Dogma
Clerks is one of those movies that has major staying cultural power. I can’t think of the number thirty-seven without thinking of this scene. In fact, I have a running joke with myself that I’ve seen that movie thirty-seven times.
This power especially ruled over my co-workers and I when we were clerks at Blockbuster Video (a perfect job for this cinephile). It was 1996. Clerks had been around for a year and a half, but this branch of the store had an unofficial policy that you had to watch it. So in love with this movie were we that a number of us bought hockey equipment so we could replicate the game Dante, Randall, and company played on the roof of the Quick Stop (though we chose a nearby park so we could more easily locate an errant ball).
I had seen Dogma once, many years earlier, but it fell into the recesses of my memory. As I’ve become a crusader for singles’ rights, student rights, and faculty rights, I recently thought of this rant by Ben Affleck’s exiled angel, Bartleby, in which he decries the injustice he feels was done to him and his friend/colleague, Loki. And so I felt compelled to watch it again; luckily, I found it on YouTube.
The summary: Bartleby and Loki are two angels exiled from heaven for questioning God. After having spent millennia in Wisconsin, they receive news that a trendy Cardinal is introducing a friendly version of Jesus Christ to make Catholicism more inviting (this one makes an A-OK sign) to highlight the 100th anniversary of a church in New Jersey (Kevin Smith’s home turf). At this ceremony, a plenary indulgence will be offered. As I learned the term from the film, I’ll offer the definition here: people can walk through an arch and all of their sins will be forgiven, thus qualifying them for Heaven. Bartleby sees this loophole, which will allow them re-entry, so they make their trek to the Garden State. The problem: if they do walk through, God will have been proven fallible, hence the world will cease to exist.
To solve this problem, the voice of God, Metatron (played by Alan Rickman, snarky, yet way more benevolent than Professor Snape) instructs Bethany, a disillusioned abortion clinic worker from Indiana, to prevent their re-entry (spoiler: Bethany is the last surviving descendant of Christ). Smith regulars Jay and Silent Bob accompany her, and even thirty years after seeing his antics, Jay still had me in stitches.
Now the pro-single part: no romantic coupling. Clerks ended with a breakup, but the tone was that Dante screwed himself. Chasing Amy had a similar ending, but, same deal, Holden blew it through his insecurities. We might expect Bethany to couple with Jay, who’s been hitting on her throughout the film. But she’s got too much dignity. It’s revealed her husband left her because she couldn’t get pregnant. She does bear a child at film’s end, but it’s at the hand of God, much like the Immaculate Conception.
When Metatron enter Bethany’s apartment, her first reaction is to spray him with a fire extinguisher, to which he replies, “No wonder you’re single.” Hmmm, I think that would be the natural reaction from most people when someone unfamiliar enters. Yet Metatron is a bit of a misanthrope anyway. Bethany may not be single-at-heart, but the film seems to support the idea that God has a plan, and her plan may not involve couple hood. In fact, one could argue that a husband who would leave for another woman he met DURING the marriage might not be the best option to be Bethany’s partner in parenthood. She can do that all by herself.
I was raised Jewish, but I never bought into the idea of organized religion; I identify as an agnostic. But people are entitled to different ideas about their own spirituality (or lack thereof, if they so choose). While Dogma supports the idea of religion, it’s also open to the idea that it may not be for everyone (George Carlin, a comedian who’s ranted against religion in his stand-up, has a delightful bit part as the Cardinal, the very embodiment of what some people hate about religion).
Outside of the pro-single message, this film has laughs, adventure, poignancy, and it explores some fairly deep theological questions my Hebrew school teachings just couldn’t engage me with. Dogma is now one of my top ten. I may have to watch Dogma thirty-eight more times.
This power especially ruled over my co-workers and I when we were clerks at Blockbuster Video (a perfect job for this cinephile). It was 1996. Clerks had been around for a year and a half, but this branch of the store had an unofficial policy that you had to watch it. So in love with this movie were we that a number of us bought hockey equipment so we could replicate the game Dante, Randall, and company played on the roof of the Quick Stop (though we chose a nearby park so we could more easily locate an errant ball).
I had seen Dogma once, many years earlier, but it fell into the recesses of my memory. As I’ve become a crusader for singles’ rights, student rights, and faculty rights, I recently thought of this rant by Ben Affleck’s exiled angel, Bartleby, in which he decries the injustice he feels was done to him and his friend/colleague, Loki. And so I felt compelled to watch it again; luckily, I found it on YouTube.
The summary: Bartleby and Loki are two angels exiled from heaven for questioning God. After having spent millennia in Wisconsin, they receive news that a trendy Cardinal is introducing a friendly version of Jesus Christ to make Catholicism more inviting (this one makes an A-OK sign) to highlight the 100th anniversary of a church in New Jersey (Kevin Smith’s home turf). At this ceremony, a plenary indulgence will be offered. As I learned the term from the film, I’ll offer the definition here: people can walk through an arch and all of their sins will be forgiven, thus qualifying them for Heaven. Bartleby sees this loophole, which will allow them re-entry, so they make their trek to the Garden State. The problem: if they do walk through, God will have been proven fallible, hence the world will cease to exist.
To solve this problem, the voice of God, Metatron (played by Alan Rickman, snarky, yet way more benevolent than Professor Snape) instructs Bethany, a disillusioned abortion clinic worker from Indiana, to prevent their re-entry (spoiler: Bethany is the last surviving descendant of Christ). Smith regulars Jay and Silent Bob accompany her, and even thirty years after seeing his antics, Jay still had me in stitches.
Now the pro-single part: no romantic coupling. Clerks ended with a breakup, but the tone was that Dante screwed himself. Chasing Amy had a similar ending, but, same deal, Holden blew it through his insecurities. We might expect Bethany to couple with Jay, who’s been hitting on her throughout the film. But she’s got too much dignity. It’s revealed her husband left her because she couldn’t get pregnant. She does bear a child at film’s end, but it’s at the hand of God, much like the Immaculate Conception.
When Metatron enter Bethany’s apartment, her first reaction is to spray him with a fire extinguisher, to which he replies, “No wonder you’re single.” Hmmm, I think that would be the natural reaction from most people when someone unfamiliar enters. Yet Metatron is a bit of a misanthrope anyway. Bethany may not be single-at-heart, but the film seems to support the idea that God has a plan, and her plan may not involve couple hood. In fact, one could argue that a husband who would leave for another woman he met DURING the marriage might not be the best option to be Bethany’s partner in parenthood. She can do that all by herself.
I was raised Jewish, but I never bought into the idea of organized religion; I identify as an agnostic. But people are entitled to different ideas about their own spirituality (or lack thereof, if they so choose). While Dogma supports the idea of religion, it’s also open to the idea that it may not be for everyone (George Carlin, a comedian who’s ranted against religion in his stand-up, has a delightful bit part as the Cardinal, the very embodiment of what some people hate about religion).
Outside of the pro-single message, this film has laughs, adventure, poignancy, and it explores some fairly deep theological questions my Hebrew school teachings just couldn’t engage me with. Dogma is now one of my top ten. I may have to watch Dogma thirty-eight more times.
