The Richard Linklater Universe
Life, as seen in Richard Linklater films, from Boyhood and School of Rock to Before Midnight.
With the release of Everybody Wants Some, Richard Linklater has finally produced his ‘college film’, a project which had been in development for over a decade. It takes place over a three-day weekend before the semester begins, continuing Linklater’s trend of structuring his films over a short space of time — typically a single day. ‘With the exception of Boyhood,’ he says, ‘this is kind of long for me.’
Linklater’s fascination with time as a central theme is visible from his first films to his most recent. In fact, all of his work can be seen as part of the same timeline, or cinematic universe, as if he has created a parallel reality to his own life to date. Think of this as a more accessible version of the Pixar theory.
Who better to explain the Linklater universe than the man himself, in the opening to his first major film:
Slacker (1991)
‘Every thought you have creates its own reality, y’know, it’s like every choice or decision you make, the thing you choose not to do fractions off and becomes its own reality.’
‘We’re kind of trapped in this one reality, restriction, type of thing, y’know.’
That perfect final line — shit, I should’ve stayed at the bus station — is key to all of Linklater’s work. Starting to watch a new Linklater film is like going back to the bus station. Watching the film unfold, however, means following another linear path, another reality.
Boyhood (2014) — Ages 6 to 18
In terms of age, the alternate timeline of Linklater’s life on film begins with Boyhood. A six year-old gazes upwards at the Texan blue sky, and, before you know it, the boy is a man, and 12 years have passed. You can imagine Linklater tracing his childhood in retrograde, recalling the in-between moments — concentrating on the clouds, leafing through catalogues — as much as the major events of his upbringing.
Boyhood is the ultimate Linklater timeline; once it has begun, it cannot turn back, and time runs its race for over a decade. It’s like the umbrella to the raindrops of Linklater’s other films, which fall on specific moments along the way.
‘You know what’s next? Huh? It’s my fucking funeral.’
School of Rock (2003) — Ages 10–14
As well as nailing how it feels to experience a single day, or decade, unfolding, Linklater can represent a certain age perfectly too. School of Rock is that moment before becoming a teenager, when innocence and naivety can let creativity bloom, and clashing influences — the heavy metal/prep school dichotomy is comedy gold — are both inspirations regardless of morality.
And then there’s the feeling of the adults looking on, wishing to be kids again. Linklater empathizes with that too — maybe he felt like Zack Mooneyham and Dewey Finn at 10 and 30 respectively. In fact, Linklater was 30 just before his career took off.
Dazed and Confused (1993) — Ages 14–18
In a recent Q&A, Linklater spoke of his surprise when people describe Dazed as a feel-good coming of age film. ‘There’s some dark edges there … It’s just that age, being in high school, being imprisoned to some degree.’
Along with Boyhood, Dazed looks at what it means to be a teenager in America. The innocence of the School of Rock pre-teens has vanished, and the greater freedom of college in Everybody Wants Some!! is yet to come. It’s a world of restrictions and escapism, as the last day of school sees freshmen and seniors alike being intimidated, but cruising and partying regardless.
Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) — Ages 18–21
Linklater’s latest film picks up exactly where Dazed and Confused and Boyhood concluded, motoring on to college. Read my review here
‘You’ve got to embrace your inner strange, man. Just be weird.’
Everybody Wants Some!! depicts the moment before the transition from childhood to adulthood, when responsibilities can wait. For some, what follows is:
Young Adult Limbo
Slacker, Suburbia (1996), Waking Life (2001) — these films are about the sorry search for purpose. They drift, they stall, they become insane, they become mundane. They depict young adults stuck in suburban homogeneity, (faux-)intellectual discussion, and a lot of whining. This is where the timeline gets stuck.
Waking Life, then, propels into the alternate timelines that Slacker’s Linklater refers to, using rotoscoping animation to represent a dreamlike state. But, really, the characters are still stuck.
‘Nothing ever changes, man. Fifty years from now we’re all gonna be dead. And there will be another group of people standing here drinking beer, eating pizza, bitching about the price of Oreos and they’ll have no idea we were ever here…’ — Jeff in Suburbia
The Before Trilogy — Your 20s, Your 30s and Your 40s
These films define what it means to be an adult, fully-grown yet continually growing. A single relationship seen in triptych, Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) revolve around the kind of intimacy and awareness of mortality missing in Linklater’s other work.
Time is everything in the Before films. Jesse and Celine want to live in the moment, but their stream of consciousness conversations are acutely aware of whatever’s on the horizon — tomorrow, lost love, death, and so on. So when Jesse makes his carpe diem move on the train in Before Sunrise, he frames it as time travel — thinking of the future in order to cherish the present:
Jesse: Alright, alright. Think of it like this: jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you’re married. Only your marriage doesn’t have that same energy that it used to have, y’know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you’ve met in your life and what might have happened if you’d picked up with one of them, right? Well, I’m one of those guys. That’s me y’know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, to find out what you’re missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband to find out that you’re not missing out on anything. I’m just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you’re really happy.
Celine: Let me get my bag.
For updates, find Within and Without on Facebook and on Twitter.
