American Graffiti / Dazed and Confused

American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused both capture the spirit of their respective eras. They are also self-conscious exercises in nostalgia, and through their rose-tinted perspective we can examine the natural urge we all feel to romanticise the past.

[@georgemartin4963]

American Graffiti haves us Happy days. Dazed and Confused gave us That "70s Show.

[@Boswd]

those first couple of seasons of Happy Days, Fonzie in pre leather jacket time, Chuck was the oldest brother, was just brilliant TV that captured American Graffiti.

[@TheMassacreFilms]

Happy Days’ pilot was from ‘71 and came before Graffiti. George Lucas personally asked Garry Marshall to show him the pilot to see if Ron Howard was good at playing a ‘50s teen role.

[@Sambubu123]

Completely on point on how nostalgia works, even though I hated high school every time I watch dazed and confused I feel something different, now I realize that as I get older my memory of those days change and the movie changes with me.

[@davegibbs6423]

The distance between 1962 and 1972 was 500 years.

[@starkillerclub3755]

I would add Fast Times At Ridgemont High as a nostalgia piece for the 80's

[@DrMurdercock]

I also think that, we just aren't able to tell when we are in a "special time of our life." Until it's over. That whole, "don't know what you got till it's gone." thing. Great video

[@pdiz]

The genius of this documentary is so underrated... Film Qualia nailed it. It's the reason why I have an old muscle car in my garage, yet those days are long gone; it's not going to get me chicks or cool points, just an "ok boomer" label or even "Eew... why do you have an old car? Are you poor? Don't you feel bad for the environment? It's so ugly. Also, cars are just a way to get from A to B, etc." All that being said, I just can't let the nostalgia go...

[@Kobe.T]

Two of my favourite movies. I get nostalgia hit from them despite graduating highschool in 2020. It’s incredible how universal the feelings and themes explored in these films are. I hope that in twenty years I get the chance to watch a film all about highschool students in the 2010s

[@_loegan]

It's coming, for sure. There was a sea change in culture from ~2013 to 2023 or so that really reminds me of the moments these movies capture too.

[@remogatron1010]

@@_loegan trust me, you are NO WHERE close to living the 80's metal scene and early 90's grunge scene as a teenager or in your 20's.

[@LivingOnCash]

These are two of my favorite movies. AG, because I was and still am, a hard core hot rod guy. I lived in a rural area and could only read about cruising in hot rod magazines so when the movie came out I got to experience it vicariously. Just a few years later moved west and got to actually participate in cruising. Dazed is more aligned with my youth as I am class of '74. I'd say it is a pretty accurate representation of the time. Certainly puts a smile on my face when I watch it. As said in this video, both movies hit the nostalgia bone pretty hard. '62 was a little before my time but the elements of it still held true in the '70s, especially the cruising parts while Dazed brings me right back to that time.

[@NareshYadavJ]

Dazed and Confused is like a spiritual successor to American Graffiti

[@peterjohnson1734]

Both are memorable movies and I saw them the first time in the theater. I was a teenager in the mid 70s and Dazed and Confused was a true reflection of the times, not the campy version of the 1970s that spotlights Disco and lava lamps. American Graffiti was a time and place that I wished I could have experienced first-hand and it had the greater impact on me as an impressionable kid. The one thing that both movies had was that it gave the viewer a feeling of being there. It was a day in the life in another time.

[@TrapLoreRoss]

Brilliant video!

[@johnbrown7911]

Excellent work. Got me feeling all nostalgic while watching. I have never seen American Graffiti. I've watched Dazed and Confused several times and always enjoy it. Even though I graduated in 05, D & C seems very relatable. Sure there are many differences but the main themes are all there. Though I wish I could have experienced the 70s and 80s so bad. 90s were cool and 2000s weren't bad I guess.

[@gastonave]

I'm one of the few people who saw Dazed and Confused in the theater when it came out.

[@Goochbag8]

This deserves more attention. I actually got emotional. You not only perfectly described why I love both of these films, but why I love film.

[@mitchellgilbert8872]

This is the best video essay I’ve ever watched, truly amazing

[@AvgJRetro]

This video is incredible , stated so perfectly , these are two of my favorite films

[@TheLEGITstuff]

Amazing video. These are two of my favorite movies of all time and you are spot-on with the analysis. Makes me miss high school haha.

[@JamesSmith-hw6tl]

My parents waxed lovingly about American Graffiti after it released. I love it still. Dazed and Confused is indeed my high-school experience. We hated the Frosh though not nearly as harshly. Beer parties, lots of weed. Yep. We change the memories as we get further away. Great video!

