Dazed and Confused – Music

In the film Dazed and Confused, director and writer, Richard Linklater did an amazing job with the soundtrack. The music chosen goes hand-in-hand with the story that is being told and this is seen through many scenes. This film being a “coming of age comedy”, taking place in 1976, about rock and roll, drugs and alcohol, and sex is being represented by some of the most influential artists of the 1970s. For example, these include: Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Lynyrd Skynyrd, KISS, Foghat, War, and many more.

When the students end their last day of school before summer, the song “Schools Out “ by Alice Cooper starts playing. During this scene all of the students run around throwing their notebooks and papers all throughout the halls to show how pumped they are for summer break. Another great song choice was “Low Rider” by War, which fits the scene so well showing all of the teens driving around drinking and smoking. ZZ Top couldn’t better represent the scene with the boys driving around smoking pot and destroying mailboxes. This shows when Mitch’s innocence is destroyed when he falls under peer pressure. As the night starts to wind down, “Tuesday’s Gone” by Lynyrd Skynyrd plays right after Mike Newhouse copes with losing a fight at his first party. Finally, for the closing scene Foghat’s “Slow Ride” ends the film perfectly while Pink had just told off his coach and him and his friends are on their way to get Aerosmith tickets, which is the top priority of their summer.

Dazed and Confused, ethics/character questions

What I mainly wanted to talk about in Dazed and Confused was both Randall refusing to sign that team contract, and then some theories on Ben Affleck’s character, Fred O’Bannion. Randall’s case is a good morality issue; both sides have a good case. While Randall should be able to do what he wants over break, shouldn’t he try and do his best to support the team? Things like this aren’t entirely unheard of for high school football teams, where these vows are a sort of team building activity. My first impression of the whole exchange at the end of the movie was that he doesn’t really care about being on the team and is more concerned about his own personal feelings. Then again, all the players that already signed the paper did so only to get their coach off their backs; they’re still going to do what they want anyway. So what’s the harm in signing it? The whole thing just feels like an artificial conflict thrown into the movie.

Secondly, I want to delve a bit into Fred O’Bannion. Why is he so obsessed with beating these poor kids with a paddle? I understand that he’s a senior and that’s what they’re supposed to do for some reason, but maybe there’s some underlying issues to his character that were never really touched upon, only inferred. He didn’t pass his senior year, which everyone in the movie says the reason for is to beat on kids more. But is that the real reason? There could be some troubles at home for him, where he can’t focus on grades and he’s channeling all this aggression into the new freshmen. If it was a different kind of movie, I would have expected to see more of him, because there are a lot of unknowns about him.

Dazed and Confused /Alice Cooper

In one of the most memorable scenes of Richard Linklater’s 1993 movie “Dazed and Confused”, soon  to be freshman, Mitch Kramer gets chased down and paddled after his baseball game by a gang of upperclassmen. Fittingly playing in the background is Alice Cooper’s 1973 hit song, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”. Alice Cooper’s song, which quickly became popular due to it’s raw, tough-guy energy, accurately depicts the coming of age and overall end of adolescence of the young character Mitch Kramer, as well as the young adults who enjoy his music. The lyrics in Alice Coopers song clearly show director Richard Linklater used this song in order to show Mitch Kramer’s end of youth, as he finally entered into a  grown up world full of initiation, bullying, and humiliation. Lyrics such as “I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing ‘Til they got a hold of me” and the chorus chanting “No more mister nice guy, No more mister clean” highlight Mitch Kramer’s transition into the rugged adult world. After this scene in the movie Mitch becomes initiated with the upper class men and proceeds to get invited to hang out with them. Mitch learns how to destroy mail boxes, steal cigarettes, drink alcohol, and thus by the end of the initiation process Mitch is no longer a “Mr. Nice Guy”.

