Exaggerated, but not by much.

I was looking for something to half-ignore on TV the other night. The algorithm suggested Richard Linklater’s Slacker. It was the perfect candidate. I’d seen it a ton already and there’s no real plot to have to follow.

It’s always been a movie I saw myself in. A little of my friends threaded through all of it, too. Like the guys on the bridge, I’ve been part of a ceremonial moment where friends try to help get over an ex through getting rid of stuff. Ours featured raw rhubarb and diet root beer for some reason. We called ourselves the Order of the Flaming Sword.

I put it on as a nostalgic background. But as time went by, I found myself paying attention because I saw things I hadn’t seen before in the movie. I started imagining these characters today.

There’s a scene where some guys find out their roommate Paul has split, and he’s left a stack of postcards on his empty floor. As we come to see the final card, it mentions that he’s off to Europe to train as a terrorist. In the movie it comes off that Paul’s perhaps just a dramatic artist. But then, I remember that ten years later, we had The American Taliban. Somebody a few scenes over called terrorism the surgical strike of the oppressed. Others revere anarchists and serial killers. And, then there are all the conspiracy theorists in the movie.

I realized that Slacker is kind of like Idiocracy, but from a subtler, somewhat darker standpoint. It’s not hard to run into people (especially online) that could be these college town slackers fully grown.

The characters always felt exaggerated, but not by much. The guy spewing self-important “deep thoughts” in a coffee shop. The conspiracy guy who latches on somehow and won’t leave you alone. The woman selling Madonna’s pap smear. This movie is a quintessential glimpse at Austin, TX in the 90s. But, no matter where you were, every person reminded you of someone you knew.

Thirty years is long enough to see how these caricatures turned out in the real world. The conspiracy theorist started a streaming platform and disciples followed. The self-important philosopher started a Substack and spews horse shit for $5 per month. I’m on the fence on what pap smear woman became. Probably an online LuLaRoe streamer. I saw friends in these characters thirty years ago. I’m trying not to think about which characters I see in friends now.

Linklater has said in interviews that he has real affection for the characters in Slacker. I did. Maybe I still do, even though I see that these quirks can have an irredeemable side. That means something. I don’t know what.

Want to go talk about it over coffee?