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The Importance Of Adolescence In The Film Dazed And Confused

Decent Essays

Adolescence is often described as the point in a person’s life where they develop from a child into an adult. This is the stage where puberty begins. When adolescence comes to mind we tend to think of our teenage years and the memories that are associated with that time period. Adolescence is a very important part of human development as we are growing both physically and mentally. Events that happen during this time of life can impact the way we live the rest of our lives. We will explore aspects of adolescence as depicted in the film Dazed and Confused.
Framing from Piaget’s stages, the stage in which adolescence occurs is called formal operations. This stage begins at the age of 12 and continues until old age. “This stage is characterized by a teenager’s ability to reason at an abstract, scientific level” (Belsky, 2016, p. 261). This stage is relevant with Dazed and Confused because the majority of characters in this film are in this stage of development. The main character for example, Randall Floyd, thinks about the contract from his football coach to abstain from drinking and partying during summer break eventually refusing to sign it. He demonstrates an ability to weigh his own options and decides that the contract presented is demoralizing and contradicts his own beliefs.
One of the main components of this film involves the teens in the movie smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. Although the movie’s setting takes place in 1976, it is a popular film among teenage people today. In 2016, the statistics for marijuana use among high school seniors in the US was about 35%, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2016). For alcohol, it is reported that 61.2% of high school seniors in the US, used alcohol within the last year (NIDA). In Dazed and Confused, Randall’s group and other group of teenager’s are trying to party because it is the last day of school. This film shows many aspects of adolescence specifically with cohort. According to Belsky (2016), “cohort is the age group with whom we travel through life (p. 5).” Many of the teens seemed to be influenced by each other and all do the same thing. There are numerous depictions of underage drinking and substance abuse. The film seems to

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