The movie Dazed and Confused is a coming-of-age film about incoming freshmen just starting high school.
The setting is Austin, Texas in the 70’s, although the movie was made in 1993. The film is about transformation from one point in life to another. We see this in the hazing rituals the seniors perform in order to assert dominance and the newcomers overcoming this challenge which displays the rebellion that incoming freshmen and seniors have during their change from adolescence to adulthood.
It begins on the last day of high school, meaning the incoming seniors’ annual tradition is beginning. When the last class of the day ends, the seniors find the incoming freshman, and chase and harass them with paddles.
One freshman, Carl Burnett and his friends jump in his brother’s car after being chased by seniors with paddles. When they got to him and his brother’s house, Carl’s mom came out and threatened them, so they ran away saying he was gonna come back for them later.
The young boys end up making ideas to embarrass the seniors to exact their revenge from being paddled. One of the ways they got back at the senior Fred O’Bannon was by luring him out of the house party and pouring paint on his head.
The incoming females were coated with food condiments, baby powder, by the older girls and had to use pacifiers. The young girls were also forced to do calisthenics and propose to older guys by the senior ladies.
The senior football players had to sign a substance free promise, but at the end of the movie the star quarterback didn’t sign his pledge because he didn’t want to be controlled by “the man”.
Perhaps this is a good movie for teenagers because it shows you how the experiences in high school were in the 1970’s.Watching movies like “Dazed and Confused” as a youth, can make students more excited to go to high school for all of the memories they can and will make.
Some more information about this movie is that Matthew McConaughey’s character is actually inspired by his brother in real life.
A cool fact is that the word “Man” was used 203 times throughout the movie. Something funny that happened is after they shot the movie they ended up getting a lawsuit. They got sued by a few former students who attended the school it was shot at because universal studios used their names, their personality, and how they act.
Another thing is, the name of the movie is Dazed and Confused, but there’s no Led Zeppelin songs. Not even the song “dazed and confused”. The producer tried to get permission to use some of his songs, but he was never granted access. Another interesting thing is that Matthew McConaughey was intoxicated while he was performing in the movie.
This movie is a somewhat realistic portrayal of how high school can be for some students. These are the reasons why dazed and confused is a good movie for the younger audience, and a good movie in general.
“You just gotta keep on livin’ man. L-I-V-I-N.”
