Exploring Transitions: Educating Rita and Dead Poets Society Anonymous 12th Grade

Transitions allow individuals to embrace new perspectives of the world we occupy. Willy Russell’s comedic stage play "Educating Rita", written in 1979 at a time when education was being made more accessible to the working class, seeks to illustrate how education enables individuals to transition adopt the perspectives of new social contexts. Peter Weir's 1989 dramatic film "Dead Poet's Society", set in 1959 America during the transition between a decade of repression and revolution, in contrast conveys how education that encourages individuals to transition from conformity to individuality allows them to develop their own, unique perspectives of their current world. A state of transition is an exciting phase of life, leading to fresh opportunities and perspectives.

In Educating Rita, Rita transitions away from her working-class life by gaining access to education through the Open University movement, resulting in fresh opportunities. Rita's initial perspective that her world is full of mediocrity is shown through use of the rhetorical question in "is this the absolute maximum I can expect from this livin' lark?", conveying Rita's dissatisfaction the values of consumerism, of "music an' clothes" that her working-class...