[@jonbills587]

This video was fantastic. Thank you.

[@Bennyboy1985]

I would argue that two other movies belonging in this nostalgia category (and that take place over a single 24 hour period) are 'Can't Hardly Wait' (1998) and 'Superbad' (2007) 'Can't Hardly Wait' is a glimpse into America as it was at the end of the 20th Century, with that sense of post Cold War/ Pre 9/11 optimism about the future that the graduates of Huntington High were stepping out into. It's the last teen movie of note to NOT feature mobile phones (Preston calls the radio station from a payphone) or the internet (whereas 'American Pie', which came out in '99, has that memorable scene where they set up a webcam in Jim's bedroom to livestream Nadia getting undressed). On top of that is the music and the fashion, both very much of the time, to give you that hit of late 90's nostalgia. 'Superbad' feels more a reflection of my own time as a senior in high school- those pre-GFC years where having a party to get to and being able to score booze was the highlight of your week. There's also the poignancy of the last 20 minutes or so of that film- the realisation that despite chasing girls, the truly great thing is to have your friends around you and share these crazy adventures with them. I re-watched 'Superbad' recently and this appreciation (plus the ending) hit me differently in it's symbolism...

[@nathanbabble1976]

This channel should blow up like the other one. It’s brilliantly done and it’s clear you’re in your element. I’ve enjoyed rewatching all of these.

[@ifoundmyfingerboard]

Really good video. Well thought out and edited, it was cut perfectly with background music at the end. I appreciate this

[@PabloEscobar-yy7xp]

Great video! Greetings from Argentina

[@danieleyre8913]

Another coming-of-age film similar to these two (though not as good) is "Lords of flatbush", made about the same time as American Graffiti, but set about 5 years earlier in the mid-late 1950s.

[@AdamsBrew78]

The Outsiders is a good one - directed by the producer of American Grafitti, Francis Capolla

[@brown22sugar25]

9:39 That’s Uncle Sam, not Abraham Lincoln

[@MidwesternHooligans]

9:40 that thin-lipped bastard is Uncle Sam.

[@oskar_oskarewicz]

Guys, if you enjoy American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused I would recommend you David Robert Mitchel's The Myth Of The American Sleepover (guy who wrote and directed It Follows and Under The Silver Lake). It's not a perioed piece like these two, it's less music driven and crazy, it's more calm and sensual, but for sure it shares a lot with AG and DAC, great coming oaf age flick, which takes place during the one night.

[@heinoustentacles5719]

well it's rather old now and will only get older. it may serve as a sort of definer of the early 2010s the same way these other two movies define the eras they focus on.

[@oskar_oskarewicz]

@@heinoustentacles5719 That's true :)

[@aisaxonawiat6484]

American Graffiti was a vastly superior movie.

[@LastBastian]

No.

[@aisaxonawiat6484]

@@LastBastian yes.

[@audioinheritance8557]

I always feel sad when the credits roll on both movies. It's like the great and eventful nights portrayed in the movies are over, like the real passing of time. It feels like something's lost, even though I can start the movie again.

[@nordland2235]

My high school yrs were exactly like dazed n confused.

[@mookie714]

I’d like to see a movie like this made about 1996, the end of the off line era and the dawn on the online era.

[@fabioj2353]

Fanboys is a pretty great coming of age movie. Taking place in 1999, a group of friends try to see Phantom Meance before it’s released for one of them who’s battling a terminal illness. Check it out!

[@guysolis5843]

I was my own kind of cool. I went to a boarding school for 3 years and got a great education. My younger brother played football at a public school that I insisted on attending. He was 50 pounds heavier than me an once freight trained me during a football scrimmage. Once my biker friends were notified I was leaving the boarding school, they threw me a party and gave me a Sportster but the coolest part was 8 of them escorted me directly into the school parking lot in front of many students. They left, I got off my bike, combed my hair through and walked real cool like to the school without saying a word. That began a non stop sexual journey that always ended well..

[@cordyone]

I enjoyed this, thanks! Your (very) English accent somehow sits awkwardly with the material, but I appreciated the insights. These are my two favorite movies, and I have just finished watched D&C for, like, the 20th time! I guess the challenge is for someone to do a 90's piece, as that must be the last decade of freedom before technology robbed us of our primal sociability.

[@heinoustentacles5719]

I think the accent clashes because these movies are Pure Americana! You'd almost expect a southerner to do any narration in regards to them.

