#he wanted to be the Robin Williams character in Dead Poet's

[roisnoir]

My HS English teacher, Mr Drago, would stalk around on the tables in the classroom (instead of desks, we had two large tables), shouting "ENUNCIATE!"

I've had mumblers all day on the phone.

I really wanna channel my inner Drago.

[nohoperadio]

My A level poetry teacher was a memorably obnoxious man who had very obviously based his teaching persona on Robin Williams's character in Dead Poets Society (I suspected this from the very beginning and I felt vindicated when he gushed about the film to us one day). He liked giving impassioned histrionic speeches about the importance of free original thought and creative passion and similar topics. This didn't work out the way it does in Dead Poets Society, both because he wasn't nearly as charismatic or interesting as he thought he was and also because most of the class didn't actually care about poetry that much. I remember one of his inspiring speeches collapsing due to no one in class being responsive enough to the energy he was trying to convey, and it turned into a weird sad tirade about how none of us would ever be geniuses because we're too conformist. This class was pretty embarrassing to be a part of a lot of the time.

Sometimes people who didn't want to do any work would exploit his readiness to go into long digressions when asked questions about whatever random shit, thus eating up class time. I remember him talking about his girlfriend and showing us pictures of her once, that was kinda weird. He was a published poet himself and sometimes he'd talk about his own poems. The only one I remember was about his experience of going to his father's funeral and being distracted from his mourning by looking at the cleavage of a girl sat near him. Which I mean sure those kind of moments can make for good art but he didn't actually recite or show us the poem or anything, he just told us that it happened and he wrote a poem about it. So like. That's not really being a poetry teacher right that's just him telling us that story, about himself. Why did he do that.

He also just was pretty stupid about poetry by the way like it happened a LOT of times that he would go down this long enthusiastic train of thought analyzing a line from a poem that was entirely based on him thinking a word meant something completely different from what it actually means or just blatantly misreading something, which made the whole vibe extra awkward/frustrating.

But the thing that made me lose my patience the most was when I googled his name to see if I could find any of his poetry and instead I found an article he'd written for a tabloid about how he saw a woman breastfeeding on the train and it grossed him out and he thinks it shouldn't be allowed. Like come on you're not living up to your own dumb bohemian freethinker shtick at even the most basic level of competence, what! Robin Williams would not fucking say that!

[notsofriendlyfriendlyreminder]

Movies you should watch °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

non-spoilery reccomendations, actors bolded, three movies incoming :>

Dead poets society (1989)

dark academia, coming of age, how I wish I was born a boy

Who is surprised that I'm mentioning this movie first? Not people who have seen my account. Especially if you watch House and like Wilson, Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) is the main character and trust, you will fall in love with him and all of his friends. Who doesn't want to see Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), the new student, come out of his shell thanks to the new friends he found? And see young minds stir thanks to the new english teacher John Keating (Robin Williams)? There are many scenes which will make you laugh, cry, and scream.

My personal rating: 5/5⭐, all time favourite in my household

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Much ado about nothing (1993)

Shakespeare drama, romance, period piece

The two literary teachers I had in my life didn't agree on much, but one thing was certain, "You can read dramas, but it's always better to watch it." This, in my opinion, is the most important aspect if you want to enjoy any act. This play in particular is one of Shakespeare's comedy, centering around two couples, Benedick (Kenneth Baragh) and Beatrice (Emma Thompson), bickering, arguing, and on the other hand Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) and Hero (Kate Beckinsale). But the stacked cast doesn't end there! There's also the prince, Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) and Don John (Keanu Reeves). Watch to see if Benedick and Beatrice ever stop arguing, if Claudio and Hero do end together, and how much can the angry Don John cause just to find revenge.

My personal rating: 5/5⭐

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

neo-western, romance, lgbt+

It wouldn't be possible for me to do a movie reccomendation list without Brokeback mountain. The best way to watch movies is to know nothing about them, and this is true with this movie also. The monologue (you will know which one I mean), is never escaping my soul. The beautiful scenery, the main duo Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), the women caught in it Alma (Michelle Williams) and Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and whatever happened on the mountain. While Much ado about nothing can be watched with any of your friends, I'd say this is a movie to watch alone or with someone you know you trust.

My personal rating: 5/5⭐ (Rewatched too many times)

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[variousqueerthings]

“one of the top three sexiest robin williams roles” you can’t just leave that in the tag without saying what the others are (but if I’ve missed it OTL)

Okay, okay I admit, I was being mildly flippant because I think robin williams is highly capable of being sexy and armand is a great example, however now that we're here, let us consider the tenets of the sexy robin williams character

EDIT: also at this point, apologies, I was out travelling for a few days, I was not ignoring you. ahem. continuing:

did I come across him as a kid/teenager in a story that made me cry my eyes out

moustache/general hairiness

how queer is he

how well-dressed is he

how anti-authoritarian is he

does he make me laugh

Let's go wild and say every one of these gets rated from 0-10 (with 0 being for example "not at all hairy" and 10 being "sexy motherfucker")

now, here's some of his most well-known ventures

good morning vietnam: he's not got a moustache, because it's the army, but because it's the army his natural anti-authoritarianism is dialled up. he queers the space and goes hard on the camp comedy. loses points for being about americans in vietnam, and he's kind of a pest towards a vietnamese woman to begin with (although he does improve). best out of context line: "we can't say dyke these days, we can't even say lesbian, we have to say woman in comfortable shoes." Also the movie ends on a dorothy/wizard of oz quote. it's definitely not queer, but it's also... a choice.

0 on me crying for him, 3 on his chest peeking out once or twice, 7 on queerness (although I cannot overstate that it's not queer, but it IS him doing great camp as robin williams), 4 on the well-dressed I guess, at least he's not always in khaki, like... 6 on anti-authoritarian, because he's still an american in vietnam, 6 on the laughter because when I laugh I laugh a lot, but some of it ages pooorly = 26 points

dead poets society: the og "teacher you had a crush on, because he affirmed your queer identity and taught you poetry." I have since worked with tutors who taught me poetry and yeah, you do get heart eyes at them, poetry and being heard just does that to you. it's anti-authoritarian of course, it's professor-chic. it's low on the hairiness scale though. of course, it is also very very sad. he's dressed like me 20 years from now.

9 on sobbing scale, 2 on hairiness from memory, 8 on queerness in that whole fucking movie, 7 on well-dressed (this is about my gender okay), 5 on the laughter he's still robin williams even when he's only joking around a little, 8 on anti-authoritarian = 39 points

to wong foo: only in it briefly, canonically bisexual, leaves an impression, however the birdcage gives him more to work with, also... he has a soul patch, it is there, one must see it RIP. however I like that he just appeared in this movie, which was very bold in the way it cast its roles for the time

0 on sobbing scale (for him), 0 on the hair-scale my goodness, 10 for queerness that is a bisexual man (his truest self), 6 on well-dressed yes he's technically well-dressed but I don't like it much, and 5 on anti-authoritarian -- he's a queer so duh but it's not really in the plot for him, 7 on the laughter he's just charming = 28 points

bicentennial man: he's a robot who argues for his right to be considered alive. he's not my personally sexiest robot of all time, but every robot is a sexy robot. this one also made me cry (we're seeing a trend huh).

