Dead Poet's Society's Neil Perry and Marcia's Identity Status Theory

CP
by Courtney Pajkos5 views·Updated Aug 20, 2020
Create your own

Audio TranscriptAuto-generated

  1. Good evening, everyone.
  2. This is Courtney Pincus here.
  3. With our final project, I'm going to be talking about
  4. the movie Dead Poets Society with a focus on the
  5. character of Neil Perry and his likeness development to Marshes.
  6. Identity status theory.
  7. All right, let's dive right in and talk a little
  8. bit about the film.
  9. It is set in 1959.
  10. Historically, what was going on is we were looking for
  11. improvement on science and mathematics as well as the use
  12. of language laboratories, meaning we were looking at ways to
  13. get students more involved in learning different languages.
  14. The film itself is set in an all male preparatory
  15. school in Vermont known as well in Academy, it's a
  16. prestigious elite conservative boarding school known for its four pillars.
  17. The story itself is about an English teacher named John
  18. Keating who inspires a students through his teaching of poetry.
  19. These students are taught to challenge the status quo and
  20. each does and their own personal way.
  21. So what exactly is a Don't Dead Poets Society?
  22. What exactly is it based on?
  23. What are we reading?
  24. So the Dead Poets Society was created by John Keating
  25. when he himself was a student at Welton.
  26. We can like in this society to the beatnik movement
  27. in the 19 fifties, much like the Dead Poets Society
  28. beatniks were looking at works from William S.
  29. Burroughs, Naked Lunch and Jack Kerouac's On the Road.
  30. The specific society was inspired by way beats New Vision.
  31. But why?
  32. We're looking at a way to counter the strict formulate
  33. conservatism that was being taught in schools.
  34. Other reads included romantic poetry from Blake, Shelley and Keats.
  35. They also drew inspiration from Transcendentalist CE, most notably Walt
  36. Whitman. During the film, You can actually see a poster
  37. of Walt Whitman in Mr Keating's classroom looking down at
  38. all of the students.
  39. So what is the point of even having a Dead
  40. Poets Society?
  41. After half a century of war, recession and rapid industrial
  42. advances, Wittman's reverence for the natural world resonated with such
  43. young men as thes.
  44. For them, it was an escape to the woods as
  45. a romantic escape.
  46. From there, regimented school lives and a retreat to a
  47. life away from materialism and societal structure.
  48. Now let's look at one of the main characters of
  49. the film, Neil Perry.
  50. Neil is a 16 year old senior.
  51. I won't academy.
  52. He is extroverted, friendly, inclusive and a leader.
  53. He's an adamant follow of John Keating, who gives him
  54. the courage to pursue his own dreams.
  55. He also plays the role of the dutiful son, afraid
  56. of disobeying his father, and he's actually one of the
  57. leaders that breathes life back into the Dead Poets Society.
  58. Other major characters and nails life include John Keating, played
  59. by Robin Williams, who was a former Welton student English
  60. teacher and lives with a carpet diem kind of lifestyle,
  61. wanting his students to seize the day and live life
  62. to its fullest.
  63. There was also Todd Andersen, a shy transfer student who's
  64. also Neil's roommate.
  65. He gives him the courage to finally go and pursue
  66. his acting passion.
  67. Lastly, is Mr Perry played by Kurt Would Smith, whose
  68. Neil's overbearing, micromanaging father.
  69. So what does this character have to do with development
  70. theory? Well, if we look at meals development, it can
  71. be like in the marshes identity status theory.
  72. The theory was created by James, Marcia and the 19
  73. sixties, using Ericsson stage theory as the groundwork.
  74. It consists of four stages diffusion, low commitment, low crisis,
  75. meaning I don't know and I don't care, we could
  76. move into foreclosure.
  77. High commitment, low crisis.
  78. I've made a choice without thinking, moratorium, low commitment, high
  79. crisis. I'm thinking about it.
  80. And lastly, what we all strive for would be achievement,
  81. high commitment, high crisis.
  82. I've thought about it, and I know what I want.
  83. Now, looking at Neil's development, he doesn't really have a
  84. diffusion phase.
  85. There is a time where his father wants him to
  86. go in one direction.
  87. He wants to go into another, and there's kind of
  88. that apathy doesn't want to drive forward.
  89. But being a bread leader, he doesn't spend much time
  90. in the diffusion area His foreclosure stage is.
  91. His father has chosen his path for him.
  92. He was going to med school.
  93. Whether he likes it or not, he reaches moratorium when
  94. Keating opens his eyes to poetry and wants him to
  95. seize the day, meaning start doing things that make you
  96. happy, something that you want to dio.
  97. That may not be whether your father wants.
  98. He reaches achievement.
  99. Finally, when he performs as Puck in A Midsummer Night's
  100. Dream, he's following his dream.
  101. He's at his truest form.
  102. He's at his happiest in summary.
  103. Neil Perry's development can be traced through marshes identity status
  104. theory. Neela reaches achievement once he follows his heart and
  105. listens to his inner voice.
  106. Here's my final reference slide.
  107. Thank you, everyone for watching my presentation, and it's been
  108. a great semester, getting to know you all have a
  109. good night.