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Kevin Smith has been making audiences laugh for over thirty years. A combination of the 1990s indie films he watched and the gross, but smart humor of directors like John Landis and Ivan Reitman, helped Kevin Smith build the View Askewniverse. Smith populated his films with eccentric characters obsessed with pop culture. Given his gift of gab, Smith’s portrayal of character personalities felt more realistic to my circle of friends than most movies I had seen up to that point, with their no-holds-barred debates on TV, comics, and movies; specifically Star Wars.
Clerks
Clerks was Kevin Smith’s first film and the first entry into the View Askewniverse. In the 1990s, working in a video store must have been the greatest job ever. Watching movies while restocking shelves—but, as Randal Graves would say, this job would be great if it wasn’t for the f***ing customers. After watching Return of the Jedi for the umpteenth time, Randal has some thoughts. He locks up the video store to bounce them off Dante, who was manning the post at the Quick Stop next door.
This was the first of many Star Wars references in Kevin Smith’s films. While most people didn’t give a second thought to the safety and security of the contractors working on the second Death Star, Kevin Smith made the conversation a humanitarian issue. Randal’s revelation that those workers were casualties of war doesn’t sit right with him.
Mallrats
Clerks took off in a big way after its release. It not only established Kevin Smith as a rising director but also as an ally to the geeks and nerds who understood his references. This was much more apparent in his second film, Mallrats, which he described as “Clerks in a mall.” While I wouldn’t go that far, it does establish and continue more of the tropes and hallmarks that make a Kevin Smith film.
We met the running thread of the View Askewniverse, Jay and Silent Bob, in Clerks, but their introduction in Mallrats has Silent Bob desperately trying to unlock his Force powers, as if being an electrical genius weren’t enough.
While Mallrats wasn’t able to match the success or critical praise that Clerks did, it did gain a following on cable and video, making it a cult classic and solidifying his fan base. However, Smith’s next movie would be a curveball for everyone.
Chasing Amy
While licking his wounds from Mallrats, Kevin Smith’s next movie, Chasing Amy, was scaled down. Holden McNeil pursues a relationship with fellow comic creator, Alyssa Jones. While they both feel a real connection, their relationship can only go so far because she’s a lesbian. Holden meets Alyssa through a mutual friend, Hooper X. We are introduced to Hooper in the movie when Holden and his best friend, Banky, attend a comic book panel for underrepresented creators.
There is language in this movie that very much makes Chasing Amy a film of its time. Some of the issues discussed in the movie are still problems that plague society and the comic industry today, but it was and is an honest conversation that needed to be had. Chasing Amy helped dispel the idea that Kevin Smith got lucky with one film. He would ride its success for his next couple of movies.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
“A Jay and Silent Bob movie? This has to be the worst idea since Greedo shooting first,” Holden McNeil says to our heroic stoners. References have been made to adjacent characters in all of Kevin Smith’s films. As mentioned earlier, Jay and Silent Bob are the common thread throughout the films, but were always second bananas.
After the success of Dogma, Kevin Smith decided to give them their own movie. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was an amalgamation of the characters we’d seen in previous View Askewniverse entries, along with some amazing cameos. Jay and Silent Bob are on a quest to stop a movie from being made of their likeness. Spoiler alert: they make it to the set of the movie and have a confrontation with a familiar Star Wars actor.
The movie also features a cameo from none other than Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher, as a nun who picks up our heroes while they are hitchhiking to Hollywood. They are quickly kicked out of her car for misunderstanding the rules of the road.
Clerks 2
After Kevin Smith made Jersey Girl, his cleanest and first film not featuring Jay and Silent Bob, Smith returned to the well and made Clerks II. In the interim, Dante and Randal had appeared in other View Askewniverse films, not to mention a Clerks cartoon and even comic books written by the man himself.
When the Quick Stop catches fire, Dante and Randal take jobs at Mooby’s, a fast-food restaurant introduced in Dogma. It’s here we meet Elias. His nerdy fandom is a foil to Randal’s extreme views on pop culture.
Clerks II was a different beast than Smith’s first entry, but is just as funny. He was ten years into his career and had a pretty solid résumé. By now, it was very easy to tell what made a Kevin Smith film.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Smith’s next movie was Zack and Miri Make a Porno. This non-View Askewniverse film takes place in Pittsburgh, PA. When strapped for cash the titular, Zack and Miri, decide to film a porno movie to make ends meet. Their initial idea is to make Star Whores.
Star Whores doesn’t pan out like the gang had hoped it would, but they find a way to adapt. The movie is full of laughs and heart, two cornerstones in Kevin Smith’s movies.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
When Brodie Bruce tells out dynamic duo there’s another movie being made in their likeness, this kicks off another road trip to Hollywood to stop another production. When Jay gets the idea to go see Justice, his love interest from Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, he’s given a big surprise.
Jay and Justice’s love child plays a big role in the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. As Jay and Silent Bob head off to Hollywood, they are blackmailed by Milly to take her and her friends along for the ride.
Shout Outs To A Galaxy Far, Far Away
While not every project Kevin Smith works on has an elaborate Star Wars reference, many include a one-liner here or there. Whether it’s young Gerdie in Jersey Girl telling her father to “Punch it, Chewie,” while driving a street sweeper, or a parody of the Darth Maul-inspired “Star Wars kid” in Tusk with the unfortunate moniker “Kill Bill Kid,” Star Wars usually gets a shout-out.
One of my favorite references actually comes from the Oni Press Clerks comic book. In the story, Randal and Dante go to an underground dealer for some hard-to-find Star Wars toys. The story dissects the over-commercialism of Star Wars merchandise, specifically the action figures. Smith comes up with a couple of his own.
In the short-lived Clerks: Animated Series, Dante and Randal are sued when someone slips in the Quick Stop. While representing the Quick Stop, Randal calls George Lucas to the stand to question him about Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Randal has questions for the Star Wars creator and wants them answered. It always goes back to those prequels.
The Force Awakens
For as much love as Kevin Smith has shown the franchise over the years, the franchise finally showed him some love back. In 2015’s The Force Awakens, Finn, Han, and Chewbacca are trying to infiltrate Starkiller Base. When Han Solo asks what his job was during his time as a stormtrooper, Finn confesses he was in sanitation. This gives credence to Dante and Randal’s conversation in Clerks regarding casualties of war.
It was a good thing Kevin Smith kept the flame alive for the Star Wars movies in the public eye like he did. It validated the legions of fans who had been told that space s**t was stupid. While it may not have started the conversations George Lucas had intended, it definitely got the ball rolling for fans of a galaxy far, far, away.
