Review of Dazed and Confused (1993) by Ryan H — 24 Jul 2010

At first glance, Dazed and Confused seems like a typical nostalgia piece, an opportunity for writer/director Richard Linklater to open a window into the summer of 1976 and commemorate the exploits of his youth. However, this movie isn't about what was; it's about what could have been, a celebration of youth's potential had it been given free reign. Memoirs often view the past through rose-tinted glasses, remembering mostly the good times and failing to recall why everyone felt so miserable at the time. Dazed and Confused, rather than revising history and pretending things actually happened that way, produces an obvious utopia in which the school hallways are never monitored, joints are smoked regularly in public, all the girls put out, and muscle cars - well, of course everyone drives one. How many high school days do you remember where you successfully bought beer as a freshman, buddied up with the school bullies at a party, made out with an older girl, and stumbled home at sunrise where Mom catches you but lets it slide with a "just this once"? This isn't exactly realism. But that's okay because Linklater isn't picking over his past and polishing the good parts for entertainment purposes. This is a sincere letter to a younger generation urging them to take advantage of their carefree days because he - like all adults - knows this period will disappear faster than a blunt in a weed circle. The idealization is a way of illustrating what life should be like for teenagers who are just wading into life's surf. Even in our imperfect real world, Linklater wants teenagers to take the advice Foghat blares over the end credits: "Slow ride, take it easy.".

As a coming of age story, Dazed and Confused is good, not great. The characters are varied but, because we don't spend enough time with any one protagonist, they wind up falling into fairly predictable archetypes: jocks, nerds, stoners, cheerleaders, and the big curveball: jock-stoners. This panoramic approach would hinder lesser productions but the script and actors elevate these characters beyond the cardboard cutouts they could have easily become. The conflict I have with the film is that it depicts an unidentifiable lifestyle for me. While I certainly know people like these characters, I personally was never a pot smoker, didn't go through a hippie phase, never really bucked responsibility in favor of a party. I was - and continue to be - a square. This creates a barrier preventing me from fully connecting with these characters emotionally and, truth be told, I would rather not live in the idealized world Linklater creates. However, the embracing of one's youth is a pretty universal principle so while the hedonism on screen may have tempered my enthusiasm, it didn't overly diminish my appreciation for the movie.

I saw Dazed and Confused in its entirety for the first time in 2010 at a Sound Opinions event at Chicago's Music Box. The audience consisted of mostly twenty and thirty-somethings who remember the film from their adolescence, recited some of the lines, and cheered the appearances of Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey in their 70's duds. The movie, which was released in 1993, clearly hit its target audience: contemporary youth, as opposed to reminiscent adults from the era depicted on screen. As mentioned, this film is not a nostalgia piece for the director's generation; it's a message film for future generations. I attended the screening with one person who, basking in Linklater's world, said, "Man, I was born at the wrong time," a comment that got me thinking about how the audience, having grown up in the 1980s and 1990s, may walk away from the film believing that this romanticized vision is an accurate depiction of that period. Doing so might foster a viewer's resentment of their own youth and/or time period because of course it doesn't - and can't - measure up with what's on screen. As a result, a legion of teenagers are thinking they missed out on the best time ever and will either try to recreate a previous generation's lifestyle (reflected in the trend of recycling trends) or just wind up hating their own. But doesn't lamenting the times of one's own youth and/or hearkening back to an idealized, nonexistent time undermine the film's message? Can you seize the day if you keep wishing it was yesterday?