Clerks: Dante is Charlie Brown

Cafe Society
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Don’t believe me? Just look at http://img.blu-raydefinition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/BDDefinition-Clerks-k-1080.jpg?1902c1

I watched it this evening. My first time seeing it. My son (age 14) said, “I got it! He’s Charlie Brown!” And the more I thought about it, the more right it was. The structure of the film as a series of vignettes, the way the characters interact… it’s so like a Peanuts cartoon. (The good ones, like Snoopy Come Home and A Boy Named Charlie Brown). And at the end, the Randall character gives a little speech analyzing Dante’s motives and actions the same way Linus would at the end of a Peanuts cartoon.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/88/d0/1349826727_6640_Peanuts.jpg

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And obviously Silent Bob’s cousin Olaf is Schroeder.

The Angry Hockey-Playing Customer is Lucy in a way. He takes the ball away.

Good grief.

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That’s really good. Now I wonder if it’s intentional.

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I think so. Dante is so like Charlie Brown.

On the other hand, it could be that I watch too much Rob Ager.

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Or, it could be unconsciously put their on the part of Kevin Smith.

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Here in a book Kevin Smith refers to Dante as Charlie Brown-ish:

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So, it’s almost surely all intentional. Thanks, Wendell!