Dazed and Confused

The movie Dazed and Confused directed by Richard Linklater touches upon the subject of innocence in adolescences throughout the film. A scene that especially stuck out to me was the part in which David Wooderson, played by Matthew McConaughey, Randall “Pink” Floyd, played by Jason London, and Mitch Kramer, played by Wiley Wiggins, all walk into the emporium together as one. (Scene listed below) The scene depicts the image of three generations of teenagers that are, or did lose their innocence. The first one you have is David Wooderson who is an adult who appears to have been out of high school for quite some time judging by how the kids talk about how young they when Wooderson had graduated. He is the kid who was the most popular in high school and fed off that for quite some as he still goes to high school parties, does drugs and mischievous with teenagers and acts almost like a mentor to these kids as he lives in his glory days of high school, never moving on. Next you have Randall “Pink” Floyd who is falling down the same path as Wooderson did. He is arguably the most popular kid in his school, he is the star football player, and mingles with every group of kids in his school. Similar to Wooderson, Pink does not want to be held down and told what to do, specifically he does not want to sign the paper for his football team that says he will not smoke, drink or any other things that would be frowned upon. Pink is on the brink of losing his innocence as he has the chance to to become a school legend but in the ways of Wooderson and stay in high school forever or straighten his act while keeping all his friends and going to college at the same time. Lastly, there is Mitch Kramer who has just become as freshman let is already on the fast track to become just like Pink or Wooderson. He was punished just like the other freshmen, perhaps more than others, however then seniors especially Pink quickly took Mitch under their wing. While Mitch seems like a nice innocent kid he is willing to do anything to fit in and be accepted by these seniors, which includes such acts like vandalism, doing drugs, and buying alcohol even though he is underaged. Continuing down this path will eventually turn into Pink and perhaps Wooderson one day. Futhermore, the scene of entering the emporium shows maybe even a glimpse of the evolution of David Wooderson and how he lost his innocence. Wooderson was once Mitch an innocent freshman and then became Pink where he was the top of the school and eventually turned into the person he was at the time of the movie.

Emporium Scene http://youtu.be/d8WHOiQZGok

Importane of Music in Dazed and Confused

Dazed and Confused, written and directed and Richard Linklater, is a cult classic littered with hard rocks anthems from the summer of 76’. With music being such an important part of the time period, the main characters love for Aerosmith and Kiss is apparent. Early on in the film, before enduring our characters long night of reckless fun, we hear the song “Schools Out,” by Alive Cooper. With kids ripping their notebooks and throwing their class work, the sense that school is out forever may seem realistic. The soon to be seniors gather around their cars with friends, as the graduating middle schoolers fear for their lives. The difference in ages represents how differently their summers will go. Regardless of if a freshman will be receiving their “licks,” summer is still an exciting time for everyone. Typically during the first day of summer kids feel invincible. The prospect of sleeping in and spending hours outside are now able to happen because “school is out.” The song features a heavy guitar rift and a main chorus repeating, “School’s out for summer, school is out forever.” As Randall is torn between the decision of sobriety or football, the idea of school in September must be a distant memory. The song is so perfectly placed in the beginning of the film because it gives the audience the sense of what each character is feeling. Every student has this sense of freedom, the excitement to explore. With the song and scene linking up so well in the beginning of the film, the song selection sets the tone for a wild ride filled with misguided decisions and teenage angst.

Dazed and Confused: David Wooderson

For my analysis, I’ve chosen to look at one of the scenes from Dazed and Confused. This scene stood out to me in the movie, because although the boys are always out and about, destroying things, doing drugs, etc, this is where they stop, slow down, and talk for a second. The dialogue between the group doesn’t seem too deep, but realistically this is the only time in the movie where David Wooderson (played by Matthew McConaughey) admits that this isn’t the life he imagined for himself. He starts off simply, stating “Been thinking about getting back in school though man”, which seems casual enough. However, throughout the movie he acts as if he is the best, the same attitude he has had since high school. I know kids like him who went to my high school, who never got out of that juvenile mindset, and preferred to stay that way. It is kind of an escape mechanism, because if they stay in their glory days, they don’t have to worry about the future. Although Wooderson does have a brief breakthrough of possibly moving forward in his life, he quickly counters it by saying “that’s where all the girls are”, and goes right back into his usual persona, staring at younger girls and even going to the point of asking Wiley Wiggins (played by Mitch Kramer) what the new “crop” of freshman girls look like. He ends the scene by stating, “That’s what I love about these high school girls man. I get older, they stay the same age.”

In an interview to the Chicago Tribune, McConaughey recollects about his character stating that while he was preparing for the role, he knew he was not that guy (aka like Wooderson), but he does “know who this guy is”. Wooderson is a symbol of all those stuck in their high school glory days, and this scene perfectly shows anyone stuck in high school’s struggle to either move forward or stay where they feel safe.