Posted late with permission from the professor

The screening this week is known for its nostalgia, made in the 90s it yearns and reflects on the Stoney daze of the 70s … This film makes me personally nostalgic because when I first watched it I was a stoney high schooler who absolutely loved it. I believe I was in 10th grade so, like 15, it was one of my favorite films for the longest time, so revisiting it made me long for those days, especially in the midst of today’s doom and gloom.   The story is a classic high school story, last day of classes, everyone’s freaking out, rebelling, smoking pot and getting drunk. We’ve seen a lot of high school films, for example, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, yet Dazed And Confused stands out amongst these, it takes us back to the past and the characters carry the film. The film takes course over a day which not much happens besides the usual boring teen banter, but the characters come to life so well, you can’t help but want to join in on the antics with them. In the reading Outsider Nostalgia In Dazed and Confused, the author goes in-depth about these types of films and the culture around them. In the 90s a wave of 70s nostalgia came crashing in film, the author mentions films like Boogie Nights and A Night At The Roxbury. But unlike many of these films Dazed and Confused and Detroit Rock city didn’t follow the disco groovin theme of many of these films, instead, it trailed into its own, a moving rock and roll themed film, both finding their titles named after rock songs, this is what makes them outsider films of their era. Side note one of my favorite movies of this “rock” genre so to say is This Is Spinal Tap (1984) which follows a rock band in a mockumentary style film. It is certainly a cult film which I recommend to people who enjoyed our screening this week, a super funny take on the hairbands of the 80s.

But anyway, back to the reading, I found it extremely interesting the way the author analyzes these films. They truly are outsider films and before I had read this I hadn’t thought about it that way. They have pieces of exploitation films through implied sex and violence but never commit to really delving into that or a coming of age film but it doesn’t have necessarily look at the teens NOW at the moment rather it looks back which many coming of age films didn’t at the time. Dazed And Confused truly is different than many of the films that came before it and I think that is why it is such a loved film, not to mention the amazing character performances by Matthew McConaughey and one of my personal favs Milla Jovovich, 

      like come on, what a queen.

The screening this week was great, and to add to all of the praise the director Richard Linklater has directed some of my favorite films such as The Before Trilogy and Boyhood. They differ very much from the film we watched this week but 100% is worth the watch, especially the Before trilogy which is one of my favorite trilogies that I’ve seen. Such quiet and tender films. (images from below are from these)