'Dead Poets Society' Is a Terrible Defense of the Humanities - The Atlantic
archive.today webpage capture Saved from history←priornext→ 31 Aug 2026 16:19:34 UTC All snapshots from host www.theatlantic.com WebpageScreenshot sharedownload .zipreport bug or abuseBuy me a coffee SKIP TO CONTENT Site Navigation Popular Latest Newsletters Sign In Subscribe EDUCATION Dead Poets Society Is a Terrible Defense of the Humanities The beloved film's portrayal of studying literature is both misleading and deeply seductive. By Kevin Dettmar Touchstone Pictures FEBRUARY 19, 2014 SHARE SAVE I’ve never hated a film quite the way I hate Dead Poets Society. I expect that them’s fighting words, at least in some quarters; at least I hope they are. Because I’m trying to pick a fight here. I was in the last year of my English literature Ph.D. program in the summer of 1989, when Dead Poets Society was released. My younger brother Scott, who really didn’t have the money to spare, slipped my wife, Robyn, and me a 10-dollar bill (these were simpler times) and told us he’d watch our