IIII cannot rate his sexiness in this movie, it's been too long -- will have to rewatch and get back to it

good will hunting: we love a dramatic turn, I wanted to say, but he did a lot of dramatic turns actually. this one might be the most straightforward dramatic that I've watched though. he's got a beard! he's helping out a kid without a lot of opportunities. he's challenging toxic masculinity. we love a sexy bearded man who's making the world a better place, breaking the cycle

yeah I cried at this as a kid 8 points, iiihihihi he has A BEARD 10 points! queer ethos related to breaking the cycle of toxic masculintitty and being someone who's looking at methods of healing and non-nuclear family support networks but not overall super queer on his character's front necessarily 5, 4 on the well-dressed it's worse than dead poets, 7 on anti-authoritarian, hmmm and 4 on laughter... it's still robin williams = 38 points

jumanji: a mess of a person who never shaved before, that's trans man aesthetics forya. he's a bit too busy for me to consider him sexy necessarily, he arrives and immediately man-eating plants, man-hunters (no innuendo intended), floods, and what-have-yous follow. he doesn't have time to be sexy, but that being said...

yes I cried to this movie as a kid 7 on the sad williams, okay he is hairy but is he kempt at all??? still 6, idk if it's queer to be trapped inside a game for most of your life but it'll certainly make you neurodivergent which is queer enough 5, badly dressed (sorry) 3, anti-authoritarian... tricky... he doesn't get on with his strict dad as a kid, he evades a man-hunter (again, no innuendo), he gets arrested by a cop and he continues to roll the dice on a game that wreaks havoc (although he continues to abide by the rules of the game sooo there's a whole essay here, let's just say 5), 4 on the laughter = 30

hon mentions: hook -- makes me cry too hard to even consider sexiness + when I was a kid it was all about dante basco. mrs doubtfire -- the particular kind of drag he does doesn't do it for me, but we love a genderfluid icon. mork&mindy -- I haven't actually seen it, but he seems too baby overall at that point. flubber -- he's got that mad professor type Look, but I've never actually seen it (I saw a trailer over and over on one of my vhs' as a kid), life according garp is a weird fucking movie which is surprisingly trans-positive but also just like... not well-made, I wanna watch what dreams may come

AND FINALLY BIRDCAGE - one of my queerbaby movies I elegantly let the tears fall 7, HIS CHEST HIS FACIAL HAIR HIS ARMS 10/10, 10 ON QUEERNESS, 10 ON DRESS, loses points on the authoritarian because he gives in to his petulant son's demands for heterosexuality BUT gains some back for his speech about being a middleaged fag + standing by his lover at the end 7, YES HE MAKES ME LAUGH 8 = 52

DING DING DING actually Birdcage is robin williams' sexiest role woops are we surprised?

generally: robin williams is underrated as a hairy man tbh, my guy's arms and chest are 👀👀👀👀👀

[world-cinema-research]

Dead Poets Society Blog Essay

By: Jillian Arnold

A quote from Mr. Keating, “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.” 

I first watched Dead Poets Society when I was sixteen years old for my sophomore year English class. My assignment was to find a monologue to memorize and record myself presenting it, as it was COVID during the time. As I was searching for speeches, I came upon one by Robin Williams and since he was in many movies from my childhood I thought, why not look into it? I chose that speech for the project and decided to watch the movie to get to know the speech better. I ended up loving the movie and it changed my life with its outlook on life and movement to seize the day. Unknowingly, I was the same age as the boys I connected with and would continue to grow with them as they remained the same age. 

Dead Poets Society was released into theatre on June 2nd, 1989, and was both a critical and commercial success. The movie earned $95,860,116 domestically and $235,860,116 worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year when it only had a $16,000,000 budget.

During the release of this movie in 1989, George H. W. Bush was sworn in to become the 41st President of the United States.

I was not the only person affected by Robin Williams’s powerful speech in this movie. It was well-received by audiences, scoring 92% on rotten tomatoes. This movie appealed to the audience with its message of carpe diem or to “seize the day.” According to Dead Poets Society: A Summary by Faith Lord, “The story portrays a teacher named Mr. Keating who has come to an all-boys school that is steeped in tradition with boys who are expected to follow the rigid and unyielding expectations of their parents regarding their education. Keating's unconventional methods use poetry to help the boys regard their identity and desire with his lessons from literature and poetry.” This intended message reached out to the people who are stuck in a cycle doing meaningless things to them and to be an independent man who seizes the day and don’t let their life fly by them. The producers relied on reaching their audiences to have them connect with the film. They didn’t need big action scenes or a love story to touch people’s hearts. Another appeal to the audience was the famous actor Robin Williams, who starred as Mr. Keating in the film. As a beloved actor at the time, his improv and humor brought people happiness and made them laugh at previous films, making people want to see his role in this film. 

The film does have some problematic elements for viewers that stirred some controversy when the film was released. The first is its outlook on suicide. Near the film's end, the character Neil Perry is forced to withdraw from his beloved school to military school and has to quit theatre, which was his newfound love. His last act was putting on his thorned crown from A Midsummer Night’s Dream before shooting himself. This suicide could’ve been seen as his last rebellion and could be praised biblically, but that may not be the case for all viewers. This glorification of suicide can cause more harm than good since suicide is the second leading cause of death for people. Another problematic topic could be the film’s issue with queer baiting. Although this may have not been an issue when the movie was released to today’s viewers, it may be a more current issue. There is a heavily alluded LGBTQ relationship between Neil and Todd in the film but there is no confirmation. This baiting takes away from the representation of a minority and can take a toll on the viewers in the community since they don’t see themselves reflected in films very often. 

This movie is an unconventional movie with its deeper meanings and its non-blockbuster-type plot. The plot of this story isn’t conventional and doesn’t have an outlined story, rather it follows the ups and downs of boyhood and their struggle to break free from the status quo. 

I chose this movie to write about for the first assignment of the class because it was a movie that stuck out to me growing up and I knew I would be passionate to write about it for this assignment.

When I first watched this movie, I didn’t see its problematic themes, I just loved the poetry and the outlook on life. After watching it this week and doing research on it, I understood its themes and why there were problematic topics. I never knew when I first watched it that it was such a huge film and is famous, but now that I’ve rewatched it I know that it is. Overall though, I still really enjoy this movie and it’s a go-to watch every time. I love the characters and see myself in them and can find solace in them. I have taken the movie’s main message, “seize the day,” and it has allowed me to find the things I love right now. If I hadn’t taken that step and seized my day, I wouldn’t have joined my love of theatre nor taken the time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Finally, a quote from the movie, “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

[the-firebird69]

