Dead poets pass down literature. And literature is anarchy. Literature is counter culture, regardless of the culture.
But not all fiction or poetry is literature (but it can be in the right setting and with the right catalyst). There is safety and there is fringe. Fringe is danger. Really letting art inside subverts a person's emotions and longings.
That's the message of Dead Poets Society. When you embrace art, you can't see the world the same way anymore. You become part of a sort of underground filled with danger and wonder and new experiences and pushing existing limits.
Some call it escape. Some call it fantasy. Some call it relaxation even. But good, true art changes the reader. Period. Just like fire creates heat. Art creates change. Sometimes subtle. Sometimes loud and abrasive.
Art pushes the status quo. Art demands that the reader question rules and previously held mores and morals.
Art creates martyrs and disciples. Art makes Keating "preach" how poetry pushes and envelopes and antagonizes, and in turn that same art shapes Charlie, Neil, Todd, and the other students into disciples who must study and "worship" in secret because art makes them weird and dangerous to the norm.
In a way, the Society becomes a sort of First Century Church, holding vigil away from the eyes of the Roman Empire, and I believe that's a strong statement Dead Poets Society makes intentionally. Art defines its own sense of religious affection, having in its domain emotion and imagination and compelling action.
Keating's message, his edict of this new religion is to "make your lives extraordinary." He reduces this, almost mantra-like, to carpe diem, seize the day. And just like Jesus warned that faith can tear families asunder and turn fathers against sons, Keating's message of being true to the truth about you does just that.
That faith has consequences, however, resulting in both a real and a figurative martyrdom. But like any true faith, it somehow perseveres, leading to the powerful image at the close of the film. "Oh captain, my captain!"
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