clerks

Clerks and Generation X

The idea of Generation X as a slacker generation is an illusion created by the media in order to take the responsibility off of adults and institutions that were actually the ones at fault for limiting opportunities and avenues for Generation X to become involved in. The film Clerks then shows the perspective of Generation X without the media bias and shows who the people of this generation were and removes any blame from Generation X.

Clerks takes place in Leonardo, New Jersey and centers around characters Dante and Randall who work at the Quik Stop and RST Video respectively. These two characters seem fairly content with their current lifestyle and exhibit no desire for lateral movement like a better job or higher education. The two represent the slacker mentality that was exhibited in the 1990s and has been equated with Generation X. Generation X is the generation that follows the Baby Boomers and is viewed as having all the opportunity in the world and fails to capitalize on it. These opportunities include a peaceful time in the United States with economic prosperity; this generation never dealt with a large scale draft like their parents’ generation did with the Vietnam War and they have no recession to handle.

Those included in Generation X are those who grew up during the 1980s, this would the time period where they were in their teenage years and early adolescence, mostly those that were living in the time post-Cold War. While those who are a part of Generation X are often defined as slackers, which implies that they have no motivation despite an environment which would allow them to succeed, this is an illusion created by the media in order to take the responsibility off of adults and institutions that were actually the ones at fault for limited opportunities and avenues for Generation X to become involved in.

There’s a scene where Dante and Randall are talking about community college and Dante says that he has higher ambitions than working in a Quik Stop. The two discuss going back to college but quickly come to the realization that they were wasting time taking the courses they were taking because they felt like the classes were not getting them anywhere. This is important because it shows that these two individuals that director Kevin Smith is using to exemplify Generation X are not without ambition but see the futility in their efforts and are dissuaded by it. The important part is that they come to this bleak conclusion after first taking courses in college and making an effort. Welcome to the Jungle: The Why Behind Generation X, talks about how Generation X had their opportunities limited by adults who controlled society at the time. One example that the author uses is a scene where a college student is unable to stay awake in class. It is not because this student doesn’t care or is bored, but he had to stay up late working to pay for his tuition. The Generation X student is being held back and has his opportunities limited because of an institutional structure—without his job he cannot pay for an education but because of his job he cannot stay awake to learn. Contrary to the view the media sent out in the 1990s, these students want to learn but have forces acting upon them that prevent that from happening.

Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks, modeled the movie after him and after his own life experiences growing up in Leonardo, New Jersey and is himself part of Generation X. In a sense, Smith is an example of a person that stood contrary to this idea of what the prototypical Generation X youth did because he worked hard despite limited opportunities and eventually became a successful director. Working at youth centers and places similar to Quik Stop and RST Video, Smith was able to accumulate a large amount of life experience to draw upon in his scripts as well as a quirky group of friends to utilize as actors in his movies. Eventually, Smith managed to get into film school where he gained the technical abilities necessary to direct a film. This was not without difficulty—he went to a relatively unknown film academy located in Vancouver, Canada. Smith shows that despite great odds, that Generation X had ambition and drive.

Youth in Generation X were pegged as being slackers, by giving them this label it promotes an identity that lays all of their lack of achievements onto them. This applies to inclusion in that labels are often enticing both to those who apply them and those who are given them. This means that for those that create labels they have the satisfaction of categorizing individuals to fit an idea that works within society, in this case it was necessary to explain the underachievement of Generation X as being the result of their un-ambitious nature. For those who receive labels it becomes easier to exist within society through the acceptance of those labels. This means that slackers can be included only when they act society’s scapegoat. Despite the negative connotations that come with the name “slacker,” it would be far more difficult to attempt to escape that label because even though Kevin Smith found success, it did not come without great perseverance and his success story is a rarity among the slacker generation.