Peter Weil's masterpiece. Robin williams's passionate performance. Oscar for best original screenplay. César Awards's best foreign language film ... But what excites me is not these, but Keating, a teacher with distinctive personality. His passion, his thoughts, his struggles and failures. In the light and shadow, I seem to see the past youth and the time spent on campus.
In 1950s, Wilton Preparatory College was orderly and utilitarian, but it was highly respected and well-known in China. The reason is, as President Nolan said: "More than 75% of the students in the school have entered famous universities." Such brilliant achievements come from the school motto of "tradition, honor, discipline and Excellence". This is the spiritual pillar of a century-old prestigious school. For students, this pillar has become "ridicule, terror, decadence and excretion". In their minds, this school is like hell, and the dignified atmosphere is suffocating. Their youthful vitality is bound, and their life path has been determined: future lawyers, bankers, doctors ... they are mechanically instilled, and only silently obey and abide by the rules.
However, after Keating arrived, all this changed.
Open the application to view high-definition images.
Keating was once an excellent student of Wilton. He replaced the retired English teacher-equivalent to our Chinese teacher. As I said, what is important for a Chinese teacher is not to give students knowledge, but to cultivate sentiment and lead the soul. Chinese teachers should lay a spiritual foundation for students' lifelong development and become the people who have the greatest influence on students' future life. This is a responsibility and an honor.
Keating took on such a responsibility and won such an honor-his appearance is different. Not with a straight face, putting on airs, serious and dignified, but whistling and strolling into the classroom. He took the students to the exhibition hall and looked at the photos of former alumni. He told the students that the people in the photo were young and full of longing, and their bodies were full of dreams and ambitions, but now they have become food for maggots. Life is short and death is cruel. One day, we will stop breathing and freeze to death. "So we hope that' eat, drink, and be merry' will make life transcend the secular." He said.
Carpe Diem is Latin, which means "awakening life". For those students who have been suffocated, bound and ignorant for a long time, this first lesson of Keating is tantamount to an earthquake, an earthquake of the mind. Eat, drink and be merry has since become the motto of many students.
As if throwing a boulder into a stagnant pool, Keating's passionate and outstanding teaching method set off a wild wave in Wilton. "Seize the time and make your life different," he told the students. The understanding of time affects the attitude towards life. Time flies, many times, we can only watch it rush forward, blossom and fall, and grow old. Keating asked them to seize it, grasp it, even enjoy it, and do the most meaningful things in a limited time.
In the poetry appreciation class, he asked Neil to read the preface of How to Appreciate Poetry in the textbook. The textbook author scientifically analyzes poetry through mathematical modeling. The students drew sketches carefully and took notes. "This is bullshit!" Keating was suddenly shocked. He said that poetry cannot be measured in a rational way, and poetry should be full of passion. He asked the students to tear up the preface. There is the sound of tearing books in the classroom. "This is a war. It concerns your mind and soul. You must learn to think independently. " He said. Keating believes that medicine, law, economy and engineering are only means of survival, while poetry, beauty, romance and love are the essence of life. "Poetry is dedicated to absorbing the essence of life!" He asked everyone to write a poem for his life.
Next class, he asked Todd to recite poems. Todd said he didn't write it. He wrote a big yawn on the blackboard and asked Todd to yawn in public. Todd, who has always been weak, is ashamed of doodling. "Make a primitive roar!" Keating said. Todd was cornered and yawned and let out a roar. Keating showed him the Whitman statue on the wall. "What do you see? Intuition! " "A madman, a crazy madman!" This is Todd's inner truth. Keating blindfolded him and let him imagine freely. "I saw a madman with sweaty teeth. He told me the truth. Truth is like a blanket, which makes you feel cold and can only cover our faces ... "The students were shocked. They found another Todd who is full of energy and can write poetry.
