DAZED & CONFUSED
dir: Richard Linklater
"Did ya ever look at a dollar bill, man? There's some spooky shit goin' on there. And it's green too. " - Slater
Brief Synopsis
In a single night, groups of teenagers in the 1970's celebrate the graduation of the seniors and the initiation of the juniors during a wild night of partying.
Why It's Here
Richard Linklater's magnum opus chronicling twenty-four hours--or perhaps the most important twenty-four hours--of several high school students' lives in 1976. A group of freshman experience the liberation of leaving the childish, confining world of elementary school and await a new frontier in high school, while numerous seniors prepare for the great unknown as they say good-bye to their institutionalized education. The subject is universal to nearly everyone within our culture, yet the film misfired in theatres, finding new life in the VHS market. Unlike similar films before and after it, Dazed & Confused failed to find an audience because it depicted the lives of teenagers in 1976, yet it was released in 1993. The next question one might ask is why would I like this film so much? As a kid who was born in the rock and roll holocaust, better known as the 80's it doesn't quite add up. Most people who have never seen Dazed or have seen it only once may fail to recognize the film is essentially about two things and two things only: music, and the future.
It's release twenty years after the events of the film make the skeptic pass it off as a nostalgic trip for those who can't get with the times, but really it simply elevates the theme of the future and what it holds. Numerous times throughout the film characters remark on what a letdown the 1970 have been, contradicting the nostalgic and upbeat attitude the film has about the decade. Those watching for a trip back in time may balk at how wrong the characters are, only to perhaps remember how they thought the same thing. The failure of the 1970's to live up to the standards of the 1960's in popular culture left the era feeling like an unwanted cousin. However, using the magic of movies to peer back in time, from a new perspective we see just how great the 1970's were. Parties, hard music, rebellion without cause all defied the logic of the decade prior which was about peace, politics, and raging against the machine.
As the teens all mingle with their various groups, there is a great big unknown haunting every conversation. The unknown of the future, the seniors never really discuss what's next for them. We can only imagine they are going different paths, likely to never see each other again, some doomed to fall into Wooderson's lifestyle and keep recycling the high school glory for years to come. And the freshmen who view high school with anxious excitement, some being welcomed by the seniors and others being harassed quickly defining who they would become and ultimately replace in high school clique society. Looking at the groups of friends no doubt evokes memories of friends slowly lost as high school came, progressed, and ended.
But no one ever talks about that, but it's always there on some level. The movie is about the future, but the characters are about the now. Worried only about surviving the night and enjoying every last moment of it because who knows what the future will bring. Cynthia's cautious optimism suggests that hopefully the 80's will be great, and as they go into their twenties, life will be better and easier.
The fact that Cynthia is so wrong highlights why the decade itself must have been so great, but on another level, works for me and anyone else regardless of their generation because it reminds us all of our own feelings in that situation. The uneasy feeling of being completely out of control of the future and what it holds. Despite being set in the specific time that it is, Dazed & Confused can work for those who were born before or after because it's feelings and situations are universal regardless of what band is playing the cost of cigarettes at that given time. The clique culture dividing macho freshman-harrasing jocks, sociologist-wannabe geeks, care free stoners, arrogant cheerleaders, etc. survive passing generations and speak to everyone. The final day of school (or first) offering all sorts of emotions of happiness, sadness, uneasiness, and pretty much everything else speaks beyond the decade of Black Sabbath. Replace the cultural artifacts with those from your own and the movie fits for anyone.
To say that Linklater nailed high school culture would be a grave understatement. His film breathes high school life in it's truest form, sure some situations are comically overdone like getting shot at by the grouchy suburban old man, but these scenes are sort of placeholder for larger-than-life stories that you and your friends personally experienced and reminisce over every single time you cross paths again. The film attempts to take no specific side in the events that unfold, neutrally displaying both affection for the traditional paddling of freshmen and displeasure in it's sadistic nature. However, ultimately it's drawn to the "geek" trio who spend a large amount of time roaming halls or driving while discussing high school culture, poor saps like Wooderson and fighting at parties. They are the commentary of the various groups, providing context and analysis of why kids are the way they are, of course while getting their asses kicked for thinking such things out loud by much tougher guys. The first time I watched this film I disliked it. I thought it was mean-spirited and showed high school life in a destructive, negative way. But re-watching you can see the position of the "geek" trio as a reason why everyone else looks so damn intimidating. The jocks are unconditional assholes, Wooderson is a pathetic leech, the girls are bitches; but all of these things are viewed differently depending on your own background and high school experiences. Old football superstars may laugh at the paddling and humiliations dished out, the stoners might love the carving bongs in shop class scene, and the nerds love their sense of intellectual superiority. Realizing the film represents harmless high school drama relieves character which may have been otherwise pretty unlikable.
The other aspect of the film that Linklater flawlessly captures is the music. Linklater has stated that he just picked music he likes, there was no predetermined algorithm to the process. Naturally, music accompanies appropriate scenes such as Alice Cooper's "School's Out For Summer" complimenting the kids running out of their prison as the final bell rings. Where as the other aspects of the film transcend the 1970's generation, the music is firmly defined by it. However, the fact that this film was released in the 1990's shows just how classic these songs are; songs which in their day looked like nothing more than forgettable cultural garbage for drinking beer to in light of their 1960's cousins that lit up Woodstock. Linklater's brilliant soundtrack is as much a focus of the film as the actual characters. Scenes cut to song, are edited to song, and relish in the care-free attitude of the music of the day. Both firmly positioning itself in that generation, while at the same time surpassing it, Dazed & Confused is both a monument of nostalgia but at greater lengths, a reminder of a world where the future was unknown and still to come with literally endless possibilities. Perhaps what's most liberating about this movie is that for these characters, future will never come and spoil their curiosity. They are forever confined to their 102 minute runtime, and we can go back and view their celebrations and hopes over and over, for us it has come and gone, but for them it's forever.
