Dead Poets Society + The Wave - Negative aspects of Conformity.
This essay will persuade the reader into considering the negative aspects of conformity. The link between the film, "Dead Poets Society-, directed by Peter Weir, and the novel, "The Wave-, written by Morton Rhue, will be illustrated in this text. The negative aspects of both texts are illustrated by self inflicted violence, perpetrated violence, and loss of individuality. .
The storylines of The Wave and Dead Poets Society are similar. Both texts involve students conforming in a particular fashion and suffering negative effects. .
The Wave is set in 1969, in Palto Alto, California in a typical American classroom. Ben Ross, the history teacher adopts a new concept to somewhat mimic what happened in World War II when Hitler commanded the Nazi's. The concept involved rigid stance and robotic-like responses to questions - being treated like soldiers. Most of the students accommodated the idea and responded positively, however some didn't like the conformist style.
Similarly, in Dead Poets Society, a high expectations school, Welton Academy, has a well-known and respected name. The student's conform to the schools rules until one day; a small group of boys form a society - the Dead Poets Society. The boys sneak out at dark to a cave where they share food and achieve a team spirit. Chaos reigns further on and the negative aspects of conformity are shown again. .
In both texts, some of the characters' individual personalities are lost to conformity. .
Laurie Saunders is a pretty and intelligent girl in The Wave. Always smiling, she is sensitive and caring with a boyfriend named David. Laurie is the first student that lost her individuality. She began by liking the idea of The Wave, "It was incredible-, however, later on she was uncomfortable with the idea of The Wave and was not able to voice her own opinions, "No. This is ridiculous. Even you know it is ridiculous-, unlike some other members of the class who responded positively to the concept.