Keating's class is always full of surprises and passions. Chance comes from character, passion comes from thought. Sometimes he is very calm and sees through you at a glance, leaving you naked; Sometimes he is crazy and keeps yawning on the platform. Once he really stood on the podium. "Do you know why I'm standing here? I am reminding myself to look at things from different angles! " This is wisdom, which is indispensable for the enlightener. A simple action will make students understand the importance and necessity of looking at the problem from different angles.
He used poetry to guide students and inspire them. He asked students to think independently: "Have your own opinions, find your own voice, and break through!" He made them realize the beauty of life, the freedom of thought and the courage to pursue their inner yearning. He even moved the class to the playground. He asked the students to walk in line and analyzed everyone's personality and mentality from the walking posture. "Obedience is dangerous." He said. He wants students to be bold and confident and not stick to the rules. He asked the students to read an inspiring poem before playing football. He used Frost's poems to encourage students to "stick to their unique beliefs". He told students that under the rational reality, there is a dreamy and romantic world waiting for us to perceive and taste.
From "finding one's own voice" and "sticking to one's beliefs" to quoting Thoreau's remarks and Whitman's poems, the core of Keating's educational philosophy is free thinking and independent thinking-an out-and-out poet and an out-of-date "captain". Everything he did was to free students' minds from bondage. He used liberal ideas and the light of passion to light up the hearts of students and ignite their passion.
Students have changed: cowardice has become courage, recklessness has become maturity, timidity has become passion ... they are no longer reading tools to meet their parents' expectations. They began to resist the heavy expectations, outdated values, secular vision and the temptation of fame and fortune. They began to listen to the voices of love and dreams-Knox summoned up the courage to pursue Chris; Todd gradually stepped out of inferiority complex; Neil regained his love of art; Charlie published an article in the school magazine, calling on Wilton to recruit girls. ...
They resurrected the "Dead Poets Society" that once existed in the school. The scene of them walking through the fog in the dark has always been exciting-the blurred fog. The outline of a tree. The act of running. The Scottish bagpipes sounded. Seven young figures, dancing like flies, move towards a world of freedom and fantasy, poetry and beauty. That Indian cave is like a refuge for young passion. There, they smoked cigarettes, told ghost stories and recited Thoreau and Whitman. They danced with a strong rhythm and trembled in the passion of poetry. Their youth is like a flower, blooming vigorously.
Looking at this scene, I can't help but think of my rebellious youth and passionate years: ignoring all secular rules. Skip class. A prank. Hanging out in the library. Chatting in the teahouse. Appeared in various poetry reading scenes. Shuttle between the literary club and the cinema-this is youth. This is a poem. "Absorb the essence of life", regardless of happiness and pain, success and failure, laughter and tears, are all part of life and the inherent color of youth.
Keating awakened the sleeping souls of the students. This will inevitably lead to contradictions and conflicts: schools and parents representing traditional authority, and students representing freedom and passion. These are two completely different worlds, one is realistic, full of bondage and oppression, the other is dreamy, full of blood and passion. Keating is the connection point between the two worlds and the glue point of contradictions and conflicts. He is a teacher in the real world and a "captain" who guides students. He guides students to listen to their inner voice.
However, the reality is cruel after all. Neil committed suicide after a successful drama performance, and the ignited passion could no longer bear the imprisonment of the iron house: it was difficult to give up his love for the ideal, but he was unable to resist his father's tyranny, so he chose to destroy it. Charlie was expelled from school. Todd must sign the material that framed Keating. In the end, Keating was accused of inciting students and causing Neil to commit suicide, and was expelled from school-like Prometheus, he brought light to others, but he was notorious for stealing fire.
Sitting in Neil's seat, stroking Neil's textbook and looking at the handwriting on the title page: "I went into the jungle because I wanted to live a meaningful life." I wanted to live a profound life, absorb all the essence of life, crush everything that is not life, and prevent me from finding that I have never lived at the end of my life. " Keating cried. I wonder if there are any other reasons besides losing Neil. But I thought of Mr. Lu Xun's metaphor of "iron house": Should the sober people be awakened or let them continue to sleep? "From lethargy to death" Maybe Keating is also facing such a dilemma.