It's release twenty years after the events of the film make the skeptic pass it off as a nostalgic trip for those who can't get with the times, but really it simply elevates the theme of the future and what it holds. Numerous times throughout the film characters remark on what a letdown the 1970 have been, contradicting the nostalgic and upbeat attitude the film has about the decade. Those watching for a trip back in time may balk at how wrong the characters are, only to perhaps remember how they thought the same thing. The failure of the 1970's to live up to the standards of the 1960's in popular culture left the era feeling like an unwanted cousin. However, using the magic of movies to peer back in time, from a new perspective we see just how great the 1970's were. Parties, hard music, rebellion without cause all defied the logic of the decade prior which was about peace, politics, and raging against the machine.
As the teens all mingle with their various groups, there is a great big unknown haunting every conversation. The unknown of the future, the seniors never really discuss what's next for them. We can only imagine they are going different paths, likely to never see each other again, some doomed to fall into Wooderson's lifestyle and keep recycling the high school glory for years to come. And the freshmen who view high school with anxious excitement, some being welcomed by the seniors and others being harassed quickly defining who they would become and ultimately replace in high school clique society. Looking at the groups of friends no doubt evokes memories of friends slowly lost as high school came, progressed, and ended.
But no one ever talks about that, but it's always there on some level. The movie is about the future, but the characters are about the now. Worried only about surviving the night and enjoying every last moment of it because who knows what the future will bring. Cynthia's cautious optimism suggests that hopefully the 80's will be great, and as they go into their twenties, life will be better and easier.
The fact that Cynthia is so wrong highlights why the decade itself must have been so great, but on another level, works for me and anyone else regardless of their generation because it reminds us all of our own feelings in that situation. The uneasy feeling of being completely out of control of the future and what it holds. Despite being set in the specific time that it is, Dazed & Confused can work for those who were born before or after because it's feelings and situations are universal regardless of what band is playing the cost of cigarettes at that given time. The clique culture dividing macho freshman-harrasing jocks, sociologist-wannabe geeks, care free stoners, arrogant cheerleaders, etc. survive passing generations and speak to everyone. The final day of school (or first) offering all sorts of emotions of happiness, sadness, uneasiness, and pretty much everything else speaks beyond the decade of Black Sabbath. Replace the cultural artifacts with those from your own and the movie fits for anyone.
To say that Linklater nailed high school culture would be a grave understatement. His film breathes high school life in it's truest form, sure some situations are comically overdone like getting shot at by the grouchy suburban old man, but these scenes are sort of placeholder for larger-than-life stories that you and your friends personally experienced and reminisce over every single time you cross paths again. The film attempts to take no specific side in the events that unfold, neutrally displaying both affection for the traditional paddling of freshmen and displeasure in it's sadistic nature. However, ultimately it's drawn to the "geek" trio who spend a large amount of time roaming halls or driving while discussing high school culture, poor saps like Wooderson and fighting at parties. They are the commentary of the various groups, providing context and analysis of why kids are the way they are, of course while getting their asses kicked for thinking such things out loud by much tougher guys. The first time I watched this film I disliked it. I thought it was mean-spirited and showed high school life in a destructive, negative way. But re-watching you can see the position of the "geek" trio as a reason why everyone else looks so damn intimidating. The jocks are unconditional assholes, Wooderson is a pathetic leech, the girls are bitches; but all of these things are viewed differently depending on your own background and high school experiences. Old football superstars may laugh at the paddling and humiliations dished out, the stoners might love the carving bongs in shop class scene, and the nerds love their sense of intellectual superiority. Realizing the film represents harmless high school drama relieves character which may have been otherwise pretty unlikable.
The other aspect of the film that Linklater flawlessly captures is the music. Linklater has stated that he just picked music he likes, there was no predetermined algorithm to the process. Naturally, music accompanies appropriate scenes such as Alice Cooper's "School's Out For Summer" complimenting the kids running out of their prison as the final bell rings. Where as the other aspects of the film transcend the 1970's generation, the music is firmly defined by it. However, the fact that this film was released in the 1990's shows just how classic these songs are; songs which in their day looked like nothing more than forgettable cultural garbage for drinking beer to in light of their 1960's cousins that lit up Woodstock. Linklater's brilliant soundtrack is as much a focus of the film as the actual characters. Scenes cut to song, are edited to song, and relish in the care-free attitude of the music of the day. Both firmly positioning itself in that generation, while at the same time surpassing it, Dazed & Confused is both a monument of nostalgia but at greater lengths, a reminder of a world where the future was unknown and still to come with literally endless possibilities. Perhaps what's most liberating about this movie is that for these characters, future will never come and spoil their curiosity. They are forever confined to their 102 minute runtime, and we can go back and view their celebrations and hopes over and over, for us it has come and gone, but for them it's forever.