Dazed and Confused

I've been thinking more about this movie since Monday. At first it struck me as a lot easier and more candy-coated than Slacker, but now I'm thinking that they're pretty close to the same movie. It takes place in less than a 24-hour period, features a cast of dozens (I'm pretty sure Dazed & Confused does not break 100), and non-judgementally features young people under pressure to conform to society. Perhaps it's because the scene is less immediate for Linklater, but here the characters are all much more glorified, it seems. We get a lot of weirdos and misfits and geeks in the post-collegiate Slacker, but here almost everyone is a young god or goddess, perhaps proto-gods and goddesses in the case of the freshman. This is accomplished both by casting good-looking actor types as well as the extensive use of slow-motion and pop music soundtracking. Example: Matthew McConaughey, who some might argue plays a creepy, pedophilic stoner. While he has few positive traits, the camera absolutely adores him. The shot that has been sticking in my mind is Wooderson's entrance to the Emporium with his posse trailing behind him as Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" plays for the viewer. Magnificent.

Even the beatings take place in slo-mo. All Movie Guide notes that the film is neither "warmly reminiscent" nor "intentionally bleak," but Linklater does seem to delight in the weird social strictures and norms of small-town Texas, such as the teacher's grin at the megaphoned announcement of the ritual beatings to take place on the afternoon of the last day of school. The incoming seniors hold no cruelty or malice toward their freshman counterparts, they simply exult in completing the circle of high-school life--except for O'Bannion who has committed an unpardonable sin by sticking around for a gluttonous second year, thus forfeiting the audience's sympathy.

Of course, it's impossible to reconcile everything in the film that way. While the coaches and teachers condone the hazing of the incoming freshman, they try to put a stop to all other sorts of fun. Perhaps this strict, overbearing authority grants the kids' partying and general recklessness a delicious sense of rebellion, whereas absent the oppressor they would seem purely nihilistic, especially the scene involving mailboxes, a bowling ball, and the rear window of an otherwise innocent parked car.

As always one wonders what concessions Linklater might have made to Universal since this was a studio production, but where I'd always assumed it was a feel-good, brainless teen movie (and it is), there's a striking amount of love, sympathy, and craftmanship evident as well.