The Dead Poet's Society

This movie is gold for so many reasons.


But one of the things I like about it is because I can relate to the character Todd Anderson. His character is my absolute favorite.


You see, Todd is seemingly shy starting out. He does NOT want to speak out. But in the movie he is brought up in front of the class and told to speak a poem with his eyes closed and he spouts out this wonderful poem. And I think Todd wasn’t as insecure as it came across that he was. I know I’m not as insecure as I come across as sometimes.


The thing is, Todd Andersons get it. They see the truth in situations. Like towards the end of the movie when the parents of Neil and the principal ask him questions if he agreed that the teacher was a bad influence and etc., and you can see the words choking Todd being stuck in his throat cause the truth that the teacher did not cause Neil’s death and wasn’t a bad influence was dying to come out of his mouth. He gets it and his insides want to scream it out until the words drip down his tongue and into the souls of those in the room listening.


But Todd Andersons, although they want to speak up and spout the truth, they keep their mouth shut. They keep their mouth shut because their lips are glued together even if the words are pushing and pulsating against their very mouths. They do this, not because they are insecure and afraid to speak it, but because they know what they speak is the truth and no one wants to listen to the truth. The truth is hard. The truth hurts. The truth is ugly.
Sometimes the non Todd Andersons pity the Todd Andersons but I, a Todd Anderson, think the non Todd Andersons are to be pitied. Because they don’t grasp the truth, they remain ignorant to things they should fix or know  and they don’t listen when  the Todd’s speak. And so, we don’t keep our mouths shut because we’re afraid to speak, we keep our mouths shut because sometimes we realize that it doesn’t matter what we speak because no one will listen.