How far off it is that's how far out there it is and ask us what am I supposed to do ask you for help look at these complete **** threaten me every second of the day 40 years ago or really it's 52 years ago running and then three years before that he was too young to know what they're doing. We sympathize with him but holy **** you people are really stupid you're really really really stupid we have to do this we're gonna do it and everybody else is he says take these robots and mess this piece of crap up he says we don't like them either they put it out there everybody knows when they're burning up we're gonna use it for whatever we want because they're just sitting there and your realm is not getting rid of them that's your job we're gonna use these monkeys until they're gone every single sin every indiscretion is needed but is happening because people of this realm are allowing it he says it's not our problem if you have traitors who so bad nobody wants to touch them. People force our son to do what they say and it's because they think they're getting stuff and it's ridiculous and he's right a lot of people are trying to get rid of you idiots and they should you're a bunch of morons running around with 1/2 weight act that doesn't fool anyone your act is horrible your top guys are nasty idiots changing every few seconds in front of people it is the most disgusting show I've ever seen and it means absolutely nothing except you're dead you see her people dying right so he says he doesn't care and he hasn't rigged so he have to go in and check and pull tons of them out and it's a force majeure. Are you gonna force us to do our job to get rid of you now he's got a theory and it is that a lot of your **** gifted people say that they screwed up and they try to get rid of themselves in time and we believe him we interviewed a lot of your people and you're not offering leadership and you sound worse than they do and it's a proof in terms and you're nobody. He knows about it you see he thinks that our realm won't get rid of you fast enough you like a disease. So he hung himself in the movie dead poet society they all did and hanging doesn't do anything. Yeah whatever you know dream on little kid you know an adult you send that to Robin Williams and he came back in another movie and he's seen the guy said we're children and we are we can't help it and don't know what to do. He's asking people in other movies what do we do we suck at this we suck very badly and so you don't ask me what to do i'll say you're getting at me and you'll find out another year later you're going their whole whole time the wrong way and here you are as your upcoming character in Black Widow and that's the wrong thing to do you know a lot of it's because of Tommy F but he is one of you he's completely out of control pumping things back in time is massively evil to our people in society max have so much stuff to overcome he says I almost feel bad for them but I don't. And don't lose control dave we're gonna come arrest you. If you're gonna think it's him like you always do then you get arrested.

mac proper

What's wrong here we pinned it all on him we do it every day.

dave

We're using things called cameras and some visual verification and you're completely stupid you don't understand this at all you've got them pinned down surrounded he's the only one here of his and you're just having him say stuff every once in awhile that's yours and we can see what it is you're an idiot.

mac proper

Olympus

I'll tell you what to do Dave to straighten you out and to trump too this is a very simple class and course individually you go and talk to Gareth and tell him he's nothing do it for a while like you always pester people you're gonna find out he's just like you he's nothing he's a nobody he has about the same number of people probably and he can't do anything just like you but he he's gonna tell you that he is God himself you need to hear it and feel it you really do everyone is gonna get rid of your stupid clan

Zues Hera

I'll tell you again I don't wanna do that no I do it's not one of you at all he's this meat eater with the meat eating dream i'll tell you what I have to go talk to him and tell him stuff about you so what gets mad at you 'cause you don't believe anything anyone says to you I do understand what you're saying he's just like us just this weirdo he thinks he's doing everything and I noticed that thing you didn't encounter until you heard him say it you're saying what the hell are you talking about I know it's not you and there was like two seconds I was trying to figure out if it was Obama or not and it's not so I do hear what you're saying you're working with them but not with us everybody else is acting like an enemy who's gonna later be the ultimate military force. It does not work.. Page in the subject 'cause I don't wanna go hear him talk like that even though we do so there you go you're talking OK so we're talking and talking and talking I guess we don't have it thank you dave he says

thank you dave he saysdve

thats it we do this now llol hahaha lol htansk dave you pushed it that last bit us too we do this now

Thor Freya

thank gracious we need th is

mac proper

we all do

forgieners

all of us and my boys t oo they yell it on the bus an tons of them eaving hahaha ha them ok. we needed this they are so onry mean and damned dumb. we fire on them shorlty listen for it too

mac daddy

we do this they will shout it and be gone.

and some wnat thier own out trumpp does is right but wrong too

is too feable to handle it

Thor Freya

Olympus

[gabenvrhappened]

MoviesOr... Dead Poets Society

My best friend was talking non-stop about Dead Poets Society and its two main characters, so much so that I had to watch it. After pushing the date away, there it came a Sunday chilly afternoon when I decided that it was time to see what her love was about, so I texted her and we both pressed play at the same time to watch together, but in different parts of our city.

I had this idea about Dead Poets Society as a dark adult movie, as if it were related to The Green Mile, especially because of the name and because of Robin Williams (don't even ask), so I never would've thought it was such a touching coming-of-age story. During the hours that I was immersed in the movie, I kept texting my friend about my thoughts on the movie and it was the best way to experience this piercing perfection.

One of the first things I texted her was: If I had gone to this boarding school, I would've gotten myself into so many problems! Cute boys in a Catholic environment? Disaster, indeed. Especially if my circle of friends included Neil and his natural charisma and charm, or Todd and his sweet shyness that he uses a hiding shell, played beautifully by Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke respectively (which was kind of weird since they were so adorable when they were young, but now they're adults, specially because I had a bit of knowledge of Hawke's, and his kids', careers from his older age).

Robin Williams, suffice to say, is an incredible actor (again, another misconception, but based on my childhood memories: something inside me keeps believing his movie Toys is a horror movie and I need to watch it again to desmistify this, because I know it must just be a childhood trauma), so no wonder he portrays such a spectacular professor. He's a rebel and a transgressor who wants his students to be more than just robots who can't think for themselves (which it seems is what the school wants them to be, which also seems strange but not so far-fetched from reality). Being like this is the perfect combination for trouble in such a rigid school, but for us watching, it's an incredible opportunity for great moments, such as the iconic scene of ripping pages out of poetry books and speeches to the captain while standing on desks.

Among the rebelliousness and the tender displays of affection, with Neil and Todd being almost unbearably perfect together, jumping on bed sheets or resting their chins on each other's shoulders. It's reassuring to see teenagers being teenagers not having their feelings corrupted by the twisted ways of the world. Or not knowing how to say sorry. Or writing letters pretending to be their (always stupid) fathers. All that I know is that next year, I'm going back to college to study theater, and this movie made me want so badly to open a secret society. Maybe we could discuss poetry from dead authors, plays that Shakespeare wrote and songs by Taylor Swift.

Switching the lenses a bit, it's not news that many believe that Neil and Todd were in love, and that the movie has a queer subtone. I couldn't agree more, but I'm not one to be taken into account because I see love everywhere, and it can be quite problematic to point out a true male friendship as a gay romance (meaning: can't two straight guys show their love for each other without being judged?). But I have to say that, among so many underlying queer references and situations, I found that the decision of Neil to be in the play Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck mustn't have been arbitrary. When interpreting a story, we need to understand that every choice that a writer makes has a meaning, so among so many other Shakespeare plays, why this one? Either way, one thing is a consensus: this is what we understand as the official ending of the movie.

What follows is the perfect portrait of the place and time the story is set. With everything that happened, it's horrible to watch the way Todd suffers and how the professor takes all the blame. All is fair in love and poetry, and it may be romantic to see friendship being built with art and affection, but God forbid me living at that time. It's hard being me when I can be me, imagine when I couldn't? Ultimately, that's what makes this story so perfectly touching: even though it's a piece of fiction, you can't help but suffer together and wish things were different. Wish to enter the screen — or the original book, for that matter — and alert everyone involved about the tragedy that is inevitably coming. Or to wish for a world where no one would see death as the only way out.

