Kevin Smith: and the View Askewniverse

Kevin Smith is one of the most interesting personalities in the world of filmmaking and geek culture. The man has not only proven to be quite a successful filmmaker over the years, but he is also a certified nerd, and has kept close ties to the art and culture he has enjoyed in his life. He has even written comics for DC and Marvel Comics for iconic characters such as Green Arrow and Daredevil, as well as leading the AMC Series Comic Book Men with BKCC ‘23 Guest Ming Chen!

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Smith’s body of work, which has been mainly centered around his many films, has a very interesting foundational setting, which is the View Askewniverse. For those unfamiliar with that concept, that is Kevin Smith’s very own cinematic universe where all his films (and some other projects of his) are connected one way or another. Let’s explore different projects in Smith’s career that have formed and developed the View Askewniverse.

Clerks (1994)

The first movie in the View Askewniverse is also one of the most important, because the convenience store The Quick Stop appears all throughout the cinematic universe and is in a way the centerpiece (sometimes more or less obviously) for everything that unfolds throughout the movies.

The plot, like in the vast majority of Kevin Smith’s films, is very easy to understand. You see the events that a couple of convenience store employees have to go through, with one complaining about having to work in his day off. A few things go wrong, and as you can imagine, this sets in motion a lot of different events that are both fun and hilarious. The value of Clerks comes from the genius of Smith’s situational comedy, rather than from a big plot, but also sets up the foundation for the View Askewniverse and other movies that go far beyond The Quick Stop.

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Clerks would end up having two sequels, with Clerks II coming out in 2006 and Clerks III coming out in 2022 (featuring Ming Chen!).

Mallrats (1995)

This was Smith’s second film within the View Askewniverse. It was also the time period where he first worked with Ben Affleck, which we can say was a fruitful endeavor for both parties involved.

The plot of the movie is actually quite simple and straightforward, like in most Kevin Smith films: Two friends are trying to get over a breakup by hanging out in a mall. It is a very simple premise clearly expanded on from Smith’s style in Clerks, and Smith knows how to build the audience’s connection to the characters and situations in a way that captured viewers.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Another film featuring Ben Affleck, Chasing Amy really begins to connect a lot of different parts of the View Askewniverse. It also starts to introduce more of the comic style elements in Smith’s work. In the movie, Ben Affleck plays a comic book creator that has enjoyed success based on the Bluntman and Chronic series he created based on two of his friends, Jay and Silent Bob. He then falls in love with a gay woman, the titular Amy.

The film is self aware and hilarious, and connects on multiple levels with the rest of the View Askewniverse. It also sets up Jay and Silent Bob getting more heavily involved in the plot of the next film.

Dogma (1999)

This is where things get weird. While the rest of the View Askewniverse had been comedy grounded (more or less) in reality, Dogma pushes the universe even further by having two renegade angels, played by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (as a different character not to be confused with Affleck in Chasing Amy), who are trying to return to heaven by any means necessary.

As you can imagine, this being a Kevin Smith movie, there is a strong comedic element to the whole ordeal. Ultimately, we see Jay and Silent Bob step into a leading role, with them having no choice but to get involved in the conflict to try and save the world, with plenty of hilarious results in between.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Due to the huge popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a lot of people are now accustomed to films and storylines being connected to one another across different movies, shows and more. But back in the early 2000s, what Kevin Smith was doing was very innovative, and was rooted in his love for comic books and their crossovers. In that regard, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back does feel like a crossover episode within the View Askewniverse.

The plot of this film is having our titular heroes trying to stop a movie based on the Bluntman and Chronic comic, which was created by the Ben Affleck character in Chasing Amy, on the other side of the United States. This is an obvious connection to another film of the View Askewniverse, and we also get to see a lot of other references and links to the other movies, feeling like a culmination of everything we had seen in these productions so far. Jay and Silent Bob featured many of the biggest players in comedy at the time and was a mainstream success, but it also was criticized by some critics and left some dedicated fans wanting more of the basic setting and situational dynamics of earlier Smith films.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)

The View Askewniverse was a pioneering concept in the 90s and early 2000s in the filmmaking world. The possibility of connecting different films and developing an entire cinematic “universe” truly offered something different in this market and created new cinematic opportunities, with Marvel most notably following this blueprint to achieve a massive amount of success. We can say that Kevin Smith’s body of work paved the way for Marvel and others in that regard.

However, all trends and franchises tend to come and go, which is exactly what happened with the View Askewniverse in the late 2000s and early 2010s. This was mainly due to the fact that the franchise had basically run its course by that time. Smith moved on to other things (and had health issues) and this cinematic universe lost a lot of creative juice in the process.

That was until 2019 when (after going through a lot), Kevin Smith returned with the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which played a lot with the original themes and plot points of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, only this time they are dealing with a the Bluntman and Chronic reboot.

The reception of this film was mixed, to say the least. After such a long time without a new film connecting the View Askewniverse, the original form was lost, but it was a bit understandable when you consider the way that this movie was done, with Smith also having overcome so many challenges leading up to it.

Regardless of the Reboot, the View Askewniverse is a very interesting and influential component of the modern movie industry, and it deserves a lot more attention for that alone.

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