#mr perry

[octaviasdread]

Mrs Perry, the 50s Housewife & Neil

This entire post is inspired by a discord discussion so I can't take all the credit, but Mrs Perry gives off alllll the signals of a 50s housewife reliant on emotional suppression and prescription pills to cope with the demands of post-war society.

'They used barbiturates to aid in sleep, minor tranquilizers to ease anxiety, and amphetamines to help lose weight and boost energy. [...] Women’s pill consumption signals their difficulties, at times, before feminism of the era explicitly touched upon them' - Erin Brown, You Go to My Head: Women's Prescription Pill Use in Postwar America

Her smoking while she waits for Neil to return with Mr Perry from the play suggests a habit to cope with stress. It’s also notable that she hurries to put it out. Is this a further sign she’s smoking to relieve anticipation, or is it something she doesn’t want Neil to see?

And Mr Perry? His treatment of her can partly be explained by patriarchal family structure. What Mr Perry wants, Mr Perry gets. He is head of the family, and takes the lead in family communications with Neil, so much that beneath Mr Perry's repeated use of 'we,' it's difficult to discern how Neil's mother feels.

In the scenes set in the Perry house, we mainly see the family in Mr Perry's study. This direct parallel to Nolan's office INSIDE Neil's home emphasises the rule of authority over his life, and the extent of how trapped he is.

The parallel is important because Nolan's office is shown as a place of punishment for the students, and a reinforcement of their lack of agency.

More specifically, the deleted scenes show school clubs being dictated to the boys as they stand in front of Nolan’s desk. This confirms that school annual - and the editorial position that Neil earned - is taken from him on Mr Perry's whim, just as his whole life is ripped away the next time he stands beside a desk in Mr Perry’s office.

The hurt and betrayal Neil feels in these early scenes is hidden from Nolan, and he submits to the authority of his father. But Neil can no longer hide his hurt by the end. He has gained and then lost too much to accept the stricter controls Mr Perry is imposing.

So what does Mrs Perry do when faced with her son's obvious distress? Almost nothing.

Her worry for her son is real, but she shows no true support that Neil can rely on. He looks to her for help and comfort twice. The first time, she looks down, then back at Neil, and says nothing. The second time is after she begins to speak, but her one attempt fails, and she falls back into passivity.

She stands aside. It's as if Mrs Perry isn't really there, stuck behind an invisible boundary observing the damage as the scene unfolds.

It's only when Mr Perry leaves that she provides some fleeting comfort - but this comfort doesn't feel present to Neil. She doesn't articulate her support, doesn't touch him, or make signs that Neil can grasp without doubting her belief in him.

Instead of prioritising her son, she follows Mr Perry without complaint, leaving Neil to grieve alone for the loss of everything he holds dear.

This tiny scene says so much about the dysfunctional family dynamic Neil has been raised in. It's impossible to say when it started, or when his mother stopped advocating for Neil's emotional wellbeing, but there's definitely a bond - however strained - between mother and son that isn't shared with Mr Perry.

As @desire-mona has said, Mr Perry uses his wife and possibly her health to guilt and manipulate Neil into following his demands. There's definitely an argument to made for Mrs Perry having fragile health. If this is physical, or a 'nervous' ailment historically diagnosed in housewives, or a combination of the two isn't clear. Whatever it is, she must not be upset.

This puts a lot of pressure on a child, and Neil (understandably) complies under the threat. As the above scene implies, Neil is blamed, and likely blames himself, if Mrs Perry's symptoms get worse around the time he disobeys, or just fails to please his parents.

The Perrys different reactions to stress are clearest at the discovery of Neil's death. The shock causes Mr Perry to bypass anger (although anger returns in his search for someone - i.e. Keating - to blame) and his care for Neil surfaces. This is the first time his care is shown through sympathetic emotion rather than demands for Neil to succeed.

Mrs Perry hurtles into denial. Her body is reacting to distress, but she can't comprehend reality. 'He's alright,' she repeats, retreating into a fragile imagined safety to cope.

@pencileraser1 has also linked the parallels between Mrs Perry and Neil smoking to the possibility of an inherited mental illness.

Being raised in an emotionally abusive household, and internalising the shame of not conforming to Mr Perry's ideal would be enough to contribute to depression in Neil. But I think both mother and son could share dissatisfaction and a desire for escapism.

When faced with the constraints of the larger system they live under, their mental illness plays out in different ways.

