Though I label DPS as a good movie, I agree with a lot of what you have said. There is an annoying superficiality to the movie, as if individualism/nonconformity can actually be instructively teached in a classroom setting with such explicitness as Mr. Keating does.

But what annoys me most are two things: the film's overall attitude towards poetry from the viewpoint of Mr. Keating and his "romantic" values and the black and white take on realism vs. romanticism.

The first point is that the film entails that the life of the poet is unrestrained bliss in individual and artistic freedom, in which one is freed by it just by embracing it; never mind the notion of suffering (often great suffering) and that many poets endured such a suffering, living tragic lives that, in point of fact, is what drove them to write poetry. In fact, from my personal perspective, suffering is one of the greatest generators of poetry, though by no means exclusive.

My second point is simply the black and white view on its representation of romanticism vs realism, as if the two are entirely incompatible and worse, the two philosophies are fundamentally enemies towards one another. No, a realist cannot adhere to certain tenants of romanticism just as it is the case of the vice-versa (rubbish!)

Good article and good writing; I especially appreciate your cynicism.