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Muriel Mampouya
Professor Boyd
English 101-008T
10/18/16
Generations and responsibility
Clerks is a movie that was directed by Kevin Smith in October 1994. It talks
about what the daily life of a clerk. In the film we learn about what the day of some
clerks are like and the various situations they have to face on the daily basis. From nice
customers to those that just come to mess up your day, it shows us a variety of people
that they encounter during a day. Dante, the main character, is a 22-year-old guy that
works in the convenient store where most of the movie takes place. Hes pretty smart
but has a hard time with decision making. He tends to let others make decisions for him
and doesnt really like to take the blame for the consequences of his actions. From
having to choose a relationship, taking care of the store or making simple life decisions,
Dante lacks responsibility when it comes to important things.
In the film Clerks, responsibility is a big thing that the main character Dante
doesnt have. The choices he makes clearly show that hes not able to act
independently or make reasonable decisions. One part where we see Dante being
irresponsible is when a man comes to give him a warrant for selling cigarette to a 4year-old. The following movie scene shows him use a catch phrase to hide is
irresponsibility:
A man comes to the store and asks Dante if he was in the store around 4
Pm. He says yes and then the officer starts writing a warrant for him. He
asks why hes getting the warrant, then the man tells him what the warrant

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was all about. He gets a little upset and then says the phrase Im not
even supposed to be here today, (Smith).
In this scene Dante uses the catch phrase Im not even supposed to be here today to
make it seem like hes a victim of the what happened. He doesnt want to take
responsibility of the action that led to him getting the ticket. Him letting his friend Randall
watch the store while he knows that his friend doesnt take his own job seriously was
the bad decision he made. Even though theres a reasonable explanation that shows
why he got the ticket, Dante uses the catch phrase to blame the action on something
else and doesnt want to acknowledge the fact its all his fault.
One of the reviews agrees with this idea of him trying to be a victim in this
situation. Kayla Bell states that This particular day at the convenience store is to be a
collection of catastrophic episodes, all befalling Dante, all seemingly unavoidable. Yet
he does not admit to his own responsibility for being there in the first place. Bell refers
to another situation when talking about the idea of Dante doesnt take responsibility of
his actions. Even though the situations might not be the same, it still shows how he
doesnt want to be blamed for anything that happens and instead acts like a victim. He
likes to put the blame on anything but himself. They both show how in this situation the
phrase Im not even supposed to be here today is used to help him get away from
assuming that what he did was wrong. Both of the quotes show how Dante doesnt want
to take responsibilities of his actions.
Relationships is another place where Dante has a hard time to make decisions
and show the lack of personal responsibility. He doesnt know if he should choose
between his old girlfriend that doesnt love him and the new one that actually cares

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about him. He has a hard time to choosing between whats good for him and whats
bad. The scene that shows the lack of responsibility is choosing relationship decision is:
Dantes ex-girlfriend comes back to him because she doesnt want to get
married so she comes back to Dante and wants to date him again. Dante says
yes to go back with her and they even pan on going on a date together. He tells
Randall about the story and plans on breaking up with his girlfriend. Randall tells
Dantes girlfriend about the situation. When everything goes wrong between him
and his ex-girlfriend, he decides to stay with his girlfriend. His girlfriend confronts
him about him wanting to leave her and Dante ends up blaming everything on
Randall, (Smith).
This scene shows how he has a hard time to decide who he actually wants to stay with.
He cant be responsible enough to make a decision about which person to stay with.
Hell rather choose a girl that cheated on him and left him heart-broken instead of
staying with someone that supports him and want a good future for him. He doesnt
want to assume that the reason his relationship got messed up is because of himself.
Instead he goes and blames everything on Randall. He thinks that Randall was wrong
for telling his girlfriend the truth. Hell rather play along with the girls feeling and when
the relationship doesnt work out he goes back to her. The whole idea about not wanting
to take responsibility and blaming everything on an externa factor applies in this as well.
Hell rather blame his friend for doing the right thing instead of admitting that what he did
was wrong. He has a good friendship with Randall, and all Randall tries to do is help
him to make good decisions. Dante just chooses to be irresponsible and do what seems

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to be good to him at that instant. He needs to think through his decisions and start
admitting that hes wrong sometimes.
The quote above also shows how Dante likes to take control of people. He likes
to be the main priority in peoples lives and doesnt even care that much about his
surroundings. He doesnt see when people try to care about him or show him his
attention. His girlfriend shows him how much she cares about him and he doesnt even
pay attention to the good parts about her and focuses on the negative side of her. His
girlfriend came back to town so she can help him to get back on his feet. She cooks for
him and also comes during her breaks to see him, (Smith). He doesnt see how much
she tries. He doesnt want to admit when shes wrong but he just sees the bad things
she does. For example, he makes a big deal when she tells him about the things she
did sexually. Even though what he did was worse than her he doesnt admit it and make
her the bad person. Zinsmeister states Others have tarred Gen Xers as lazy (the
"slackers" stereotype). Or greedy materialists. Hes really materialist and likes to control
people around him, especially his girlfriend. He doesnt see whats good about her and
keeps on focusing on whats wrong with her.
The movie Clerks is based on the life of a guy who works at a convenient store. It
tells us about the ups and downs that they have to go through on the daily basis. Dante
who is the main character has a lot going on in his life. He lacks personal responsibility
and blames everything on everyone else. He goes from repeating a phrase to blaming
everything on his friend. He just doesnt want to admit what he does wrong and hell
rather put it on everyone but himself. He could be a smart guy if he made the right
decisions and learned how to think more but instead he chooses the choses the easy

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way and put the blame on everyone but himself. He mostly thinks about his own good
and doesnt usually think of other peoples feelings. He could be a better person but he
chooses to be irresponsible.

I honor Parklands core values by affirming that I have followed all academic integrity
guidelines for this work.

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Work Cited
Bell, Kayla. "Movie Review: 'Clerks' (1994) By Kevin Smith :: White Pine Press." Movie
Review: 'Clerks' (1994) By Kevin Smith :: White Pine Press. Northwestern Michigan
College White Pine Press, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Clerks. Dir. Kevin Smith. Prod. Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier. By Kevin Smith and Scott
Mosier. Perf. Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn
Ghigliotti, and Lisa Spoonhauer. Miramax Films, 1994. DVD.
Zinsmeister, Karl. "The Humble Generation." The American Enterprise (1998): 4-+.
Expanded Academic ASAP [Gale]. Web. 17 Oct. 2016