The Bhagavad Graves
The Song of Randal
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Few characters are written that articulate the finer points of slackerdom, as Randal Graves from the film Clerks. When looking for character archetypes for Herd Immunity, Randal was one of the first to come to mind. Not only is Clerks, directed by Kevin Smith, a notable and quotable independent film, but it also captures the slacker essence. Being a child of the 1990s, I find myself nostalgic for this period. To me, time passed slower during this decade. Clerks and Smith’s follow-up Mallrats encapsulates this decade's middle-class suburban boredom and ennui. Life was simpler in those proto-internet days: people took the time to loiter in front of stores or not take their work or station in life too seriously. Randal would be the antithesis of the concept of dharma, or moral duty, as discussed by Krishna and Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita. Randal doesn’t take work seriously at all. Instead, his moral duty is slacking or shirking authority.
Randal’s ethos is a paradox: he hates people but loves gatherings. He shirks responsibility but believes in a firm ruling class, especially since he rules. He works in a video store but still wants to rent videos in a better video store.1 You can’t put him in a box. Even though Randal is a prototypical slacker, there are times when Randal works incredibly hard. For this article, I’m only including the genius of Randal Graves as outlined in the 1994 film Clerks. I don’t consider Clerks: The Animated Series (2000) or Clerks II (2006) canon, but they are worth viewing if you have not already. Let Kevin Smith tell me otherwise. This post is dedicated to the genius of Randal Graves, his greatest aphorisms, and slacker behaviors.
Work:
Randal works for the RST Video store, frequently coming in late. He closes the store multiple times throughout the day to talk about popular culture with his buddy Dante, who works at the neighboring QuikStop convenience store. Randal sometimes covers QuikStop for Dante or one of the other clerks.
Randal purposely doesn’t let people rent videos, mainly because they annoy him with terrible tastes in movies or interrupt his time loitering at QuikStop.
Randal tears up a customer’s membership when he refuses to pay his late fees because the video store was closed for two hours.
Randal takes Gatorade and snack cakes from QuikStop without paying.
Randal prioritizes reading (the newspaper or pornos) over handling customers. He sells cigarettes to a kid, and Dante gets fined $500. He openly discusses porn and jizz-moppers in front of customers. Randal also states that every customer at RST picks the most intellectually devoid movie on the racks; to get their membership, they have to have an IQ less than their shoe size.
According to Randal, Dante would feel better if he ripped into the occasional customer every once in a while. Randal understands his job would be better if it weren’t for the customers. However, he also urges Dante to vent his frustrations about the customers.
Dante and Randal close QuikStop and RST, respectively, to play hockey on the roof.
Randal correctly observes that he and Dante think of themselves as being more advanced than the customers who come to rent videos or buy cigarettes, but if they are so advanced, why are they working as clerks?
Relationships:
Randal is the sobering ‘yin’ to Dante’s raging ‘yang.’ He helps Dante come to terms with the fact that his girlfriend Veronica sucked 37 dicks.
Randal breaks up with Veronica for Dante so Dante can rekindle his relationship with his old flame Caitlin Bree. This was after Caitlin had sex with a dead guy in the bathroom, thinking it was Dante.
One time during sex, Randal called a girl “Mom.”
Social:
Randal erroneously thinks Return of the Jedi is better than The Empire Strikes Back. Randal has a problem with the rebels blowing up the second Death Star because it was not just imperialists onboard but also civilians and independent contractors.
Randal chastises Dante for being apologetic, for assuming blame that is not his, and even for coming in on his day off while constantly whining that he is not supposed to be there today.
Dante and Randal close the stores to go to the funeral of one of Dante’s exes. At the wake, Randal leans on the casket, it falls over, and her body falls out. When Dante yells at him, he retorts that he put it back in.
After the funeral, Randal asks Dante to borrow his car to rent a porno at a better video store.
Randal believes he’s the master of his destiny. So Randal spits water on an annoying customer discussing the tabloid headlines to prove that title does not dictate behavior. This is why he chooses to rent videos at Big Choice Video store instead of RST.
After Dante itemizes his calamities to Randal, Randal snaps at him to shit or get off the pot. He surmises that Dante can’t improve his station in life, particularly in his job and relationship status. When Dante argues, Randal tells him he is satisfied with his current station in life. Randal admonishes Dante over his choice to stay miserable because he does not have the guts to face change.
Even though Randal is a 22-year-old underachieving video rental clerk, he has a lucid understanding of life. He has a shitty job and is saddled with a despondent loser of a best friend. Yet, he still helps Dante to see the brighter side of life.2 Randal has a firm grasp of the separation of tasks and life lies that binds other people to their station. On the surface, Clerks is about two young men slacking their way through their early-20s. However, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Kevin Smith read The Bhagavad Gita a few times, as there is a loose connection between Dante and Randal and the concept of dharma surrounding Krishna and Arjuna.
In The Bhagavad Gita, Sanskrit for “Song of God,” Lord Krishna educates Arjuna, a warrior caste member, that it is his dharma (moral duty) to go into battle and fight. Perhaps he will kill members of his clan or even die. However, Arjuna is bound by duty to be a warrior.3
In Clerks, Randal teaches Dante (and the viewer) that title doesn’t dictate behavior and demonstrates this by spitting water in a customer’s face. Just because Dante and Randal are clerks, doesn’t mean they must abide by their dharma and station in life. Unlike in Brahmanical Hinduism, Dante (and you, the reader) can improve his lot in life, or he can sit around bitching about it. Hindus must die before they move up (or down) the caste system; you have one shot at improving your class or enjoying your current life station. Be a master of your own destiny!
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Archived Post Notice:
This article is preserved here for archival purposes only.
The updated and permanent version now lives at:
https://realityunveiled.com/the-bhagavad-graves/
Visit the site for the full archive and new essays.
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Smith, Kevin, director. 1994. Clerks. Miramax Films, 2011. Blu-Ray Disc, 1080p HD.
Ibid.
Mitchell, Stephen, trans. 2002. The Bhagavad Gita. New York: Crown Publications.