dazed and confused + conflict resolution
i think the reason dazed works so well (or, more specifically, feels like there aren't any loose ends, despite the fact that there ARE) and is so re-watchable, is because all the loose-ends are momentarily resolved as soon as they're introduced.
the scene/line that never fails to make me think about this idea is mike's "i wanna dance!" scene. he spends an entire monologue talking about how he doesn't know if he actually wants to work with the general public, be a lawyer, or WHAT. (all very valid, real, and relatable concerns, ESPECIALLY in a movie about high schoolers, who are about to start applying to colleges and planning their careers) instead of dwelling on it or exploring it more, though, we get a silly one-liner and immediate cut-away that makes us forget/not worry about it for the rest of the movie.
another time this happens is right before the gang goes to the football field. instead of wondering what will happen with jodi and pink, pink says "you win some, you lose some." he's not only speaking to wooderson in this instance, but also the audience. we don't need to worry about what happens, because it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
mitch doesn't end up in hot water because his mom ends up being pretty chill about the whole ordeal, and even the fact that he comes home drunk doesn't seem to lead to any harsh punishment, so we're good there. tony and sabrina get their little resolution. the huge end-of-the-year party at pickford's gets shut-down, and carried on as a bit, until it gets replaced with the beer bust. a dude calls the cops waves a guns in the character's faces, and they just drive off!
even the pledge sheet, which is pretty much the main plot, gets resolved with one sentence: "i might play ball... but i will never sign that." does that actually resolve anything? i mean yes and no. we know that pink doesn't sign the pledge, but we don't know if he's even allowed to play, if he quits, if he gets "demoted" to a different position, put on the bench until he actually signs, or what.
and it's the same thing with the other plots! we don't actually know what mike goes to school for, we don't know if pink and jodi end up together, or if pink and simone break up, we have no clue how mitch turns out, we don't know if the mailbox guy filed a report, and we don't know if pink actually does play ball. but you know what? we don't need to.
because dazed isn't about tying up loose ends, or masterfully pulling off an intricate web of connected plotlines. it's about high school, and it's about how things feel like the end of the world but really aren't. and more than that, i think it's about showing a group of fully-fleshed out characters (because we know linklater spent a good amount of time making mixtapes for each character, and had the actors answer interview questions as their characters, so we know the characters have more to them than what we get to see on-screen) on one particular day that, while significant and memorable, is ultimately trivial compared to what they each have going on in their lives.
i like to think of it like looking through a window. dazed is the window. what you see just by looking straight into it is the movie. but sometimes, you can turn your head and see more of the room. that would be the original script, the character interviews, the mixtapes, etc. etc. all that gives us the impression that these characters are complete, and that if you look hard enough, you can see something you might not otherwise have caught. and then linklater's brain is the house, because he lives there and he's the only one that knows "everything" there is to know about dazed.
idk i just think thats neat