Part 2: Case Study Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith is an American Film maker from New Jersey who created success based on his first film Clerks.

For his first film Clerks which received critical acclaim during the sundance film festival smith's idea was to create that great first film the one that people pay attention to and to prove that they (smith and mosier) could  then they could get financing for their next film.  After watching Slacker (richard linklaker) at the Independent Feature Film Market (New York, NY) he decided "hey I can make a funny flick". So what is it that stars out about this film? Why is it a comedy? the answer is the same in nearly all of his films…Appropriation 

From the beginning of his film career Smith has always used appropriation in his films. His cultural references to comic books, old TV shows and referencing his own films have always left the viewer feeling included in the film itself or excluded due to not having the prior knowledge of the cultural reference.

Due to the nature of his work being based around characters and situations that exist in our own world exterior to the films, it adds to the viewer feeling included in the situation and immediately makes the stories relatable and loveable.

The cultural references he makes to comics and film makes the outsiders in society become included within his films

the social commentary of this time (the early 90's) perfectly places the viewer in his world and letting them see ordinary people living ordinary lives i.e. Clerks, which is a film about a day in the life of two shop workers in New Jersey, this i feel depicts the lifestyle of young adults even to this day they encounter all of the usual frustrations with everyday life e.g. customers asking them stupid questions to arguments with the two main protagonists about which is better "Empire or Jedi?".  

This theme of Appropriation and referencing popular culture continues into smiths next film Mallrats, which again is about a day in the life of two 20 somethings hanging out, this of course being a reference in itself to Clerks. From the start of the film it is clear that this is going to have many references to popular culture at that time, the title sequence is made up of famous comic book covers re worked to tie in with the characters in this film. He often uses the same actors and characters in his films, "Jay and Silent Bob" are reoccurring characters that offer comic relief in his films that use references from  Star Wars, Batman and other comic books and their creators. This use of appropriation creates a Fanboy style club, a club in which only those who get the reference get to see the whole picture, this may be a good technique to use as it is a social commentary to that specific time in history but at the same time excludes audiences who watch the film years later.