[@Bennyboy1985]

I reckon 'Can't Hardly Wait' (1998) is the 90's piece you're looking for. Other people have pointed out that it was the last teen movie of the pre-internet age. Nobody has a mobile phone and unlike 'American Pie' (which came out the following year) nobody uses the internet. Plus the fashions and the music give you that 90's nostalgia.

[@EclecticDD]

I came here from Ordinary Things. I'm glad that I did.

[@rogermansour6085]

Great movie. Other great movies going back in time. Peggy Sue got married. Pleasant Ville, Rebel without a cause, Black board jungle, King creole.

[@yuvalbarnahum6756]

I loved the video, really great work!

[@planetarysolidarity]

Brilliant! Thanks.

[@mypl510]

Wow, this just blew my mind. Thanks for stirring the memory tanks. Time to write my story of the 80's

[@famesjranko6344]

Just found this through your other channel; these are great, you should definitely do more video essays in this style!

[@manuelkong10]

WONDERFUL Thought provoking video....LOVED it didn't agree with all of it and I like that...Food For Though

[@jonahlondon648]

Very well done. I love how it made me question what I'm doing now to what I can view as my nostalgia later on.

[@deanjames3660]

Another belter from Film Qualia, keep it up man!

[@FilmQualia]

Thanks man! Another one coming up soon

[@BlondeFilm]

I’m glad o saw this video, Im always fearful of never having any good stories to tell me children and my grandchildren when I get older, but if I think more of the positives and look for the best times and even search for something fun to do, I can recount, I can retell. I feel like this generation is a deadbeat, but I know that’s not 100% truth, I was just in the wrong group of people, but I came around and actually got with some good people, and with the accounts I had, I have hope that I can tell people my stories. Thank you

[@jrtstrategicapital560]

I graduated in the 70s.....it saddens me that the youths no longer can enjoy the personal growth and adventures WITHOUT A SMART PHONE!

[@AndrewSindt]

I love to live the youths of those before me.

[@veedle18]

This is such a great video. Really unexpected and I'm surprised it has so little views and so little likes.

[@blockbusterlady5993]

That's how things work. The good things in life get less views than the crappy things do.

[@blockbusterlady5993]

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[@danny240z4]

Great video!

[@wa8d4g8i7]

great analysis bro

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

Feeling nostalgic while reminicing over my deep feeling of extatic contentment exerted when I used to unvirginize my brain to one of your new videos on your other channel, I can now clap and curl my toes ravenously for I've come back full line and finally realized you actually channelize in one other stream. Joyful fish I am! Until I'm all binged out, again. But shush for now, the blissfulness of this new universe awaits in unknown quantity. P.S. : I find circles suspicious.

[@christopherfoster3830]

One word: outstanding!!

[@TTM9691]

Funny that he talks about the 60s being drowned nostalgia when talking about a movie that takes place in the 70s and one that is basically 1950s culture, not 1960s. Nostalgia has been part of movies since the very beginning, especially the work of D.W. Griffith (but in no way limited to). Look at "True Heart Susie" (1919) Lots of the movies of the teens and the twenties were nostalgic for the pre-industrial life. That nostalgia is all over movies of the 30s and 40s as well (Magnificent Ambersons, Make Way For Tomorrow). Then there was all the Depression/World War 2 era nostalgia, which had people like Lawrence Welk on TV every night. And now you have the dopiest "nostalgia" about the 80s....and now even the non-descript 90s! So no, the 60s isn't any more or less "drowned in nostalgia" than any other decade.....it's just the one that was the most fun and had the most enduring cultural influence. And unlike, say, the shallow 80's nostalgia, people actually know about the various things that happened in the 60s: culturally, historically, sociologically. It was a decade with a lot of character. It was basically eight decades in one.

[@remogatron1010]

I went to an all boys high school during the 80's and hated every minute of it. Sadistic Priests who would lash or punish us and banned music deemed satanic by them. My high school days sucked for me. Hated every minute of it and would not want to relive it. However, when I went away to Canada as an International student and experienced the heavy metal and grunge scene over there did I really miss those days in my life. Best days of my life was from 1990 to 1995 more or less. My days in Canada after high school. Now, my nostalgia is for that time. Screw high school days!! Meant nothing to me.

[@HYSSTERIA]

wow such an underrated video. Excellent work!

[@multidwee]

Amazing.

