The central theme of the movie is "Carpe Diem" - seize the day. It's what Mr. Keating tells his English students when he takes them to look at photos of long dead alumni from the school. He wants them to make their lives extraordinary, to do some different or bold, to follow their dreams. 

The inspiration for Mr. Keating and for his students is poetry and writing - like Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau. When he was a student at the school, Keating and his friends formed a secret group called "The Dead Poets Society" and read poetry together, which is what the boys in the movie do. 

Neil follows his passion for theater. Knox goes for the girl he loves. And the shy Todd will eventually learn to be bold enough to speak up.

But Mr. Keating is considered dangerous for telling them to break free and not to conform, especially in the time period and the school they are in. Being part of the mainstream, being agreeable and just like everybody else is more valued than being unique individuals at Welton. 

When Neil kills himself because his parents will not let him be an actor and are dictating everything about his life, including sending him to military school and then medical school, they look for someone to blame. Mr. Keating and his advice to follow your passions and seize the day are singled out and he is fired. 

The boys - who revered him - are forced to testify against him. They are torn about this decision to turn against someone they loved, and about following like sheep the orders of the school. 

It's the shy Todd who finally dares to speak out - as Mr. Keating is leaving - telling him that they don't actually think he's at fault. The headmaster yells at Todd, tells him to sit down and be quiet - pretty much the same lesson they're taught every day except in Mr. Keating's class. But Todd - bringing together everything in the movie - stands atop his desk, quoting Walt Whitman and saying farewell - O Captain! My Captain! 

Then the other boys who were touched and changed by Mr. Keating's lessons also find the courage to stand up and say goodbye, no matter what the headmaster thinks or the possible punishments. 

So the movie is about seizing the day - making the most of your time before you die - and about being unique and following your passions and being unafraid to stand up for those things.

1. I think Todd was most transformed because at first he didn't really want to do anything and was really scared to read out loud and say poems in the class but then in class they made him come out of his shell. 
2. I think Cameron red head ginger with no soul is a character that didn't really change in the film because he snitched them out at the end and still followed all of the rules. 
3. I think that can go both ways, his views on life are still the same to seize the day but I also think that the boys really opened up so new doors for him. 
4. Todd's fear to overcome was to read out loud in class and get out of his shell, he did indeed overcome it in the classroom and after that he wrote and read poems to the class. Neil had one huge fear in his life and that was his father and his expectations of him, I think he tried to conquer it with the play but his dad came back and it became too much for him so he couldn't handle it anymore. Knox's fear was the girl and I think he over came his fear and really went after her with everything he had and it paid off. I think charlies fear was the school itself, and I really think that he overcame that by fighting the school.  

1. The story was in the late 1950's at Welton Academy.
2. tradition, honor, excellence, discipline           travesty, horror, excrement, and decadence.
3.  
4. "Seize the moment"
5. To show them that they need to live life to the fullest and not just do everything like everyone else.
6. Poetry represents the human race.
7. He did not agree on how the other professor rated poetry and didn't want them learning false stuff and going just by the book and not using their own thoughts.  

The roles role(s) of women in the 1950's as portrayed in the movie show that the soul purpose for a women was to get married, have kids, have dinner on the table by five, and take care and raise the children. The weren't thinking about trying to get a big job somewhere and to go to college for a career. The only thing they knew and wanted to do was to be the best house wife they could be. Katherine Watson's view on how women should live is very much different than what society thought it out to be. She lived her life as her own person and had dreams for her future and actually wanted to get a good career and be supportive to herself and not be the typical house wife of the time. 

I think they labeled Katherine Watson as subversive because the college that she was teaching at was very strict and went by the book word by word. There was no outside the box it was only out of the book and what they where told to teach. They didn't give the students an opportunity to explore their minds and really think about things instead of just all the information being fed to them. Katherine Watson was very diverse and "subversive" from all of the other professors because she didn't follow the book, she opened doors to the students way of thinking and let them have their own opinions on the art they where learning about. She didn't teach out of the book and instead chose her own art and lessons to teach. Therefore they labeled her as subversive because she wasn't teaching like everyone else.