Choose Your Aesthetic: Dark Academia FilmsLike this list

9 items

• School Ties

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  This one definitely has the school (prep school) and darkness (issues with racism/antisemitism), and it also has some top tier actors.

• Dead Poets Society

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  As you may gather from the title, this one has the poetry covered. It also contains a prep school and the darkness you might expect. Robin Williams is amazing in this.

• Tolkien

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  The title of this one should give you a hint as to the content of this one. It's about J.R.R. Tolkien, after all. Expect Oxford, Darkness (WWI), and the life classics loving man himself.

• Picnic at Hanging Rock

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  Mysterious disappearances. An early 1900s Girls' boarding school. Dark themes.

• The Breakfast Club

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  Come for the excellent 80s soundtrack. Stay for that fine Saturday detention agnst.

• Good Will Hunting

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  Robin Williams got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in this film. If that isn't enough to tempt you, may I offer a genius working as a custodian in a university, who then upsets the status quo.

• Brideshead Revisited

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  To be fair, this one is actually a tv series. But Time Magazine named it one of the 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time, if that helps. It features a university friendship, visiting the friend's manor house, the usual drama found in these sorts of shows,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cruel Intentions

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  Dangerous Liaisons but with rich high schoolers. In effect, this *is* classic literature as it is based on a book from 1782.

• Liberty Heights

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  A period piece that takes place in 1950s Baltimore. It deals with racism, forbidden relationships, and legal difficulties. Also high school.