Miller writes:
> It’s directly germane to the theme of the movie, which is, “Do what makes you
> happy, not what people think should make you happy.”
That’s not quite the theme of the movie. Dante was the one who wanted (at some level) to marry Emma and move to Florida to manage a car wash. Randal (who in general was a jerk not worth listening to about anything) was the one who wanted him to buy the Quick Stop and marry Becky. Dante didn’t have to resist the recommendations of other people so that he could satisfy his own desires. The problem was that two different desires were fighting within Dante. In many ways, marrying Emma and moving to Florida seemed to be the better choice. He would get to marry a woman who (as Randal pointed out) was completely out of his league in high school. He would probably move up in his father-in-law’s enterprises and eventually inherit the (apparently) large set of businesses that his father-in-law owned. Dante thought this was what he had wanted his whole life.
But for once Randal was right. He knew that both Dante and Emma knew in their hearts that they were settling for someone that they didn’t really love. They were in their mid-thirties and had decided that they had better get married now or risk never getting married in time to have kids. Randal knew that Dante wouldn’t be happy working in his father-in-law’s businesses. Unlike the other films in this loosely connected movie universe of Kevin Smith’s, Silent Bob didn’t make the important observation explaining what was going on. Randal, the quintessential obnoxious jerk, was actually right about everything.
I’ve got to say that all seem to be missing something.
One of the most fulfilling, supportive, exhausting and ambition making things a person can do is own their own business.
Think about it. Dante heads for FLA. He ends up managing his father-in-law’s car wash. The whole time he knows he hasn’t accomplished a damn thing on his own. His only achievement is to have married the daughter of someone who has a business. He’s still working for someone else…just like at the Quik-Stop. He’s not a clerk anymore. Yay. But he’s still not actually trying to make something of himself…he’s letting someone else make something of him. That’s the point of the whole bit where Emma is making decisions for him. It shows that, even if he makes this decision, he’s still letting fate, in the person of Emma and her father, run his life. He’s abrogating his potential.
But staying in Red Bank and purchasing the Quik-Stop shows Dante taking control of his life, possibly for the very first time. He’s decided the risk and reward of running his own business is sufficient at this point in his life. He’s made the decision, no one else. He had advice and opportunities, yes, but for once he is completely in charge of what he’s doing. He’s not just a manager, as he would be in the car wash in FLA…he’s the business owner. By making that decision he’s placed himself at the same level as Emma’s father…not Emma’s father’s employees.
For once he’s thrown the dice and seeing where his own talent and initiative take him. It’s the most worthwhile and independent decision he can possibly make at that point. He’s finally lived his dream. Heading to Florida would be the exact opposite of his dream of independence and accomplishment.
That, and that’s some damn fine boobies he’s getting regular access to, as well. Let’s not discuss the power of boobies on men’s decision-making skills.