been second best when compared to her best friend. Well, her best friend was a literal princess. But still. Thalia Vanderbilt, the Gemstone of Avithune, was always asked to dance first. Thalia was always introduced first. Thal was always thrown the biggest parties. Always had more boys fall for her. Always the one people had heard of. Thalia had even been born two months earlier. Nevertheless, Luvenia and Thalia were very close. They were always seen together in public. They told each other everything. They knew the darkest depths of each other’s souls. They would never tell anyone else even the smallest, most trivial thing, had they told the other they would keep it safe. This is the story of how Luvenia Morvell betrayed the princess’ deepest, most sacred secret.

tagging (no pressure) to share as many sentences as you would like: @theverumproject @willtheweaver @anyablackwood @dyoniawrites @finickyfelix

@pyroprincessaxandrela @cha0t1ccr3atur3 + open tag!