Neil finds a healthier outlet behind the backs of authority through the club, acting, and finding an adult mentor to support him, while Mrs Perry has little to no opportunities to escape the confines of the home or the scrutiny of her community.

Once these opportunities (and coping mechanisms) are taken from him, Neil doesn't turn to smoking, escapist poetry, or other forms of temporary numbing. He's seen his parents suburban lives, seen the life they want for him, and perhaps he can't and won't live in quiet compliance the way Mrs Perry does.

I wonder how Mrs Perry copes afterwards? Does she see a decent therapist? Separate (but not divorce) from Mr Perry? Does she take pills and numb herself further? I don't think I want to know.

[francisversion2]

THIS COMMENT KILLED ME

Shout out to them for making me laugh

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Rest In Peace Neil, you would have loved Noah Kahan

(Me hearing anybody mention Vermont in any context: 🫢dps reference???)

[angstyteenpoems]

Okay another unpopular opinion, I think Mr.Perry loved Neil. Ik, ik he was still very evil and I do think that he is still a terrible parent but I feel that he did love Neil. He wanted the best for him and in his own cruel and twisted way, loved him. Maybe he was never shown love so he didn’t know how to show it to Neil but I think this is even more heartbreaking. And in the end I do think he mourned Neil like a father would. He wasn’t a good father but he still loved his son.

And I think the poets understood, they still hate him and felt incredibly angry whenever they saw him knowing what he did but at least at the funeral they all said their polite greetings and mourned together.

[julesodd]

"I was good, I was really good"

So, all of the dps fandom knows the famously tragic words:

"I was good, I was really good".

And many know the headcanon that Neil, when he´s saying that, is repeating Charlies words: "He´s really good", that he said at the theater.

But here´s the thing:

I don´t even think Neil heard him say that, gjven the fact that he was on stage playing and Charlie turned around and was whispering.

Neil was raised in a perfectionistic household and was academicly pressured to do his best his whole life. He was expected to be good at everything. We know for a fact that Neil´s father did not care if his son was having a good time, just if he was good at what he did.

Neil was amazing at acting and when he got to play in a theater, it was problaby the best and proudest moment in his life.

He couldn´t tell his father how much joy, excitment and happiness that night had brought him, or atleast his father didn´t want to understand it.

"I was really good". Those were the only words, the only explaination he had for his feelings that his father could understand. He was good, he had been good what he did.

That is why he said that. To proof to his father, and explain that it wasn´t some stupid hobby, but a skill, a something he could perfect-

could have perfected...

[cowboylexapro]

mr perry: im glad you’re friends with the anderson’s boy, his family is quite wealthy and hes an ok kid.

neil: OH MY GOD CAN I MARRY HIM AND KISS HIS PRETTY LIPS?????????

[ganseysmagiciansz]

oh my god dps is sooo silly ! i love the part where the play ends and todd comes to congratulate neil behind stage and they kiss and mr perry accepts neils acting career after seeing how good he is and all the poets go back to the cave and celebrate and mr keating is sooo so proud and all is well !

…right…

[puckspoetry]

DPS: Life and Beauty

The dps slander that I hear from some people makes me so sad like you can’t look at it from a surface level perspective. It’s so much more than people think and it makes me sad that they don’t understand the true meaning of the film.

Dead Poets Society is a film about beauty and the nature of life seen through each of the characters. I think this is so obviously seen through Neil and Charlie as they both experience the roller coaster that is being alive.

Neil starts the film re-engaging with his friends which are quickly established as a positive force in his life. His celebrations are quickly cut short as his father enters the room. Neil’s father is a symbol of oppression and social standard whereas Neil symbolises freedom and passion. Neil’s character takes us through a variety of emotions, most notably joy and sadness to both extremes. Neil is a symbol for life and how it can take dramatic turns unexpectedly. This can be seen most obviously with his father. Neil goes through periods of happiness which is then followed by an entry from his father which introduces negative emotions and thoughts. I think the best example of this (other than Neil’s suicide) is the night before the play. Neil’s father has finally found out about Neil’s involvement in the play at Henley Hall and confronts his son, forcing him to quit the play. Prior to this, Neil had been at the highest point in his happiness only for it to be stripped back down and leave him feeling empty. However, the next day we see Neil reach his real peak as he performs in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and it seems as if nothing can bring him down. But, as life goes, it comes crashing down which ultimately ends in Neil taking his own life.

