Dazed and Confused
1993’s Dazed and Confused is a staple of the ensemble high-school coming-of-age genre. On the last day of term in an Austin high school, summer of ’76, a band of characters, equally loveable and irritating, weave their way through the looming changes to their world and relationships. The movie reeks of a 70s heat and freedom; our characters’ lives are devoid of limitations and obstructions to a fault, letting them wreak havoc for what feels like the last time, whether they know it or not. Richard Linklater, director of –
[INSERT GHOST]
oh shit.
…
eh, when did this ghost get here?
did anyone see it –
like come in?
bit odd.
I’ll need to talk to someone about this ghost being here.
unexpectedly.
But right, eh – Richard Linklater made this movie. And, oh yeah, that’s it, this is a really good ‘hang-out’ movie, where like you’re chilling, maybe drinking, and you’re chatting over most of it, but there’s no real plot, you just watch the fun bits. It’s a nice atmospheric background type of thing.
just waiting there
in the background.
[INSERT GHOST, BIGGER]
in the background.
hi ghost.
can you give me a minute?
I’m trying to talk to the people reading this review
of this movie I like a lot.
have you seen it, ghost man?
he seems to have nipped off.
um, lots of famous people are in this movie, like before they became stars and stuff. Matthew Mahogany is the one people remember a lot, which is weird cos he’s like barely in the film. Ben Affleck is there. Apparently so is renee zellwegger but I don’t
remember seeing her, so
see I know he’s there, that’s the problem. got that picture in my head of him.
alright hang on, let’s take a breather from this for a second.
just having an off day.
I said, I’m just having an off day everyone!
they heard.
just a bit more anxious than usual.
they know, you always tell them.
that’s not true.
take a look for yourself, scroll up your messages, you’re just complaining and they can’t do anything and you keep doing that and they think you’re not helping yourself.
I’m trying to help myself.
no you’re not.
no I’m not.
go to therapy.
I will.
when?
there’s a scene in this film where –
why are you so scared of going?
cos I don’t want to say anything, alright?
why not?
cos it’s scary. it’s really terrifying. and I’ve been putting it off but I just thought it would go away but it hasn’t. the thoughts.
Let’s kick this up a notch.
HEY KIDS. WHAT ARE
T H O U G H T S ?
Thoughts are basically the mind trying to get in your way as much as possible like a real dickhead.
[GHOST]
Shit, I thought about the ghost again. Do ghosts have thoughts? Or are they thoughts themselves, everything left over when the body dies?
OH.
OH BABY.
THAT’S IT. YOU CRACKED IT. GENIUS. YOU’RE A TALENTED, THOUGH-PROVOKING, GENUINELY WORTHWHILE CREATIVE CONTRIBUTOR.
okay enough.
I’d like to present to Rory Doggerty this award for smartest and best writer, he spouts garbage every day like a champ.
oKAY. i just
[insert ghost, angrier]
that’s one Overtly Creepy Demon. don’t like him being here.
stop thinking about him.
it’s not like this is the first time he’s been in my head.
the ghost?
the bad thoughts.
oh?
shut up you know what they are.
enlighten me.
the OCD thoughts. the scary intrusive stuff. the fears and fixations. obsessions and deliberations.
what about them is scary?
it’s very very difficult to try being a real person.
this is self-pitying. you’re very good at that.
I don’t want pity.
I don’t want pity, it’s not good for me.
You don’t want people to dislike you because of this.
alright let’s talk about the pity thing for a minute.
you don’t want any and yet you won’t shut up about how shitty you feel.
it’s good to be open about your feelings.
what if you had a friend who only complained about how awful they felt and all you felt like was someone they vented to without any requirement of your sympathy or empathy?
i’m pretty sure i don’t do that.
think about it.
no i don’t want to thank you very much.
i’d like to talk about Dazed and Confused.
I last watched this film with 5 very close friends, after a couple weeks of filming, we laughed and chatted, getting accidentally drunk and having a great time.
[INSERT GHOST]
what do they think about you?
stop it.
do you think they like you?
of course they do.
what about these thoughts:
[INSERT LOTS OF GHOSTS]
here’s a reason for every one of them not liking you.
yeah i was already aware of them. pretty sure most of them aren’t real.
fancy thinking about them all over again?
do i have a choice?
thanks. i didn’t enjoy thinking about all that stuff again.
do they hate you?
i can’t tell. i wouldn’t be surprised.
what about all those other thoughts you keep having?
stop saying ‘having’, it makes it look like i have a choice.
some of your thoughts are really scary, aren’t they?
yeah. and i can’t get rid of them. therapist said we can just remove the intensity of them. stop analysing them and attributing meaning to them.
we get thoughts all the time. can’t control them coming in and out of our heads. and we don’t need every one of them to be genuine and meaningful and indicative of who we are as a person. especially if you’re not a monster anyway.
that ghost is just like a presence and he’s always there but he’s fading and he’s not real. MAKE LONGER AND BETTER
score, i solved it.
i think we’re missing some pretty obvious symbolism.
that may be intentional, i hate obvious symbolism.
Netflix Obscure 