[pedrism]

01:17

01.10.23

dead poets society - 10/10

favourite character: this is tough because so many of them were great mr keating, neil, todd, nox, charlie. they all stood out the most to me but all were great (expect from the weirdo oppressive white men and neil’s nasty father)

favourite moment: the end - when the boys stood in solidarity for their captain 💔

favourite line: CARPE DIEM

review:

where to start? something that touched my heart whilst watching this was the beauty of boyhood. just the way that the boys grew (especially todd) and seeing them break free from the robotic moulds that had been enforced on them was something so heartwarming.

i wanted to take a chronological sort of approach to this review but i can’t. the death of neil is just something i have to get into although i’m not really sure what words to use. i guess since that kind of parental pressure is something i can relate so heavily to, i really feel for neil. how suffocated and trapped within his own mind he must’ve been. how alone and lost he would’ve felt in his final moments. perhaps how free his soul finally was once he pulled the trigger. what upsets me the most i think, is that i don’t feel as if neil ever truly got justice. he’s gotten his freedom from his fathers oppressive grasp, but at what cost? and his father, though he has lost his son seems like is still so steeped in pride that he may never truly realise that he was the one who murdered his boy.

« parents, do not provoke your children to anger » was a phrase that wouldn’t stop ringing in my ears in the last part of the film. and it makes me wonder when will these parents learn? yes, you may want ‘what’s best’ for your children, but you must know your limits. you must know when your encouragement is turning into enslavement. you must recognise when you are simply going too far. and it breaks my heart all the more to know how many neils there are out there now that are suffocating under the crushing weight of their parents’ selfish projections. my heart truly shatters since i was some of them myself.

on a lighter note. this movie felt so real. the actors did a fantastic job. the boys were really just boys. they were silly, they had fun, they enjoyed the fleeting moments of their teenage immaturity and i loved watching every part of it. the dead poets society was such a positive force for them. and mr keating, don’t we all wish we had a mr keating? not just as the wonderful mentor that he was to these boys but someone that really challenges your habits, forces you to go beyond the imaginary boundaries of your mind - he was brilliant (and robin williams did a smashing job).

can’t end without giving special mention to knox and charlie. they too were just adorable. i mean knox’s love story was just too cute and charlie’s boyish charm was something else.

i really loved this film - it was a fantastic watch.

watch it again? - 100%. im pretty sure it’s a book as well so i might give it a read and see

[mayorakat]

Carpe Diem, they say

The film "Dead Poets Society" leaves me feeling nothing but emptiness. Now I have this huge void in my heart.

I know that this film will end with Mr. Keating leaving the Welton Academy, I just know since I first watched the film "Mona Lisa Smile" and they have the same vibes.

But I can't comprehend Neil Perry's fate. It truly shattered my heart.

The film tackles about arts appreciation, life philosophy and being passionate for love, for dreams, for something you want to pursue in life.

Carpe diem, they say. Such a short but powerful phrase. It's actually the triggering root of the whole film!

And knowing Mr. Keating's existence build my faith in humanity. He teaches the boys to embrace their individualism. I keep saying, where is my Mr. Keating when I needed one? Although I never take his class but I learned a lot from him. Robin Williams can really soothes everyone's hearts.

O Captain! My Captain!

The love I have for the characters in this film stays with me forever. They aren't perfect, they do have downsides. Notable points are Charlie's sexist lines and Knox's obsessive behavior. But in general, I love the boys' distinct characteristics and developments. I always love Charlie's wittiness and Todd's aloofness with everyone but Neil.

But I do relate more with Neil. Him wanting to pursue arts, him having strict parents and him feeling trapped in this cruel world.

Neil teaches Todd to speak but it's him who cannot speak for himself. Neil inspires Todd to throw what's keeping him feel blue but it's him who keeps and piles his emotions.

I can fully relate.

But my dear Neil, I have a lot of faith in you that maybe in this film, the likes of us do succeed despite the hindrances.

I can't really grasp mentally your cold su!cide.

You having the brightest smile and mind, you being the foundation of the club and you being the living inspiration to the boys.

This enters the headmaster's life philosophy of being a realist, it kills Mr. Keating's teachings of hope, dream, admiration and love of thyself.

When Neil went to Mr. Keating to say he feels trapped, his cry for help breaks my heart. When Mr. Keating asked Neil if he confronts his father about his struggles and he said yes, I know he is acting, fake.

My dear Neil.

He chooses to d!e than to live a life he didn't want. I just wished I have the courage to do the same.

He died young but he knows he did good and he was very good.

I died at 16 but didn't get buried until now. I'm not an artist but I do acting everyday. Faking life until it gets me or if I finally have the courage to end it. A tiresome journey, isn't it?

Although Neil didn't get to disclose his true feelings, he's still brave, the bravest of them all.

Carpe diem.

[07.02.23]

[newmic]

<Coucoun, my love.

I wanted ti say you I am thinking of you.

Je regarde une série japonaise qui me plait, ne me demande pas le titre, je n'y fais pas attention, seul le scénario m'intéresse.

Au fait le titre du film que j'aime beaucoup est : "Le cercle des poètes disparus" avec

Le Cercle des poètes disparus est basé sur les propres souvenirs de collège du scénariste Tom Schulman. Ce fut d'aileurs son premier scénario, qu'il écrivit en 1985. Il remporta l'Oscar du Meilleur Scénario Original cinq ans plus tard.

En 1959 aux États-Unis, Todd Anderson, un garçon timide, est envoyé dans la prestigieuse académie de Welton (lieu fictif1) dans l'État du Vermont, réputée pour être l'une des plus fermées et austères du pays et où son frère aîné a suivi de brillantes études. Il y rencontre M. Keating, un professeur de littérature anglaise aux pratiques pédagogiques plutôt originales, qui notamment encourage le refus du conformisme, mais aussi l'épanouissement de la personnalité par la vie en poésie, l'art de profiter de l'instant présent (« Carpe Diem ») et le goût de la liberté.

Voulant au maximum suivre la voie nouvelle qui leur est présentée, certains élèves de Keating vont redonner vie au « cercle des poètes disparus », un groupe d'esprits libres et oniriques dont M. Keating fut, en son temps, l'un des membres influents.

La découverte d'une autre vie va à jamais bouleverser l'avenir de ces étudiants. En effet, les situations des divers personnages ne se prêtent guère à l'exercice de ces libertés, récemment découvertes, car les mentalités des parents et des professeurs n'admettent pas que leur autorité et leurs ambitions soient remises en question par ces jeunes personnalités tentant de s'affranchir de règles trop rigides. Ce cercle permettant à leur participants de s'affirmer, il les aide à découvrir leur vraie nature et à vivre comme ils le désirent.

***

I watch a Japanese series that I like, don't ask me for the title, I don't pay attention to it, only the script interests me. By the way, the title of the film that I really like is: "Dead Poets Society" with The Dead Poets Circle is based on screenwriter Tom Schulman's own college memories. It was his first screenplay, which he wrote in 1985. He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay five years later.

