Dead Poets Society

Ashley Mitchell

Leadership and Film

“DEAD POETS SOCIETY”

In life we’re all faced with certain challenges. The way we handle these challenges shapes who we are. Leadership is not innate; it is something that is nurtured throughout life. The Dead Poet Society deals with both adult and youth leadership. In the Dead Poet Society, Dr. Nolan, Neil, Mr. Keating, and Mr. Perry all portray different aspects of leadership. These aspects include expert power, legitimate power, illegitimate power, the activity of considerate and inconsiderate leadership, and democratic and autocratic leadership styles.

The president of the all boys’ school, Mr. Nolan, is a legitimate leader in The Dead Poets Society. The reason he displays legitimate leadership is because he holds a title at the school as principle or head master. Mr. Nolan also has expert power meaning he is experienced and has a great deal of knowledge in curriculum. This power of expertise has taken on one of the strongest roles in the Dead Poet Society because the boys live by Mr. Nolan’s rules. They must abide by them at all times and if they fail to do so, they will be expelled from the school. Although they had the risk of expulsion, the boys defied him by participating in the active Dead Poet Society and attempting to enforce a movement on behalf of welcoming girls into the academy. Mr. Nolan also demonstrates the autocratic leadership style. He believes that by nature, his students need to be moved, they need to be pushed. The students clearly show that they don’t necessarily want to follow Mr. Nolan’s rules, but Mr. Nolan knows that the rewards they will get in life will be enough to get most of them to follow his curriculum. For example, when Charlie made the outburst about welcoming girls into the school, Mr. Nolan feared that by letting a student question how his school is being ran, that he may lose power. Therefore he exerted punishment and felt that he had correctly handled the situation.

Neil Perry,...