“Dead Poets Society” is not a film without problems. Depicted in it is an unpunished or questioned instance of sexual misconduct, and the film focuses fairly starkly on a straight white male perspective. These things aside, however, “Dead Poets Society” is one of my favorite films. What I love about the movie is the picture it paints about freedom, and how art, particularly romantic art, can serve as a key to this freedom.

The setting of the film is typically claustrophobic – tight dorms, tight classrooms, hallways houses, and even a small cave create a feeling of constriction. However, in the cave, the boys push outwards. On multiple occasions they come flooding out of the cave into the wide expanse of the outdoors – Here, things are bright, and notably movement is freer. Perhaps this reflects Plato’s allegory of the cave. Most certainly I am reading into this too much, but nevertheless we see Professor Keating’s desire to move his students outdoors is demonstrated in the filmography to give a sense of freedom to the students as the grow. And, notably, Neil opens the window before his suicide, furthering what I see as the films connection between the outdoors and this freedom.

And it is this freedom to choose that the film holds as its loftiest ideal. Neil wishes above all else to have the freedom to choose to become an actor. Charlie Dalton is constantly fighting for the freedom to choose to live his life how he sees fit, and Knox Overstreet is fighting for the freedom to choose his ideal romantic relationship. For all of them, though, their desire for this freedom, and their realization of it, comes from art. It is art that inspires Neil to pursue acting, art that inspires Dalton’s rebellious acts, and art that inspires Knox to pursue a relationship with Chris. Importantly, in each case it is art, fundamentally linked with the freedom of the wide exterior shots that gives each character the freedom to make choices.