An analysis of David Williamson's Dead White Males and Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society reveals that gender, class and race do determine who has access to power. In these particular texts, institutions such as universities and schools fail to enforce this power. White upper class characters hold power over lower class characters and those of another race, males hold power over females but the institutions are controlled by families.

The strongest representation of power in Dead Poets Society, is males power over females. The main set for the movie is Welton Academy, a school which sends 70% of its students on to America's most prestigious colleges, where the students are then expected to become persons of great stature. However, Welton Academy is a school with no female teachers and only male students inferring that males hold the most important positions in society.

In the opening minutes of the film...