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.