[@remogatron1010]

I went to an all boys high school during the 80's and hated every minute of it. Sadistic Priests who would lash or punish us and banned music deemed satanic by them. My high school days sucked for me. Hated every minute of it and would not want to relive it. However, when I went away to Canada as an International student and experienced the heavy metal and grunge scene over there did I really miss those days in my life. Best days of my life was from 1990 to 1995 more or less. My days in Canada after high school. Now, my nostalgia is for that time. Screw high school days!! Meant nothing to me.

[@styleissubstance]

This may be your best video. Good work.

[@monkee5th]

That wasn’t Abraham Lincoln with blood shot eyes that was Uncle Sam you know 1976 the bicentennial I was eight years old in 1976

[@the1hellogoodbye]

Great video! Keep it up man.

[@jrtstrategicapital560]

YES! The car was a right of passage! Our jesuit priest would give us an off campus pass when we turned 16 to go out and get our drivers license..we would come back to class and wave it high above our heads and receive cheers! ...

[@ANTHONY0808able]

WELL DONE SIR !!

[@Neggs2000]

Well done 👍🏼

[@kendallthehammerheadbecker20x]

I could say you could put fast times at ridgemont high too

[@liamspratt2133]

Watched this movie that’s night its so good

[@ProudMisogynist]

I gave American Graffiti a chance by watching it twice and it’s just not for me. Dazed and Confused on the other hand I could happily watch everyday for the rest of my life if I had too.

[@allenbrock2733]

Phenomenal

[@veerchasm1]

Dazed and Confused doesn’t even belong in the same conversation as American Graffiti. It’s a movie about a kit scratching his nose

[@jerimiahstephens8580]

That's no stoned Lincoln that's uncle Sam you damn red coat

[@salzmancreek]

NICE!!!!

[@txxrxxx1221]

RE: Comment at 9:40. That doesn’t appear to be Abe Lincoln. It looks more like Uncle Sam.

[@firhanhidayat2803]

i wish at least there's third movie with this style..

[@mryodak]

Is it a Led Zepplein reference?

[@marclayne9261]

born in 1950s......Im not Nostalgic, I just prefer to live in the past....'the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there' L.P. Hartley...

[@rhettgedies7467]

Ironically, Richard Linklater is one of my all-time favorite directors....but I personally loathe _Dazed and Confused_ . In contrast, I'm in the minority of adoring _American Graffiti_ as one of my top 5 favorite films and my prefered prime Lucas' experience to _Star Wars_ (as it is always overshadowed). Obviously the era-portrayal preference is also a mixture of nostalgia and lifestyle. I long for the mores of the 1950's and the traditional structures that kept society functional as opposed to the "let's get f***ed up and experiment/experience while sticking it to authority" which began to snowball out of control because of the counterculture of the 1960's. Overall, both movies nail their points perfectly. But one feels very purposeless and depressing-in-outcome compared to the other. I'll let you decide which is which.

[@KrisBryant99]

I mean neither perspective from each decade is bad but you just have to balance in it all and not let someone control how you think or live.

[@johnschroeder1962]

9:38 Uncle Sam, not Abraham Lincoln. Don’t worry, I can’t tell the difference between Prince Phillip and Prince Harry.

[@remogatron1010]

One is a red head and one is balding badly. Easy to tell the difference.

[@wynnpetsovich34]

You sound like the guy from the “ordinary things” channel. Maybe it’s accent.

[@PhilMoskowitz]

American Graffiti is the far better film. It often shows up on list of the greatest 100 movies. It's a superior directed, written, invented, acted and influential movie. I like Dazed and Confused, but it nowhere near as groundbreaking, produced and filmed as "American Graffiti".

[@KrisBryant99]

Eh I disagree........American Graffiti gives you a lifestyle that most people couldn't live where as Dazed & Confused is the life you ASPIRE to live...........

[@clumsydad7158]

interesting juxtaposition ... of course one could write endlessly on nostalgia ... more people live the whole 2nd half of their lives inside nostalgia

[@mcjtls7]

Thanks for vid! Hope everyone has a blessed year 😊 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

[@MIRRORIMAGEWORLD]

Dazed and Confused was just that, a dazed mess... American Graffiti on the other hand is a masterpiece.

[@veerchasm1]

American Graffiti takes a dump on the inferior Dazed and Confused

[@frostyjim2633]

Blah blah blah - that's you

[@sallybrown5089]

Daze and confused is total crap! American Graffiti is very real and a movie classic!

[@iphuqdyrmum]

Hey man u gotta 32 5 window or a 70 LS-6 chevelle ?? Ummmm no ..☹ Youd be a lot cooler if you did .....