Oh Captain, My Captain!

For some reason, over the past few days I have found the movie Dead Poets Society creeping in to my mind every now and then. So, when my class got out an hour early today, I decided to use my free time to watch it again. (I know, studying would have been more productive, but choices were made.)

I don't think I've seen this movie since I was in grade school when we watched it in English class, but I remember it a lot differently. From what I remembered, it was a somewhat funny movie with a dramatic ending (which I couldn't remember for the life of me until about 5 minutes before it happened) that was about these kids who liked poetry. I remember thinking it was a ploy from our teacher to get our class more in to the poetry that we were studying. Naturally, it didn't work, and we continued to goof around during class as usual (those were the days).

However, after watching it now, I realized the true message of the movie isn't about poetry at all. It's about finding out who you truly are, whether through poetry or something else that you enjoy, and following it. In my time here at Michigan State, this seems to be the thing I am always striving for; figuring out who I am. As the movie so adequately points out, this isn't something that can be found through other people. We have to fight through conformity to find our passions, and once found, live them to the fullest.


It's funny how different something can seem after a few years have passed. While watching the movie, I felt like I had never seen it before, which may be attributed to the fact that it's been about 7 or 8 years since I watched it, or that I wasn't really paying attention in class when we did. Either way, it was a refreshing movie with a great insight on life.

To end this post, I'll leave you with the most famous quote from the movie:

"Carpe diem. Seize the day boys. Make your lives extraordinary"

- John Keating (Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society