Charlie is also really interesting to look into as his story isn’t as prevalent as say Neil or Todd. His story goes through the same up and down formation as Neil’s does but it is shown very differently. Charlie is quickly established as an outspoken person who isn’t one to shy away from controversy or risk. The first notable rise in Charlie is in the Phone Call From God scene in which he holds up a phone during an assembly and says that God is calling for a coed future at Welton. This is then quickly followed by his first dip as he is disciplined and warned with expulsion. As Mr. Perry is to Neil, Mr. Nolan acts as a negative figure in Charlie’s story as he is the one who continues to ground him. Charlie’s happiness continues to grow for the rest of the film until Neil’s death where his positivity is ripped from underneath him without an explanation.

Neil and Charlie are both symbols as they literally experience the roller coaster of life that is references throughout the film. Dead Poets Society isn’t solely a movie about poetry and its beauty, but it’s about the delicacy of life.

When Mr. Keating introduces the soon-to-be-Poets to the Dead Poets Society, Knox asks “so it was just a group of guys sitting around reading poetry” and I think this reflects an outside view of the film. The first few times I watched it, I don’t think I could truly grasp how deep and intellectual it is. Knox’s interpretation of the Dead Poets Society is a literal representation of how people who don’t understand the film think of it. Whereas Keating’s response (“we weren’t just guys, we weren’t a greek organisation, we were romantics. We didn’t just read poetry, we let it drip from our tongues like honey”) represents the people who can understand the intricacies of the film.

It just makes me so sad when it’s dismissed as a movie about guys reading poetry when it’s so much more than that.

~

If you can’t tell it’s my favourite film. I will not tolerate the dismissal of dps as “guys who read poetry”.

[inahallucination]

Controversial Dead Poets Opinion: Mr. Perry is trying his best; let's give him a break. Both Mr. and Mrs. Perry deeply care about Neil. They did handle the whole theater kid situation poorly, but still… Let's give credit to Kurtwood Smith for his performance. As he said in an interview, in the hallway scene, he tried to play it down and not act as if Mr. Perry was harassing Neil because Tom loves his son and genuinely believes he is acting in Neil's best interests. Thank you. Now you can lynch me if you wish.

The interwiew is on YouTube "MOVIE TRAILER Action Trailer Movie | DEAD POETS SOCIETY - Actor Interviews | Club der toten Dichter", I'm refering to the bit from 12:53 onwards.

mr perry is such an interesting character and reducing him to just a dimensionless horrible person not only does a disservice to him but also to neil's character and story line

kurtwood smith is an amazing actor and his performance was amazing

dont get me wrong i very much dislike him and i dont think how he treats neil is okay or excusable but i also do believe he thinks he's doing what he thinks is good for neil

actually a lot of parents will push their own ideas and dreams onto their kids in the hope that theyll live a better/happier life

anyway im not gonna go on a analyzing rant about him and his relationship to neil but yea i get ya

[pookielious]

In Neil's last scene before his death and the scene were he's found you can see there's a phone in his dads study/office

(Horrible quality but you can see it) although it's unlikely there could've been a possibility that neil could've tired to call the dps from the phone in the hallway or even a phone mr Keating mightve had in his own room but no one would've been able to answer since everyone besides cameron (for some reason??? I'm 99% sure he's not in the deleted scenes),I'm unsure of how the timeline adds up with the deleted scene and Neil's death sequence but I assume the sequence would've been around the Time everyone was celebrating; or by the time they'd all gotten back and were all asleep since I could imagine how exhausted they could've been

I doubt it but there could've been a chance that neil called for help or at least to say goodbye but no one answered ty for coming to my ted talk

[73647e]

I can't believe your favorite color isn't pink. your dream self lied to me.

[old-movies-stuff]

Dead poets society - 1989

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Getting into a fist fight with Neil’s father with Todd if I ever see Neil’s father again I’m gonna kill him Anderson at my side

[arachidenitida]

neil has trust issues and an inferiority complex due to his father which means he needs to be reassured quite often </3

[howdoyouwhiskit]

Once again adding to lists of my posts technically from tiktok but I’m cross posting here.

Can you tell I have a lot of fictional character anger? /s

[cowboylexapro]

i want mr perrys middle name to be alexander for One purpose and one purpose alone;

his full name would be: thomas alexander perry