Clerks Movie

: "Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets." -- Dante

The movie follows the format of a Greek tragedy, in how a man's wishy-washy attitude towards his career and his life is his undoing. Especially true when viewed with the original ending. (Both endings are described in ClerksMovieEnding)

The movie also examines the importance of one's state of mind on one's situation. The grocery clerk, Dante, spends the whole movie complaining about having to work on his day off, about the hockey game he was planning to play that afternoon, about his current girlfriend, about his ex-girlfriend, about everything. In the meantime, the video clerk, Randall, doesn't mind his job at all, since he pays little attention to his obligations. The two of them map to both personalities of Peter from OfficeSpaceMovie.

ImNotEvenSupposedToBeHereToday?.

Ah! I remember now why I created this page. (The recent JayAndSilentBob movie is only indirectly responsible, through it's reminding me of this movie.)

You all know somebody who hates their job. Even if it's not as low-paying as being a clerk, it can easily be as taxing, if not more. Ask them why they don't quit, and see if their excuses sound familiar. People don't want to risk the comfortable situations on the big money and the fabulous prizes. In the computer industry, it's even worse because the alternative isn't big money and fabulous prizes, but less money and the dubious promise of greater happiness. Some industry workers take the Randal approach and express their discontent with a total half-assed effort. Others take the Dante approach (ExcusesExcuses) and just grumble constantly.

Movies are one of the ways one "examines the importance of one's state of mind", but there are far better approaches than the passive, you tell me how to think, since I don't have a clue, since I'm so deprived, attitudes.

Moved from ClerksOnStarWars

In ClerksMovie, Randal says that while the first Death Star was full of Imperial stormtroopers, officers, and dignitaries, the second Death Star, the one destroyed in ReturnOfTheJedi?, was incomplete, and thus full of independent contractors who just wanted a nice gig with government benefits.

A roofer in the store overhears the discussion, and tells the story of how he passed up a really sweet contract when he found out it was for a local crime boss. The person who took the job was shot in a drive-by on that job.

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