In 1959 in the United States, Todd Anderson, a shy boy, was sent to the prestigious Welton Academy (fictional place1) in the state of Vermont, reputed to be one of the most closed and austere in the country and where his brother eldest has followed brilliant studies. There he meets Mr. Keating, a professor of English literature with rather original teaching practices, who notably encourages the refusal of conformity, but also the development of personality through life in poetry, the art of enjoying the present moment. (“Carpe Diem”) and the taste for freedom.

Wanting as much as possible to follow the new path presented to them, some Keating students will revive the "circle of dead poets", a group of free and dreamlike spirits of which Mr. Keating was, in his time, one of the members. influential.

The discovery of another life will forever change the future of these students. Indeed, the situations of the various characters do not lend themselves to the exercise of these recently discovered freedoms, because the mentalities of parents and teachers do not allow their authority and their ambitions to be called into question by these young personalities tempting to get rid of rules that are too rigid. This circle allows their participants to assert themselves, it helps them to discover their true nature and to live as they wish.

The main actor is : Robin Williams (John Keating)

I really liked this movie, you know it, don't you? In France, the film was released under the name "The circle of disappeared poets" and in the US I just learned of it "Dead Poets Society"

Kisses my love, I'm going back to my Japanese series

[samnyangie]

1989: THE RECORD

Filming Dead Poets Was an Initiation For Young Actor

by Valerie James

The Record

June 6, 1989

Robert Sean Leonard, who portrays a tormented and misunderstood young man in the new movie, "Dead Poets Society," describes working with actor Robin Williams and director Peter Weir as "his baptism."

"I've learned so much," Leonard said the other day in a Manhattan restaurant as he talked about growing up in Ridgewood and his early fascination with acting.

The movie, which stars Williams, is being touted by Touchstone Pictures as the thinking man's alternative to this summer's crop of adventure movies.

Leonard, 20, moved to New York City two years ago and now lives in a studio apartment in Chelsea. His parents moved to Waldwick. Between acting jobs, he attends Fordham University in the Bronx where he is majoring in history. "I think studying history is much more interesting than studying acting," he says. "Besides, I learn more about acting by performing." Leonard made his film debut in "The Manhattan Project." He also appeared in "My Best Friend is a Vampire." He has a string of stage performances to his credit, including "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Breaking the Code," in which he played a British schoolboy opposite Derek Jacobi.

It's a brutally hot day and Leonard is poking at the shrimp in his seafood platter. He is dressed casually in a cotton shirt and slacks.

And yes, that well-scrubbed look and innocent eyes that are so convincing in the movie are very much in evidence.

He began acting at age 12. His first speaking part, he says, was belting out the song "Gary, Indiana" at the top of his lungs in a Ridgewood summer stock production of "The Music Man". He took morning classes at Ridgewood High School and pursued his acting career in the afternoon.

A few years ago, he said, his father retired from his job as a Spanish teacher at Pascack Valley High School. His mother still works as a private nurse. His sister teaches English in the Park Ridge school district, and his brother recently graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

Leonard has just completed a nine-week engagement in a Philadelphia stage production which, he says, had a mercifully short run. He is preparing to audition for several parts in this summer's New York Shakespeare Festival, which explains why he's carting around a copy of Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus."

Right now, he'd much rather talk about his role as Neil Perry in "Dead Poets Society." The movie, which opens locally this week, stars Williams as John Keating, an irreverent English teacher who challenges the rigorous academic life at a boys prep school in Vermont in the 1950s.

Keating urges his young students to free themselves from the shackles of conformity and live life to its fullest.

The idea appeals to seven young men in his poetry class, including Perry, who decide to revive the school's defunct Dead Poets Society in order to experience love, passion, and life through poetry.

Perry is a romantic who yearns for an acting career but is thwarted by disapproving parents who are hell-bent on getting him into medical school.

Perry goes against his father's wishes and performs in the school's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." His Puck wins tumultuous applause. But he is hustled out of the school auditorium by his irate father, who takes him home and informs him that he will be sent to another school and will become a doctor.

Perry's confrontation with his parents takes place in their impeccable living room, and the background music swells as his stern-faced father asks him to explain his undisciplined behavior. Perry searches for the courage to tell his father that he wants to be an actor. When his courage fails, the movie audience gasps.

"I couldn't believe the reaction," says Leonard, who attended a screening of the movie the previous night. "People were actually yelling at the characters on the screen."

To him the movie was wonderful, creative work. But it was an effort, he says, that would not have succeeded except for the talents of Williams and Weir. "This has been my baptism," he says. "Peter Weir taught me so much."

"Yes, it was hard work and the days were 14 hours long. But I've never worked with a director who was so intense, so creative, and so giving." Leonard downplays his performance as he talks about the filming of certain key scenes. The scene in which he urges a classmate to throw away a desk set, the second in a row he received as a birthday present from his parents, is his favorite, he says, because Weir allowed him to improvise.

The scene begins with Todd, the classmate, sitting dejectedly by the desk set. When Perry tells him to throw the desk set away, it's as if someone understands Todd's inner agony for the first time. "Don't worry," Perry says. "You'll probably get another one next year". This is Leonard ad-libbing, and the screening audience loved it. "I didn't think it was funny when I said it," says Leonard. "It just seemed to be the natural thing to say." Leonard says Weir encouraged the actors to perform spontaneously, although he kept a tight reign on the antics of Robin Williams. "Robin wanted it that way," explains Leonard.

And what did Leonard learn from Williams. "He told me not to become famous," Leonard said, smiling.

[oscopelabs]

Isn’t Everything Autobiographical?: Ethan Hawke In Nine Films And A Novel by Marya Gates

When asked during his first ever on-camera interview if he’d like to continue acting, a young Ethan Hawke replied, “I don’t know if it’s going to be there, but I’d like to do it.” He then gives a guileless shrug of relief as the interview ends, wiping imaginary sweat off his brow. The simultaneous fusion of his nervous energy and poised body language will be familiar to those who��ve seen later interviews with the actor. The practicality and wisdom he exudes at such a young age would prove to be a through-line of his nearly 40-year career. In an interview many decades later, he told Ideas Tap that many children get into acting because they’re seeking attention, but those who find their calling in the craft discover that a “desire to communicate and to share and to be a part of something bigger than yourself takes over, a certain craftsmanship—and that will bring you a lot of pleasure.”

Through Hawke’s dedication to his craft, we’ve also seen his maturation as a person unfold on screen. Though none of his roles are traditionally what we think of when we think of autobiography, many of Hawke’s roles, as well as his work as a writer, suggest a sort of fictional autobiographical lineage. While these highlights in his career are not strictly autofiction, one can trace Hawke’s Künstlerromanesque trajectory from his childhood ambitions to his life now as a man dedicated to art, not greatness. 

