#Richard cameron

[toddandersonsblog]

this is AMAZING!!

DPS X Peanuts

A style study while drawing my fave poets

This probably one of the funnest things I’ve drawn in ages

[yawping-poets-society]

we don't talk enough about cameron's first real scene, where he talks to neil outside his dorm before todd arrives. in case anyone doesn't know what i'm referring to, here's the dialogue from the scene:

Cameron: Hey, Neil, study group tonight?

Neil: Yeah, sure.

Cameron: Business as usual, huh? [turns to leave, then] Hey, I heard you got the new kid. Looks like a stiff. [laughs at his own joke] [Todd enters] Oops. [Cameron leaves]

so let's talk about it!!

cameron opens with the study group question. this is pretty straightforward to me-he knows he's none of the poets' favorite, and certainly not charlie's. neil is his foremost supporter, pretty much the only one who sticks up for him, so this makes sense. he's checking with neil, his 'in' to the group, to make sure he can hang with these guys. he wants to be part of their circle so badly, and that's pretty clear from the get-go.

and then he hits us with this whole "stiff" business. this is a major thing i've seen people use to justify their hate of cameron and i really struggle with that.

because, well...this is SO undeniably awkward. neil tells todd just a moment later not to mind cameron because he was "born with his foot in his mouth." so off the bat, that's not something you say about someone who's consistently rude or who you don't like. that's neil sticking up for cameron. he's saying, sorry todd, he means well, or at least, he doesn't have any ill intentions. cameron's just not got the best grasp of social cues, that's how he is. this is a pretty valid explanation in and of itself, but if you'll walk with me a little further, i've got a deeper theory about why cameron makes this comment.

more than just it being awkward, this casual friendliness, haha, new kid, a mild insult said with much bravado...this isn't really cameron as we see him for the rest of the movie. though he does remain relatively awkward, it doesn't really match his character of being cautious and trying to not stand out, to fit into the group (as we see in his first line). so how to explain this action (because i don't believe the explanation is just: cameron is being an asshole/being awkward)?

to me? this is what cameron thought charlie would say. isn't that almost exactly how charlie always talks about cameron, after all? for a great example, see later in the same scene:

Charlie, about Cameron: What's his specialty, bootlicking?

so maybe cameron believes that this is how friends treat each other. or at least, how they talk about other people to entertain their friends. charlie, while not a stellar student and clearly not liked by the administration, is the class clown, which makes him popular with students at welton. thus, cameron is probably jealous of charlie. he probably wishes he was more like charlie-confident, funny, well-liked, etc. and again, he clearly wants to be friends with neil, and part of their larger group, very, very badly. all of this to say:

i don't think cameron meant what he said about todd.

he's trying to get a laugh out of neil. so what does he do? he does what he thinks charlie-neil's funny best friend-would do. it's not a nice thing to say, but to me, it really just reads as someone who is trying to guess what the appropriate, funny thing to say in a situation is, but doesn't actually know. cameron might not have even really thought the 'stiff' joke was funny. but he thought neil would find it funny, which is really the whole point. cameron is, at the most fundamental level, an unpopular kid who wishes he was well-liked, and is fumbling around blindly trying to find his way there.

[nectarinesinthesun444]

Things I would have wanted to see in a dead poets society sequel (there was gonna be one but it got scrapped)

Todd releasing a poetry book and dedicating it to Neil

Charlie in the 60s counter cultures, being in the free love movement, anti war, civil rights etc

Drama about getting drafted to vietnam and Charlie decides to go to university to avoid the draft

If we're being canonical Meeks goes to vietnam and dies so I guess that would be in the sequel (it pains me to type this)

MAJOR character development for Todd, him gaining confidence, doing stand up poetry, making friends, gaining more self esteem

Todd becomes an english teacher (canon)

Todd manages to make peace with Neil's death

Chris leaving Knox

Todd in Columbia University

Todd coming to terms with his feelings for Neil

Charlie still plays the saxophone and he busks

Todd and Charlie have a really deep conversation about the welton days, Neil, grief, and love

Todd and Charlie bestieism

Set in New York

Meeks and Pitts live together and have multiple areas in their house dedicated to their interests

More in-depth look into Todd's past and how it shaped him

[graceofgondor]

fuck it—the poets (+the girls) as calico critters/sylvanian families

[all4horsemen]

my take on that planet angst trend as the poets I guess?

[deadpoetperry]

Rocks are pretty cool, y’know.

Find any good ones lately, @r-cameron-tradition?

NEVER taking back my headcanon that cameron loved bugs when he was younger (even now, still, but he would never admit it)

also him and neil bond over the rocks they collect

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

"Neil and Todd, they've gotten quite close, haven't they? Seems like nothing can keep them apart," all the Poets thought in unison.

Two weeks later: Neil found dead

"Welp, we were wrong-"

"Shut up, Cameron!"

[just-leui]

started watching richard cameron edits and now i'm crying- the angst, boy the ANGST

[deadpoetsandlivinglegends]

Masterlist

[seize-bestie]

anyway i feel like people lean a little too hard on the "he's just a kid" thing with cameron. its true and its not entirely irrelevant, but i think its more important to focus on the fact that he wasnt treated very well. he lives in a system that wants to crush personality into nothing and a friend group he's barely apart of, clinging onto, who really doesnt seem to care for him (whether the intent was there or not doesnt matter. we saw the effects). this goes deeper than him just being naive in my opinion

[yuri-anderperry]

yes this includes mr keating

[alltimesos]

[elle8n]

This movie changed my live <3

[nectarinesinthesun444]

I am a HARD believer in todd and charlie bestieism, here are my headcanons for their friendship post canon

In the 1960s they lived together in new york and would have been really supportive of each other, and neil's death brought them closer, and charlie felt like he could cry in front of todd

although todd never got as close to anyone as he did with neil, I believe him and charlie became like brothers

they have a record player and they dance together

meeks and pitts are their neighbours

whenever it's neil's birthday all the poets reunite at their house and they bring the five centuries of verse book and share memories of neil, cry, listen to music, and dance

charlie was the first person to buy todd's poetry book and he heavily promoted it in any way he could

[got-the-cheese-touch]

medicine

law

business

engineering.

these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.

but poetry,

beauty,

romance,

love,

these are what we stay alive for.

happy aniversary dead poets society. you make me bawl like a little baby every time.

[charlie-why-do-they-swoon]