MovieChat Forums > Dazed and Confused (1993) Discussion > Class of '76 Here...

Class of '76 Here...

posted 8 years ago by thefabslv
9 replies | jump to latest

Maybe it was different in rural America, but here in Las Vegas incoming seniors didn't hang out at all with incoming freshmen. We didn't even know them.

The only tiny bit of hazing I ever experienced was having to wear a beany in school colors my freshman
year and as a member of the dance/drill team, we "kidnapped" the new members late at night and made them do Chinese fire drills in their nightgowns on Fremont Street. But that was a Junior/Senior vs. Sophmore thing... not dumba$$ 8th graders. LOL

[–] ck1-5 8 years ago

I graduated in '78 (lived in upstate NY), and same here...the only freshman any senior might have noticed would have been one of the girls who was in the "15 going on 21" category.

[–] thefabslv 8 years ago

Yeah, I think they were stretching it a lot for the movie. And the town didn't seem all that small either.

[–] johnston.scot 8 years ago

The movie's not very clear on the subject, but my interpretation was that Mitch et al. and the girls being hazed were at the end of 9th grade. They were at the end of junior high and would be entering high school the following fall, and they referred to them as "freshman" based on the year they were just finishing, rather than what they'd be the following year. So it was a juniors-about-to-be-seniors vs. freshmen-about-to-be-sophomores thing.

[–] ChrisCuda 8 years ago

Nope. The movie is very clear they are "incoming freshmen."

[–] Minus_The_Beer 8 years ago

Perhaps somebody who grew up in Texas/the south at the time could shed some light. I was told back when I first saw this movie that the extreme hazing was an actual thing in that region at the time (and maybe even today).

Anyone here mentions Hotel California dies before the first line clears his lips.

[–] stones78 8 years ago

I also didn't buy how open Pink and Jodi were to inviting both Mitch and that geeky girl to the party; Jodi seems to almost blush when she asks the girl after the car wash scene to come to the party.

[–] erinj34 8 years ago

I'm from a small town and there is definitely more mingling. Hell, half the school ends up at the same party most of the time.

Mitch got an "in" because his older sister was popular. In small towns, it still works that way - you get a chance at some social status if an older sibling or even cousin is cool.

I'm not as sure as why Sabrina gets picked, since she didn't seem extraordinarily pretty or charming or fashionable or anything that would attract a lot of attention. But some underclassmen do get selected to occasionally hang with the older kids.

[–] Datamater 8 years ago

Class of '77 here, but in western PA. Other than the paddling, this movie nails it. But other forms of hazing were conducted within the individual clubs/groups (cheerleaders, FFA, band, etc.).

Happy freshman memories of my older sister being forced by my parents to drag me along to her parties, and making out with senior girls in the closet during games like "Spin the Bottle" and "Post Office"...

"Randy lay there like a slug! It was his only defense. - Jean Shepherd ("A Christmas Story")

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

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