Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Professor K. Stofferahn
FILM 200-01
5 May 2008
Kevin Smith’s 1994 debut feature film Clerks tells the story about two clerks that work in
a convenience store, referred to as the “Quick Stop”. Called in on his day off, Dante (Brian
O’Halloran) is forced to deal with annoying customers, his two love interests, and his best friend
Randal (Jeff Anderson). He is also forced to take a look at his life and where it is going, or if it
has any direction at all. Roger Ebert describes the movie and its characters as: “The movie has
the attitude of a gas station attendant who tells you to check your own oil…and Dante and
Randal look like they have been nourished from birth on beef jerky and Cheetos. They are tired
and bored, underpaid and unlucky in love, and their encounters with customers feel like a series
Smith’s focuses on the main two losers throughout the film, of whom are perfect
examples of the slacker culture of the early nineties. Desson Howe of the Washington Post said,
“much of ‘Clerks’ is extremely funny and dead-on—in terms of its intentionally satirical, Gen-
X-istential gloom” (Howe par.3). Dante and Randal are both adults in their early twenties, while
still working at the Quick Stop and showing no signs of improving or changing their situations.
Dante complains repeatedly about his life, mostly saying: “I’m not even supposed to be here
today!” throughout the film, without doing much about it. But on the other hand, Randal is
content with his situation, and simply deals with every day brings. By focusing on their
personalities and overall attitudes, Smith presents a message of getting on with life, despite the
life situation.
Clerks’ structure doesn’t possess a plot, but rather shows events throughout the course of
the day. It plays more like a series of occurrences that ultimately tie together the day depicted
and the film itself. Some scenes are merely conversations about Star Wars, stupid customers, and
porn, while most of them progress the relationships of the characters. But they all add
In terms of technical innovations, the film does not break any new ground. It was filmed
in black and white, while many films at the time were not. The film’s budget was made for
approximately $28,000, and was shot mostly in and around the real Quick Stop convenience
store. Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle described the look of the film as “resolutely low-
budget, full of shaky camera work, the occasional less-than-perfect edit, and a few sound
glitches. Conveniently, though, all this shoestring filmmaking technique only adds to the film's
desperate charm” (Savlov). As most of the movie is indoors, you get a feel for what they have to
do all day, which is either dealing with customers or doing nothing. The cinematography is
pretty straight forward, with the main use of objective point-of-view. But at the same time,
Smith uses a director’s interpretive point of view. For example, there are many conversations
between the two leads that take place behind the counter of the store. Smith frames the shot in a
way so it is centered on the two standing behind the counter. This creates a feeling of them being
trapped, because they are enclosed in that area by the counter, the wall behind them, and the
consumer products that surround them. The camera movements are also pretty straight forward,
as no pans, tilts, dolly shots, etc. are notably used. However, Smith does use a lot of handheld
their life, and those complain but don’t do anything (or as Randal says to Dante towards the end
of the film, those who “need to shit or get off the pot.”). Smith doesn’t only show this through
the personalities of Dante and Randal, but through relationships. Dante is torn between two
women: one is his current girlfriend named Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) who truly loves him
but pressures him to continue his education in college, and the other is a promiscuous woman he
went out with in high school named Caitlin (Lisa Spoonhauer). Veronica is the driving force that
could move Dante’s life into a new, successful direction, while Caitlin represents his high school
days, before he entered the real world. This presents the conflict of whether Dante should stay
where he is at in life with an old high school sweetheart (who has cheated on him in the past), or
move on in life with the woman who wants him to succeed and loves him. By the end of the
film, Dante’s relationships with both of them are ended, and Smith does not give much of an
answer for whether Dante learned anything from them. But the film as a whole works in a weird
way because of it, in that Dante himself doesn’t really know what he wants from life throughout
the film, so by not giving him an epiphany or resolution compliments his persona very well.
What Smith seems to illuminate about our culture is the alarming rate of youth adults fit
into the slacker category. Over the course of the film Dante and Randal are not the only
characters without higher education. Outside the Quick Stop are two stoner drug dealers, named
Jay and Silent Bob (two characters that show up frequently in Kevin Smith’s other films), who
just simply stand in front of the store all day, waiting for their next drug deal. Not only does
Clerks shine light on said slackers, but it also shows what it is like for those in the service
industry. The clerks have to deal with stupid customers that ask them questions like: “How much
does this cost?” (When there is a sign that reads “$.99”) and “What do you mean no ice, you
mean I gotta drink this coffee hot?” At one point in the film, while Dante, Randal, and a
customer are talking about a man that puts eggs through ‘endurance tests’ in the back aisle, she
turns to them and says: “You see, it’s important to have a job that makes a difference boys.
That’s why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination.” Several customers
like this take an arrogant verbal stab at the clerks throughout the film, and you feel bad for them,
This movie reminded my own experiences and me a lot of the people I know. Very few
people in my own have gone to college, and have ended up in either construction-type jobs or
service jobs of some kind. Also, many people I knew in high school who are not in college now
are working as waiters or store clerks. I have worked several public service jobs, from hauling
kegs and serving beer to bringing old people their food in a nursing home. And since I know
what it is like to work in the service industry, there is a reason I am in college right now. Clerks
changes the way you look at people stuck in those type of jobs, and the way you treat them. As
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Free Press puts it, “there's something about seeing life from
the distinct angle of the convenience-store clerk that's just new enough to hold you” (LaSalle
par.7).
What makes the film work is that it chronicles a day in the life of Dante and Randal,
rather than giving you bits and pieces of different days and time periods. By doing this, it gives
the audience more of perspective of what these people go through, even if it be dealing with
personal problems or fighting boredom. With all this said, I love this film. The dialogue is very
realistic and funny, and like I said, I can relate to it even though I have never worked in a corner
convenience store. There is a charm to the amateurism and simplicity of the story, and the
intelligence behind the dialogue. However, I don’t think this film is for everyone. Despite the
rave reviews it received at its theatrical release, Clerks is highly profane. Not only does it have
many bad four-letter words, but there is also a lot of sexually explicit dialogue. Clerks initially
received an NC-17 rating, and had to be edited down to get an R-rating. When a major plot point
involves Dante finding out about Veronica and a large amount of fellatio on her part, you know
that it’s profane. Only those who can handle almost constant profanity, but no violence or actual
sex can dig this film. To really get the true idea of everything I mentioned, one has to see it for
him/herself.
Works Cited Page
Clerks. Dir. Kevin Smith. Perf. Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson. Miramax, 1994.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19941104/REVIEWS/411040
301/1023
Howe, Desson. Clerks. 4 Nov 1994 The Washington Post 4 May 2008.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/clerksrhowe_a01b71.htm
LaSalle, Mick. Clerks. 8 Nov 1994 San Francisco Free Press 4 May 2008.
http://www.well.com/conf/media/SF_Free_Press/nov8/clerks.html
Savlov, Marc. Clerks. 11 Nov 1994 The Austin Chronicle 5 May 2008.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3a138414