Dead Poet's Society

I recently watched the movie "Dead Poet's Society" again. This movie ranks pretty high on my favorites list because of how inspirational it is to me. I like to think of myself as an amateur poet. I owe a lot of my taste for poetry and literature to my Portuguese literature classes at BYU. I thought I was sick of only taking literature classes but I think I'll miss them. Even more I'll probably miss taking Portuguese classes altogether because it will almost certainly mean a more rapid decay of my Portuguese skills. If you're interested in some of my stuff, ask me, I might show you or just say no. Flip a coin. Anyways, I'll return to the present topic.

It's probably the most obvious theme of the movie DPS that I find so inspiring. To repeat the Henry David Thoreau quote used in the movie, "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die discover that I had not lived." The boys at the Welton boarding school are bullied into learning a by their teachers and parents. That system seems broken. The best metaphor is Neil, when his life is decided by his ridiculous father, he prefers to end his life. I'm in no way advocating suicide or glamourizing it. This is after a all, as far as I'm aware, a fictional movie. The idea of life turning upside down and the only way to really live is by dying intrigues me.

Here's another spectacular quote, John 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. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

Still topping my inspirational movie chart is "Stranger than Fiction." I recommend either of these movies if you need one to feel motivated to make something great out of your life. I love to talk about either of these movies, so chat me up if you're interested.