Dead Poets Society: the Musical

thank you, irt the knox comment! and thank u for the inquiry: i’m absolutely not the authority on this topic and i think it warrants more research/a more qualified voice, to be honest. 

i’ll preface my response by saying that this isn’t the *only* interpretation of these scenes, and also i’m white so i am never going to understand this fully. this is just my opinion/analysis of how the film handles race. also, like i said on the knox post, this isn’t me trying to cancel the movie or cancel the characters, i just like engaging in criticism.  

that being said. i agree, it’s definitely an awful moment. 

i think my huge problem lies with the movie refusing to critically engage with its racism, or make any indication that it’s wrong. it is unfortunately unsurprising that a group of privileged white men in the 50s would be prejudiced and/or racist. i don’t think the movie has to shy away from having flawed moments/characters. however, i do believe that the film simply laughs it away, and refuses to clue viewers in that this isn’t ok. this is where i take issue: it’s one thing to have racist characters/moments that are portrayed as ignorant/hateful, it’s quite another to use ignorance/racism uncritically to help these white characters “seize the day.” 

for example, one can look at the way the congo scene is presented. the boys are in a cave that is viewed as mystic and otherworldly largely because of its connection to native americans (it’s called “the indian cave”), and they’re dancing around the cave while reciting “the congo,” a largely controversial poem by vachel lindsay (the section “attitudes towards race” is really helpful in contextualizing the poem!). in this section, they’re using a caricature of “savagery” to  show the boys “seizing the day” and letting loose. 

Pride month is hard for some people. Those who aren’t accepted and those who aren’t out.

To those who are out: I am so proud of you, I know it’s hard to come out to people; even if they don’t accept you I do and always will.

To those who aren’t out: it will be okay. There will come a time where you can express yourself as freely and openly as you want. I’m proud of you for making it to this point. I love you; you’re a valid

Make sure to give your closeted/unaccepted friends a little extra love this month, they may need it more than you know.

I know not everyone is lucky enough to have accepting friends and family, and to those people I am so sorry, you are so valid, but maybe we can take comfort here together, supporting each other and using these fake people from the 1950’s as ways to comfort ourselves. I support each and every one of you to the ends of the earth , you’re valid, and just as a reminder:

Todd would support your gender/sexual identity

Neil would support your gender/sexual identity

Charlie would support your gender/sexual identity

Knox would support your gender/sexual identity

Meeks would support your gender/sexual identity

Pitts would support your gender/sexual identity

Cameron would support your gender/sexual identity

Chris would support your gender/sexual identity

Mr. Keating would support your gender/sexual identity

neil

todd

charlie

knox

meeks

pitts

cameron

Neil Perry <3

Todd:

Mr. Keating:

Pitts:

Neil:

Knox:

Meeks:

Charlie:

All the poets:

Charlie @ Cameron

The Five Centuries of Verse copy

The original A Midsummer Night’s Dream leaflet

The forged permission slip

Neil’s Puck crown

The god of the cave

Charlie’s saxophone 

His bongos

The bagpipes

The illegal radio

The… uhh… interesting poster

The pipes

Meeks’ and Neil’s glasses

The remaining contents of the deskset

Keating’s little bell

The iconic clothes

Here’s the issue of the Welton newspaper where Charlie published his article (Welton’s Need For Women! special request from the Dead Poets Society) ft. Mr. Keating’s arrival as the new teacher. I wish this was in better quality so you could read the full thing. :(

Tickets & the program for the Midsummer Night’s Dream play at Henley Hall.

The Welton graduation program. The seller said there’s 16 pages of names & looked very authentic although all of them were out of order excluding the first one seen below. I think it’s really interesting how they detailed out the entire opening sequence even if the viewers never see inside it. :’)

Here’s the final one. I’ve never seen this anywhere else but it’s Neil’s funeral eulogy that was cut from the film. The seller who also worked on the movie’s winter scenes said it was filled with 2 filler pages of “philosophical writing from an unknown source.” We also get to learn Neil’s middle name starts with a ‘W’. I’m saying it stands for “Walt.” 🥺