Hawke’s first two films, Joe Dante’s sci-fi fantasy Explorers with River Phoenix and Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society with Robin Williams, set the tone for a diverse filmography filled with popcorn fare and indie cinema in equal measure, but they also served as touchstones in his development as person drawn to self-expression through art. In an interview with Rolling Stone’s David Fear, Hawke spoke about the impact of these two films on him as an actor. When River Phoenix, his friend and co-star in Explorers, had his life cut short by a drug overdose, it hit Hawke personally. He saw from the inside what Hollywood was capable of doing to young people with talent. Hawke never attempted to break out, to become a star. He did the work he loved and kept the wild Hollywood lifestyle mostly at arm’s length. 

Like any good film of this genre, Dead Poets Society is not just a film about characters coming of age, but a film that guides the viewer as well, if they are open to its message. Hawke’s performance as repressed schoolboy Todd in the film is mostly internal, all reactions and penetrating glances, rather than grandiose movements or speeches. Through his nervy body language and searching gaze, you can feel both how closed off to the world Todd is, and yet how willing he is to let change in. Hawke has said working on this film taught him that art has a real power, that it can affect people deeply. This ethos permeates many of the characters Hawke has inhabited in his career. 

In Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating (Robin Williams) tells the boys that we read and write poetry because the human race is full of passion. He insists, “poetry, beauty, romance, love—these are what we stay alive for.” Hawke gave a 2020 TEDTalk entitled Give Yourself Permission To Be Creative, in which he explored what it means to be creative, pushing viewers to ask themselves if they think human creativity matters. In response to his own question, he said “Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about poetry, right? They have a life to live and they’re not really that concerned with Allen Ginsberg’s poems, or anybody’s poems, until their father dies, they go to a funeral, you lose a child, somebody breaks your heart, they don’t love you anymore, and all of the sudden you’re desperate for making sense out of this life and ‘has anyone ever felt this bad before? How did they come out of this cloud?’ Or the inverse, something great. You meet somebody and your heart explodes. You love them so much, you can’t even see straight, you know, you’re dizzy. ‘Did anybody feel like this before? What is happening to me?’ And that’s when art is not a luxury. It’s actually sustenance. We need it.” 

Throughout many of his roles post-Dead Poets Society, Hawke explores the nature of creativity through his embodiment of writers and musicians. Often these characters are searching for a greater purpose through art, while ultimately finding that human connection is the key. Without that human connection, their art is nothing.

We see the first germ of this attraction to portray creative people on screen with his performance as Troy Dyer in Reality Bites. As Troy Dyer, a philosophy-spouting college dropout turned grunge-band frontman in Reality Bites, Hawke was posited as a Gen-X hero. His inability to keep a job and his musician lifestyle were held in stark contrast to Ben Stiller’s yuppie TV exec Michael Grates. However in true slacker spirit, he isn’t actually committed to the art of music, often missing rehearsals, as Lelaina points out. Troy even uses his music at one point to humiliate Lelaina, dedicating a rendition of “Add It Up” by Violent Femmes to her. The lyrics add insult to injury as earlier that day he snuck out of her room after the two had sex for the first time. Troy’s lack of commitment to his music matches his inability to commit to those relationships in his life that mean the most to him. 

Reality Bites is also where he first positioned himself as one of the great orators of modern cinema.” Take this early monologue, in which he outlines his beliefs to Winona Ryder’s would-be documentarian Lelaina Pierce: “There’s no point to any of this. It’s all just a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details. You know, a quarter-pounder with cheese, those are good, the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter become a cackle, and I, I sit back and I smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt.” 

Hawke brings the same intense gaze to this performance as he did to Dead Poets Society, as if his eyes could swallow the world whole. But where Todd’s body language was walled-off, Troy’s is loud and boisterous. He’s quick to see the faults of those around him, but also the good things the world has to offer. It’s a pretty honest depiction of how self-centered your early-20s tend to be, where riding your own melt seems like the best option. As the film progresses, Troy lets others in, saying to Lelaina, “This is all we need. A couple of smokes, a cup of coffee, and a little bit of conversation. You, me and five bucks.”

Like the character, Hawke was in his early twenties and as he would continue to philosophize through other characters, they would age along with him and so would their takes on the world. If you only engage with anyone at one phase in their life, you do a disservice to the arc of human existence. We have the ability to grow and change as we learn who we are and become less self-centered. In Hawke’s career, there’s no better example of this than his multi-film turn as Jesse in the Before Trilogy. While the creation of Jesse and Celine are credited to writer-director Richard Linklater and his writing partner Kim Krizan, much of what made it to the screen even as early as the first film were filtered through the life experiences of Hawke and his co-star Julie Delpy. 

In a Q&A with Jess Walter promoting his most recent novel A Bright Ray of Darkness, Hawke said that Jesse from the Before Trilogy is like an alt-universe version of himself, and through them we can see the self-awareness and curiosity present in the early ET interview grow into the the kind of man Keating from Dead Poets Society urged his students to become. 

In Before Sunrise, Hawke’s Jesse is roughly the same age as Troy in Reality Bites, and as such is still in a narcissistic phase of his life. After spending several romantic hours with Celine in Vienna, the two share their thoughts about relationships. Celine says she wants to be her own person, but that she also desperately wants to love and be loved. Jesse shares this monologue, “Sometimes I dream about being a good father and a good husband. And sometimes it feels really close. But then other times it seems silly, like it would ruin my whole life. And it’s not just a fear of commitment or that I’m incapable of caring or loving because. . . I can. It’s just that, if I’m totally honest with myself, I think I’d rather die knowing that I was really good at something. That I had excelled in some way than that I’d just been in a nice, caring relationship.”

The film ends without the audience knowing if Jesse and Celine ever see each other again. That initial shock is unfortunately now not quite as impactful if you are aware of the sequels. But I think it is an astute look at two people who meet when they are still discovering who they are. Still growing. Jesse, at least, is definitely not ready for any kind of commitment. Then of course, we find out in Before Sunset that he’s fumbled his way into marriage and fatherhood, and while he’s excelling at the latter, he’s failing at the former. 

As in Reality Bites, Hawke explores the dynamics of band life again in Before Sunset, when Jesse recalls to Celine how he was in a band, but they were too obsessed with getting a deal to truly enjoy the process of making music. He says to her, “You know, it's all we talked about, it was all we thought about, getting bigger shows, and everything was just...focused on the future, all the time. And now, the band doesn't even exist anymore, right? And looking back at the... at the shows we did play, even rehearsing... You know, it was just so much fun! Now I'd be able to enjoy every minute of it.”

The filming of Before Sunset happened to coincide with the dissolution of Hawke’s first marriage. And while these films are not autobiographical, everyone involved have stated that they’ve added personal elements to their characters. They even poke fun at it in the opening scene when a journalist asks how autobiographical Jesse’s novel is. True to form, he responds with a monologue, “Well, I mean, isn’t everything autobiographical? I mean, we all see the world through our own tiny keyhole, right? I mean, I always think of Thomas Wolfe, you know. Have you ever seen that little one page note to reader in the front of Look Homeward, Angel, right? You know what I'm talking about? Anyway, he says that we are the sum of all the moments of our lives, and that, anybody who sits down to write is gonna use the clay of their own life, that you can’t avoid that.”

While Before Sunset was shot in 2003, released in 2004 and this monologue refers to the fictional book within the trilogy entitled This Time, Hawke would take this same approach more than a decade later with his novel A Bright Ray of Darkness.

