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what if you were a MED STUDENT and it was you FIRST SHIFT in emergency medicine and then you spilled MYLANTA on yourself and you had to CHANGE YOUR SCRUBS and then a patient BLED all over you and you had to CHANGE YOUR SCRUBS and RIGHT AFTER THAT a boy BARFED BLOOD all over you and you had to CHANGE YOUR SCRUBS and then a some guy PEED on you and you had to CHANGE YOUR SCRUBS and you looked like a BABY OWL

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Something I noticed rewatching DPS that I feel like I’ve never really seen talked about before: when the Poets wake up Todd to let him know that Neil is dead, Cameron isn’t with them. He isn’t in that scene at all. Sure, maybe Charlie told him and he grieved privately in their room, but I honestly think he was an oversight and wasn’t alerted until later on.

I think this is one of the strongest explanations as to why he rats on Keating and goes so easily with authority: this is the final straw to make him feel like an outsider. As much as people like to say that Cameron is a rule follower through and through, I don’t think that’s the case. After all, he was the second person to officially join the Dead Poets Society behind Charlie.

I think Cameron has always looked for acceptance and structure, hence why he tends to be a teacher’s pet. If he can’t make friends, then he can at least find his value in being a good student. But then Neil and Keating spark something in him, a want to be accepted not for just the rules he follows but for who he is. So he hesitantly breaks the rules he found comfort in, finds community with his friends, relaxes enough to joke with them and chant and rough house.

Of course there are the small comments Charlie in particular makes to alienate him, but he’s finally doing it, he’s finally becoming a part of the friend group and valued for who he is, even if it required Charlie becoming his roommate and breaking some rules to get it.

He bristles slightly when this guy, Todd, who so clearly doesn’t want to be involved gets accepted into the group with open arms. Cameron had to fight his way in tooth and nail, provide help for homework and force jokes where he saw the others would naturally, yet here comes this silent kid who begrudges everyone yet still has the same standing as him. But he brushes it off since they’re all friends.

What serves as his breaking point is waking up the day after the play to sullen friends and tear stained faces to realize that Neil is dead, and not only that, but everyone has been told before him and have already processed it somewhat while he’s still reeling. And the worst of it all is that they even told Todd before they thought to ever wake him up, the kid who, in his eyes, had just met the guy.

Neil was arguably the Poet Cameron was closest too, and with the betrayal of his delayed announcement on behalf of the others, he trusts no one now. Not only that, but he is scorned. Why do they get a say in who gets to know first? Why does the new kid get grounds to mourn more than him?

So he turns back to the constant which has never failed him other than making him albeit a bit hollow: authority. And in his young and betrayed mind, it becomes believable that this really was all Keating’s fault, that this weird and different authority figure who made them rip up textbooks had some kind of part in disrupting the normal he had gotten used to. And this way, he really believes he’s getting justice for Neil while also saving all of the Poets from being expelled because despite the betrayal of being left behind, he still cares about them.

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"translating" Walt Whitman's "O Me! O Life" using the DPS movie script

Recently I've been thinking a lot about poetry (for the big and as yet unnamed DPS project) and - translation! In general! The futility of it, the joy! I've already done another niche DPS translation thing here but I wanted to have a go at "translating" this Walt Whitman poem, which is quoted in the movie (it's the "That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse" one), through the medium of the DPS script. And I've had a free evening and I've been a little bored. So. Here!

Here's the original poem for reference:

It definitely isn't what I would call a "faithful translation". Perhaps a little more hopeless at times - much more angry - the last couplet perhaps a little different in message. But! Still fun.

(Also, I used the original script for this poem - with an angrier and darker Neil - perhaps subconsciously that's why the poem went in the same direction.)

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if you’re someone who has to wear glasses every day that makes them basically the most important item you own which means you really gotta show those fuckers who’s boss just toss them everywhere and knock them off things and roll over them in bed at least twice a week

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his daughter posted this cherry tree dance on tiktok

RSL RULES!

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Back when i worked i spent 8 hours packaging chicken skewers and the first day i was so exhausted that i couldn't stop shaking and whenever i closed my eyes to sleep i kept seeing chicken skewers and i couldn't get the smell out of my clothes so i did my best to picture images of The Beatles instesd but they kept fading & turned into chicken skewers like in some horrible nightmare and i was miserable

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Thinking so hard about how Neil’s problems were external while Todd’s were internal. Todd could realistically heal from and learn to cope with his self-worth issues and his lack of confidence without confronting his parents head on, but Neil would have needed to not just confront his father but get through to him to properly kickstart any proper upward trajectory or growth. They’re both stuck in cycles that solidify themselves more and more with each passing day, the difference is that one of them has their foot on the gas and the other is locked in the trunk of a runaway car.

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what is it about the phrase “shawty like a melody in my head” that settles comfortably down in your brain for the rest of your life

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fully convinced this movie was made for rsl to look pretty

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whats your opinion on online anonymity?

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i know autism wasnt even even a diagnosis at this point, and the accommodations for kids with learning disabilities in a school environment were virtually nonexistent, and the role in education wouldnt be widespread until the 70s, and this is just me projecting but. I Just Like To Think Keating Started As A Paraeducator

my 9th grade english teacher was a pretty eccentric guy who was constantly compared to a wizard and was also a paraeducator before he was a teacher. of all of my english teachers he was probably the most like keating.

even if technically keating probably couldn't have been a paraeducator doesn't mean he wouldn't have been one if he could have. and

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spent 4 hours losing my mind over this drawing but here he is

instagram

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Has anyone figured out what’s so viscerally wrong with this woman yet

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i cant think of a caption so just take another neil drawing