Ode to Service Workers
“Bunch of savages in this town.”
By C.A. Ramirez
30 years later, Clerks is still one of the best indie movies to ever grace cinema.
The black and white film stock lays down a coat of paint that helps solidify it as a gritty and bold experience. Where Office Space explored the white-collar drones of Generation X, Clerks brought to life the comedic plight of its blue-collar service workers that remains relevant today.
Written and directed by Kevin Smith, Clerks is a seminal work that is absolutely a product of its time and place. The 1990’s were a bold decade for movies, and comedies were becoming sharper and edgier than the decade prior. Had Clerks been made in the 80’s, the plot would have focused around cashiers trying to thwart the corporate takeover of their store–while sped up montages set to Wham! showcase their love for booze and babes. Smith throws that campy crap out the window and delivers a realistic slice of his own personal life as a former cashier. Eccentric characters push a relatable narrative that encapsulates the inescapable atmosphere dead-end jobs can have on small town minds.
The movie starts with a ringing phone and Dante, played by Brian O’Halloran, falling out of his closet and onto the floor. What was supposed to be his day off, turns into a nightmare after he agrees to cover for another employee who absconds to Mexico. Not even a few minutes in, and already any service industry worker from the 90’s to now can relate. A bad day begins for Dante and doesn’t cease until the credits roll.
Left to Right: Brian O’Halloran (Dante), Jeff Anderson (Randal)
The world Smith creates in Clerks pulls you in with sharp dialogue. The sets are simple and hardly change over the course of the movie. Dante is trapped in a cage, and this inescapable reality becomes a home for the audience; a beautiful translation that drops the viewer into his shoes for the duration of the film. A dead-end job is never complete without a fellow compatriot that you love to hate; enter Randal.
Randal, played by Jeff Anderson, is Dante’s friend. A video store employee from next to the Quick Stop Groceries, Randal is the antithesis of Dante. Where Dante is reserved, Randal is absurd. He hates customers more than Dante does and enjoys any amount of confrontation with them. Every service industry worker has worked with or heard of an employee like Randal. They are simultaneously the best and worst part of their shift. Good employees wish they could be the Randal of their workplace while terrible employees are never bad enough. Dante might feel trapped by his job, but Randal puts his chaotic world into perspective.
Left to Right: Jason Mewes (Jay), Kevin Smith (Silent Bob)
Clerks also marks the debut of legendary Kevin Smith characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith respectively, the characters would go on to make cameos in nearly every Kevin Smith film. The dynamic duo would become centerpiece characters in Mallrats, but in Clerks, they are drug dealers of a most sleazy caliber. Perfectly suited to the meandering whirlpool of morose and manic members of a vibrant, monochrome world.
Modern indie films draw inspiration from Smith, maybe not in their style or substance, but their passion. Smith filmed interior sequences at night, because it was too expensive to shut down the store during the day. The choice of black and white film stock was used because it was cheaper than color. Smith would work during the day as a clerk and then film scenes at night, into the early morning. A grueling endeavor, but when you’re passionate about filmmaking, no sacrifice is too great. Clerks was part of the rising tide of indie films that swept across the 1990’s, wildly funny and with an organic and interesting premise; modern movies are too often plagued by complicated plots about half-baked characters. Kevin Smith blends his audience with each cast member. Snappy one-liners and clever debates latch onto the viewer’s mind with a permanency that leaves them enslaved to the same register as Dante.
Final shot of Smith’s indie film debut.