In the novel, Hawke crafts a quasi-autobiographical story, using his experience in theater to work through the perspective he now has on his failed marriage to Uma Thurman. Much like Jesse in Before Sunset, Hawke is reluctant to call the book autobiographical, but the parallels to his own divorce are evident. And as Jesse paraphrased Wolfe, isn’t everything we do autobiographical? In the book, movie star William Harding has blown up his seemingly picture-perfect marriage with a pop star by having an affair while filming on location in South Africa. The book, structured in scenes and acts like a play, follows the aftermath as he navigates his impending divorce, his relationship with his small children, and his performance as Hotspur in a production of Henry IV on Broadway. 

Throughout much of the novel, William looks back at the mistakes he made that led to the breakup of his marriage. He’s now in his 30s and has the clarity to see how selfish he was in his 20s. Hawke, however, was in his forties while writing the book. Through the layers of hindsight, you can feel how Hawke has processed not just the painful emotional growth spurt of his 20s, but also the way he can now mine the wisdom that comes from true reflection. Still, as steeped as the novel is in self-reflection, it does not claim to have all the answers. In fact, it offers William, as well as the readers, more questions to contemplate than it does answers.

The wisdom to know that you will never quite understand everything is broached by Hawke early in the third film in the Before Trilogy, 2013’s Before Midnight. At this point in their love story, Jesse’s marriage has ended and he and Celine are parents to twin girls. Jesse has released two more books: That Time, which recounts the events of the previous film, and Temporary Cast Members of a Long-Running But Little Seen Production of a Play Called Fleeting. Before Midnight breaks the bewitching spell of the first two films by adding more cast members and showing the friction that comes with an attempt to grow old with someone. When discussing his three books, a young man says the title of his third is too long, Jesse says it wasn’t as well loved, and an older professor friend says it’s his best book because it’s more ambitious. It seems Linklater and company already knew how the departure of this third film might be regarded by fans. But it is this very departure that shows their commitment to honestly showing the passage of time and our relationship to it. 

About halfway through the film Jesse and Celine depart the Greek villa where they have been spending the summer, and we finally get a one-on-one conversation like we’re used to with these films. In one exchange, I feel they summarize the point of the entire trilogy, and possibly Hawke’s entire ethos: 

Jesse: Every year, I just seem to get a little bit more humbled and more overwhelmed about all the things I’m never going to know or understand. 

Celine: That’s what I keep telling you. You know nothing!

Jesse: I know, I know! I'm coming around! 

[Celine and Jesse laugh.] 

Celine: But not knowing is not so bad. I mean, the point is to be looking, searching. To stay hungry, right?

Throughout the series, Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke explore what they call the “transient nature of everything.” Jesse says his books are less about time and more about perception. It’s the rare person who can assess themselves or the world around them acutely in the present. For most of us, it takes time and self-reflection to come to any sort of understanding about our own nature. Before Midnight asks us to look back at the first two films with honesty, to remove the romantic lens with which they first appeared to us. It asks us to reevaluate what romance even truly is. 

Hawke explores this same concept again in the 2018 romantic comedy Juliet, Naked. In this adaptation of the 2009 Nick Hornby novel, Hawke plays a washed-up singer-songwriter named Tucker Crowe. He had a big hit album, Juliet, in the early ‘90s and then disappeared into obscurity. Rose Bryne plays a woman named Annie whose longtime boyfriend Duncan is obsessed with the singer and the album, stuck on the way the bummer songs about a bad breakup make him feel. As the film begins, Annie reveals that she thinks she’s wasted 15 years of her life with this schmuck. This being a rom-com, we know that Hawke and Byrne’s characters will eventually meet-cute. What’s so revelatory about the film is its raw depiction of how hard it is for many to reassess who they really are later in life. 

Duncan is stuck as the self-obsessed, self-pitying person he likely was when Annie first met him, but she reveals he was so unlike anyone else in her remote town that she looked the other way for far too long. Now it’s almost too late. By chance, she connects with Crowe and finds a different kind of man.

See, when Crowe wrote Juliet, he also was a navel-gazing twentysomething whose emotional development had not yet reached the point of being able to see both sides in a romantic entanglement. He worked through his heartbreak through art, and though it spoke to other people, he didn’t think about the woman or her feelings on the subject. In a way, Crowe’s music sounds a bit like what Reality Bites’s Troy Dyer may have written, if he ever had the drive to actually work at his music. Eventually, it’s revealed that Crowe walked away from it all when Julie, the woman who broke his heart, confronted him with their child—something he was well aware of, but from which he had been running away. Faced with the harsh reality of his actions and the ramifications they had on the world beyond his own feelings, he ran even farther away from responsibility. In telling the story to Annie, he says, “I couldn’t play any of those songs anymore, you know? After that, I just... I couldn’t play these insipid, self-pitying songs about Julie breaking my heart. You know, they were a joke. And before I know it, a couple of decades have gone by and some doctor hands me... hands me Jackson. I hold him, you know, and I look at him. And I know that this boy. . . is my last chance.”

When we first meet Crowe, he’s now dedicated his life to raising his youngest son, having at this point messed up with four previous children. The many facets of parenthood is something that shows up in Hawke’s later body of work many times, in projects as wholly different as Brooklyn’s Finest, Before Midnight, Boyhood, Maggie’s Plan, First Reformed, and even his novel A Bright Ray of Darkness. In each of these projects, decisions made by Hawke’s characters have a big impact on their children’s lives. These films explore the financial pressures of parenthood, the quirks of blended families, the impact of absent fathers, and even the tragedy of a father’s wishes acquiesced without question. Hawke’s take on parenthood is that of flawed men always striving to overcome the worst of themselves for the betterment of the next generation, often with mixed results. 

Where Juliet, Naked showed a potential arc of redemption for a father gone astray, First Reformed paints a bleaker portrait. Hawke plays Pastor Toller, a man of the cloth struggling with his own faith who attempts to counsel an environmental activist whose impending fatherhood has driven him to suicidal despair. Toller himself is struggling under the weight of fatherhood, believing he sent his own son to die a needless death in a morally bankrupt war. Sharing the story, he says “My father taught at VMI. I encouraged my son to enlist. It was the family tradition. Like his father, his grandfather. Patriotic tradition. My wife was very opposed. But he enlisted against her wishes. . . .  Six months later he was killed in Iraq. There was no moral justification for this conflict. My wife could not live with me after that. Who could blame her? I left the military. Reverend Jeffers at Abundant Life Church heard about my situation. They offered me a position at First Reformed. And here I am.” How do we carry the weight of actions that affect lives that are not even our own? 

If Peter Weir set the father figure template in Dead Poets Society, and Paul Schrader explored the consequences of direct parental influence on their children’s lives, director Richard Linklater subverts the idea of a mentor-guide in Boyhood, showing both parents are as lost as the kid himself. When young Mason (Ellar Coltrane) asks his dad (Hawke) what’s the point of everything, his reply is “I sure as shit don’t know. Nobody does. We’re all just winging it.” As the film ends, Mason sits atop a mountain with a new friend he’s made in the dorms discussing time. She says that everyone is always talking about seize the moment—carpe diem!—but she thinks it’s the other way around. That the moments seize us. In Reality Bites, Troy gets annoyed at Lelaina’s constant need to “memorex” everything with her camcorder, yet Boyhood is a film about capturing a life over a 12-year period. The Before Trilogy checks in on Jesse and Celine every nine years. Hawke’s entire career. in fact, has captured his growth from an awkward teen to a prolific artist and devoted father, a master of his craft and philosopher at heart. 

