Some actors become known for one role or another, and some just don’t become known at all. Then again some stick in our memories because they played a character in a movie that was actually pretty good, but the majority of people forgot about them not too long after since like anything, movies have their time and place and are then stored in memory for later. Shavonne from Dazed and Confused though has been rightfully placed in the ‘cool’ crowd since her time in the movie and as a result she’s not too hard to remember. Brian Raftery of Wired has an entire list of characters from the movie and has taken the liberty in pointing out just who was cool and why, though he’s kind of spare with Shavonne’s reasoning. As far as Deena’s career though, that’s been pretty easy to forget since she didn’t end up doing a lot in show business and hasn’t been seen for some time. In reality, Shavonne was probably her biggest and most noticeable role since it was in a movie that people still talk about and remember line for line in some cases. As far as high school movies go it’s one that definitely belongs to a couple of generations at best, but it’s still one that’s a must-watch for just about anyone that wants to remember what high school was actually like.
There is some truth to high school movies since life back in the day was a lot different and there were a lot of things that wouldn’t fly now that people managed to get away with. The hazing for one thing was a very big reality for a lot of kids that sometimes went too far but was usually seen as a rite of passage for underclassmen. Like it or not, the over-sensitive types still have to admit that hazing on some level isn’t harmful as it can still be a rite of passage and still have positive connotations so long as things aren’t taken too far and there is a limit to what kind of hazing can go on. In Dazed and Confused it’s obvious that things go way too far and the fact that it was allowed is unfortunately a sign of the times and a very realistic view of how things were in some schools. Some of it’s definitely overdone and blown out of proportion but there have been moments in time when hazing became a serious problem and was thankfully abolished after a while. If there’s any such thing as hazing now, and there is without a doubt, it has more to do with welcoming a person into a group in an old-fashioned manner that lets them know they can’t just walk in without a little razzing, but there are also groups where hazing becomes outright harassment that’s not needed. Deena initiated a bit of hazing in the movie as well, but if you take note she admonished someone for taking it too far as well. Hazing done right doesn’t leave a person feeling worthless, but it might very well leave them feeling a bit chastised and with the knowledge that they’ll have to keep earning the respect of their peers.
As far as Deena goes however her career kind of hit a wall after 2008 and it does appear a though she stepped away from the spotlight after a while. She did get married and in 2016 became the president of Today’s New Covenant Foundation Ministries, so obviously she’s found something to do with her time and has become, or has been, a very religious-minded individual. Why she left the business is kind of hard to say since a lot of people have a lot of different reasons, but it could have something to do with the fact that she wasn’t really going anywhere or it could have been something entirely different. All that’s really known is that she had one very cool part in a very cool movie and was able to take part in something that will no doubt last for a while in the public consciousness. If nothing else that’s something she can be proud of, though at this time if she’s still working with the ministries there’s likely a lot more on her mind than her part in a movie decades ago. It would be interesting to know if any of those she works with have ever seen the movie and asked her about it, as there are a few things in the movie that tend to bother some folks today. Likely as not she wouldn’t be judged for her role in the movie since Shavonne wasn’t the worst of the hazers even though she got in on it. But all in all, she had her time in the spotlight and then moved on, much as many people have done.
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