History Film / DeadPoetsSociety

* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler: Neil's suicide. Sure, maybe he has to do what his Dad says ''now,'' but in a few years he'll be an adult and can do whatever the hell he wants. And isn't suicide kind of the opposite of what the motto "Carpe diem," calls for?]]

* BittersweetEnding
* BlitheSpirit
* BoardingSchool

-->'''Neil:''' Hey, he's your roommate.
-->'''Charlie:''' That's not my fault.

* GenderBlenderName: Chris.

* ItAmusedMe: Is there anything that Charlie says or does which is not simply intended to have fun ?

* MeaningfulName: It couldn't have been coincidence that John Keating is a lover of poetry. As well as being close to John Keats, the -ing suffix usually implies a verb or an action. thus, he's a more active John Keats by teaching poetry

** Still, when he "exercises the right not to walk" during the strolling lesson, Keating notes that he righteously "illustrated the point" by "swiming against the stream". Charlie may not actually misinterpret him but simply overinterpret. See also ItAmusedMe.

* SchoolPlay

-->'''Meeks:''' He flatters me. That's why I help him with Latin.
-->'''Charlie:''' And English. And Trig.

* TrueCompanions: The DPS becomes this.

** Still, when he "exercises the right not to walk" during the strolling lesson, Keating notes that he righteously "illustrated the point" by "swiming against the stream". Charlie may not actually misinterpret him but simply overinterpret.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Neil's father doesn't want Neil to have anything to do with poetry or theatre, and upon discovering that Neil is playing Puck in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', he goes utterly ''ballistic''. [[spoiler:He sends Neil to a military academy where he is ultimately DrivenToSuicide]].

** TheLeader : Neil
** TheLancer : Charlie
** TheSmartGuy : Meeks
** TheBigGuy : Pitts
** TheChick : Knox
** SixthRanger : Todd

*** TheLancer : Charlie
*** TheSmartGuy : Meeks
*** TheBigGuy : Pitts
*** TheChick : Knox
*** TheSixthRanger : Todd

* SixStudentCliche: The six members of the Society (not including [[{{TheFriendNobodyLike}} Cameron]] fit this:

* ElaborateUniversityHigh: The fictional East Coast university Welton Academy.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: If you look at it a certain way, the ghost story Neil tells earlier in the film is a metaphor for [[spoiler:his own suicide]].

* OneLinerEcho: "Oh, Captain, my Captain!" at the end.

* UnfortunateNames: Pitts. Keating even points it out.
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Neil's father in particular. Also the Anderson's to Todd.

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Neil's father in particular.

* RebelliousSpirit: Charlie's actions make for an interesting contrast with what Keating actually encourages. While the latter is trying to teach his students to think for themselves and be masters of their own lives, the former takes that to mean "rebel for its own sake, fight against authorities for fun." When Charlie nearly gets himself expelled for a joke, Keating calls him out on this misinterpretation.

* ShallowLoveInterest: Chris for Knox, to an extent. Through no fault of her own, though, she just doesn't get much character development onscreen and is only really loved by Knox for her appearance. She even points this out to him when she goes to confront him at Welton, replying to his repeated insistence that he loves her, "You don't even know me!"

* HairOfGold: Again, Chris.

* MeaningfulName: It couldn't have been coincidence that John Keating is a lover of poetry.

It is 1959 and the prestigious Welton Academy has just hired John Keating (RobinWilliams) as the new English teacher for the upcoming school year. A BlitheSpirit, he uses his classes to inspire his students to go against the flow and be themselves, somehow managing to make reading poetry seem like a cool, rebellious thing to do. A group of the boys, including [[ShrinkingViolet Todd Anderson]], [[TheHero Neil Perry]], [[TheLancer Charlie Dalton]], [[StalkerWithACrush Knox Overstreet]], [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Richard Cameron]], [[TheSmartGuy Steven Meeks]] and [[UnfortunateNames Gerard Pitts]], form the [[TrueCompanions Dead Poets Society]], a group wherin they all sneak out at night to read poetry in a secluded cave. After witnessing many of Keating's unorthodox teaching methods and the effects on the students, Headmaster Nolan, the DeanBitterman of Welton, tries to put a stop to this.

* BitterSweetEnding

* FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen: Subverted - all [[spoiler:Neil's]] father has to say is "[[ItsAllAboutMe My son, my son]]," and [[spoiler:he blames Keating for the boy's being DrivenToSuicide, completely failing to understand that it's his own fault.]]

** Perfectly justified. It's obvious they wouldn't have included him if they had any hope to hide him the Society, calling him a creep. [[spoiler: And he betrays them in the end.]]

* FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler: 'O Captain, My Captain', by the end, could almost be seen as an allegory for Keating's fate: he has succeeded in his mission to turn the boys into free thinkers, and yet lost the job he loved in the process.]].

* DidNotDoTheResearch: A bagpiper is at one point shown playing the song "Fields of Athenry". The song was written in the 1970s while the film is set in 1959. This is somewhat excusable considering the song, written in the style of an Irish historical ballad, is a prime example of NewerThanTheyThink.

* {{Fantasy-Forbidding Father}}: Neil's father doesn't want Neil to have anything to do with poetry or theatre, and upon discovering that Neil is playing Puck in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', he goes utterly ''ballistic''. [[spoiler:He sends Neil to a military academy where he is ultimately DrivenToSuicide]].

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The four main Poets could be considered this: Todd is melancholic, Neil is sanguine, Charlie is choleric and Knox is phlegmatic.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Although deconstructed, double subverted, and generally played with beyond all recognition, the film still tries to promote an idealistic viewpoint, even though a lot of situations in DPS are firmly on the cynical end.