[didiwas-shookspeared]

Is it strange to anyone else that Keating seems to be the most underrated character in Dead Poets Society? Like guys, he’s one of the highlights of the movie. He’s Robin Williams. He inspires the boys. He’s the whole reason the movie happens. He’s the one that says yawp first. I want to see more love for Keating.

I will not stand for any Keating disrespect on my blog. He is my favorite character and I will die on this hill.

[hella1975]

hella what are ur favorite movies i need some recs

*immediately forgets every film i’ve ever watched*

okay this is an indefinite list and you are going to notice a genre very fucking quickly but we’re just not going to talk about it

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

yep i exposed myself about this already so i feel no shame in admitting that i literally watch this when; a) it’s raining a lot and i’m stuck indoors, b) i’m ill, or c) i’m just generally feeling like shit and need something easy and un-angsty to pass the time. i have rewatched this film an embarrassing amount and i show no sign of stopping, especially given recent...... ideas...  that have been thought up..... ;))))

Perks Of Being A Wallflower

we’re getting into the aforementioned genre thing nerds. i am obsessed with this film. i just keep coming back to it and i notice/learn new things each time and i love the characters so much. Charlie’s journey through it is one of the most beautiful and authentic portrayals of a journey with mental illness that i’ve ever seen, and also the soundtrack fucking slaps. that ‘we are infinite’ scene lives in my head rent free at all times

The Intouchables (and for fucks sake watch the french version not the american version)

this film is just objectively brilliant. it’s about a disabled nobleman called Phillipe who’s looking to hire a new live-in caregiver, and because of his status, all of the applicants are really stiff, proper posh types who coddle him. and suddenly Driss comes along, who’s only there to get the signature saying he applied and failed in order to still get welfare benefits, and he’s just not like the other applicants to the point Phillipe’s assistant is just like ??? but the thing is (and he does this without realising because he doesn’t even WANT the job lmfao) he treats Phillipe like a normal person regardless of his disability instead of babying him, and it gets him the job. the whole film follows their friendship, with their individual romances being more of a sub-plot, and it’s just so beautiful and a favourite in my family. i’m pretty sure my sister could quote the entire thing in french if i asked her to

Dead Poets Society

i put this last but it is very very easily my favourite film of all time, hence me waiting to rant talk about it. now the theme here with films that i like (aside the first one lmao) is that i always really love emotional ones, and it’s because i never cry at films so whenever i find one that actually gets me close, it sticks with me. this film right here though? the only film that has made me not only cry, but continues to no matter how many times i rewatch it (and i’ve rewatched it a lot). It’s just beautiful and heartbreaking and the friendships are enough to make me go fucking mental and the whole teacher-student-found-family dynamic is pristine and the POETRY? english student brain can’t handle it mate. todd and neil ARE in love and you can’t convince me otherwise. also i think having robin williams as any sort of found family related character is a direct punch to the throat for me (looking at you good will hunting) so this was just *screams*. but yeah i honestly can’t rec this enough. if you’re going to watch any of these films, watch this one

[lilacmermaid25]

Ted Lasso Prompt:  The team wants to watch Dead Poets Society for their movie night, because Robin Williams’ character reminds them of Ted, but that’s one movie he cannot watch.

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

"Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space...

No matter what anybody says, you'll always be a prince to me.

I'm history! No I'm mythology! Oh I don't care what I am I'm free!" (Genie, Aladdin 1993)

It's that time of year again, probably the hardest time of the year for me to make art. But it's still a day where I feel like I have to do something because of the impact that Robin Williams left on me from the age of way too young for me to possibly remember. And I figured what way to better honor the legend than to talk about one of his most popular characters and my favorite Disney side character. Hands down The Genie is numero uno in my mind and in my heart. While Ray and Mushu come super close they'll never top him. It just won't happen because so much of my childhood was spent watching and rewatching this movie just to see his scenes.

Now if you don't know why today is dubbed "Genie Day" for me, I'll explain it to you. But for that we're going to have to time travel a little bit back to seven years ago today, August 11th 2014. I was working as a counselor in training for my childhood summer camp. I've told this story before so I'll shorten it up a little bit. That week after he passed away was one of the hardest of my 21 years of life thus far. I slipped pretty far. I couldn't comprehend how the man that was responsible for so many hours of uproarious laughter of a good chunk of the population was gone. For somebody that grew up sickly Aladdin was one of those movies that I would watch over and over because it always brought the laughs. The Genie was so much larger than life and so much of Robin's energy but also his heart went into creating the character. I suffer from pretty major stage fright but I still made it my goal by the end of that week that I would preform Friend Like Me to honor my hero. Thinking back on it probably sucked hard but I had fun with it and to me that's a big part of what the Genie is it's fun.

When you watch the behind the scenes of this movie and the uncut animation that wasn't ever finished that Erik Goldberg was able to make for the movie that we've seen (there is over thirty hours of footage that he animated that was never put into the film). Actually fun fact! My grandma went to high school with Eric Goldberg. They weren't super close or anything but I love to tell people that because he's been one of my top favorite animators since I was a kid. Genie was only the first time that he worked off of Robin Williams as a few years later he would do Mrs Doubtfire's opening cartoon.

Growing up I was often watching Robin Williams films. The older I got the more that I found his "adult" films and loved them even more than his children stuff. I fell in love with his varying roles that he could pull out of his hat. It felt like watching a movie magician that could do all of these crazy things with just the tip of a hat. He was so multilayered both as a human being and as an actor. I've never seen anyone be as sidesplittingly funny but at the same time have so much heart and clear passion in every little nuance for the character. He made my childhood/teenage-hood a better and brighter place full of laughter and light. His films never shied away from hitting you with the sad things either. They were always this perfect balance of happy and sad that kept me coming back. So many of my favorite sad movies he's at the forefront of them. Movies like The Fisher King, Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, and those are just in my top six favorites.

I've come to loathe this day every year. Every year this is the day that I dread the most. I hate that I never got to actually thank him for all the years that he was there for me for emotional support. He wouldn't have to do anything funny, zany, or wacky. I just wanted to tell him my story so desperately. Most of my friends have actors that they love to see but I have "my boys". They are as followed; Ralph Finnes, Edward Norton, Robert Downey Jr, Gary Oldman, and of course at the tippy top of that list is none other than the man himself Robin Williams. It's hard for me to put into words why I loved his films so much as a kid and still do today. But the only way that I can explain it is that you have those celebrities that just leave this profound impact on you. For me that's my relationship with Robin's film persona. Whether it be happy or sad I'll always love watching him act. Celebrating his life by creating art is one of my favorite things to do during the month of August. I hope that he's up there somewhere and he's happier than he was here.