In fact, this is also the dilemma that all enlighteners will face.
Watching this movie, perhaps few people are like me: amazed, feeling-amazed that in the United States, a country symbolizing freedom, education used to be so rigid, conservative and rigid, and passion, personality and thoughts were not allowed. From this perspective, some problems in education are indeed worldwide, which have nothing to do with nationality and ideology, but only with human nature. Unfortunately, in a sense, I was as passionate and dreamy as Keating, and I loved freedom and poetry. Like Keating, I used to be a maverick, treating school stereotypes as nothing, criticizing textbooks and skipping chapters I didn't like. Like him, I was liked by some classmates and almost experienced the fate of "exile".
As I said, Chinese teachers should be agitators of students' campus life, founders of future life and leaders of spiritual life. In a word, it is the enlightener. What is enlightenment? Kant believes that it is human beings who use their own rationality and do not belong to any authority. His motto for enlightenment is: dare to know and stick to your own rationality!
I have always felt that losing dreams is the greatest loss of mankind. Education is a future-oriented profession, which should be full of passion and dreams, vitality and innovation, but now it has become the most rigid and conservative industry. Everything follows the tradition, and everything is subject to exams and scores. Both schools and teachers are restricted and bound by the "enrollment rate" and dare not go beyond the line. How difficult it is to enlighten and change under such circumstances!
But no matter how difficult it is, we must change, change what we can. Milan Kundera said: "Even if we can't change the world, then we should at least change our lives." Like Keating, he didn't completely change the world, but he changed a group of children. He taught them to challenge those dogmas, look at the world with different eyes, be different from themselves, and stick to the road they want to go.
"Oh, captain! My captain! " Oh, captain, my captain! At the beginning of the film, he uses Whitman's poem "introduction": "You can also call me captain." This is a symbol. "Captain" means responsibility and direction. It means finding a way where there is no road and finding a voyage when you are lost. At the end of the film, Nolan, the principal, replaced Keating and asked the students to read the torn preface again-Keating walked into the classroom, took his personal belongings and quietly walked outside the classroom. Suddenly, Todd, who has always been timid and silent, broke out. He shouted to Keating, "Teacher, they forced me to sign the materials. Please believe me! "
"I believe you, Todd Anderson." Keating said, turned and continued to walk away.
"Oh, captain! My captain! " Keating was stunned. Looking back, he saw Todd reciting a poem and standing on a high desk. Nolan was angry and threatened Todd to fire him. Knox also stood up. Next, the children stood on the desks one by one and looked seriously at their beloved teacher. Nolan panicked, but no matter how he stopped him, almost every table stood a student with a straight body. Their eyes are full of confidence and determination-this is the way Keating taught them. Now, it has become a weapon for them to laugh at and resist. Although this may not be harmful to the stubborn and conservative Wilton College, it gives us hope to move on. It's like fighting against reality with the power of poetry, and it's a bit like a gladiator stopping a car. But the banner of poetry flies tragically and unyieldingly in reality after all.
Oh, captain! My captain! This is Whitman's famous poem in memory of Lincoln. When the bell of freedom rang in people's hearts, the captain who liberated slaves fell on the deck. Just like Keating-Keating is gone, but no one will doubt that the seeds of love and truth have taken root in the hearts of students, and the brand of youth will remain in the hearts of children who just woke up forever. From the most timid to the daring, Todd's change fully proves this point. So, at the end of the movie, Keating smiled. His heart should be filled with joy and pride. Because, there is always something he has changed.
"Two roads diverged in the forest, so I chose the one with fewer people." This is a poem by Frost. Walking on the least traveled road is Keating's gesture, and it is also the gesture of all enlighteners.