Jay and Silent Bob

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Image:Jay and silent bob strike back1.jpg Jay and Silent Bob are two fictional characters who exist in the View Askewniverse created by actor/writer/director Kevin Smith. Jay, portrayed by Jason Mewes, is a horny, druggy, hyper, foul-mouthed, long-haired stoner/drug dealer. Silent Bob, played by Smith, is his chubby, bearded best friend who, as his name suggests, rarely says anything. When he does, however, he often delivers it eloquently at a pivotal point in the narrative.

Contents

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Appearances

The two characters have appeared in the following movies:

The characters were among the stars of the animated television series, Clerks: The Animated Series. In non-View Askewniverse continuity, they appeared in several episodes of the Canadian teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation broadcast in 2005. They also made contributions to VH1's retro documentary show "I Love the 90s," in advertisements for MTV in the mid-90s and in a Smith-directed advertisement for the public organization Declare Yourself.

The characters make appearances in five music videos, the first four were featured on the soundtrack of a Kevin Smith film:

In addition, the characters also appeared in a four-part comic book series from Oni Press that was published as a collection titled Chasing Dogma. In the overall narrative of the characters, this covered the time from the day before their scene in Chasing Amy to moments before we see them in Dogma. They also appeared in the Clerks comic books released by Oni Press.

The characters were also edited into the new "View Askew" animated logo, first shown before Smith's 2004 feature Jersey Girl.

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Back story

Born in Leonardo, New Jersey, Jay met Silent Bob when both their mothers were inside the Quick Stop from Clerks. and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Jay's excessive use of profanity was inherited from his mother, his first word being 'fuck'. His usage of the word was later omitted for the broadcast television series Clerks. Jay and Silent Bob also abandoned their drug dealing in the Clerks cartoon, in favor of mischievously peddling fireworks. The characters are generally depicted as living in something of a 1980s cultural time warp, as Jay is obsessed with washed-up heavy metal bands, both are fixated on John Hughes' teenage comedy/drama movies as well as the film Purple Rain (and its featured act Morris Day and The Time), and, astoundingly, neither had any knowledge of the existence of the Internet until 2001 (as shown in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).

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Sexuality?

The Kevin Smith movies (particularly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) play on the question of both characters' sexuality, mostly Jay's, even though Jay himself insists in Dogma that the two are "hetero life mates." Both have had relationships with women at one time or another, such as Jay's relationship with Shannon Elizabeth's character Justice in J&SBSB and Bob's mention of a relationship with a girl named Amy in Chasing Amy and having sex with a porno star named Tiffany in Chasing Dogma.

The widely-held interpretation that Jay is a repressed bisexual is heavily supported by a substantial amount of dialogue in all of the first four View Askewniverse films. Usually, this is by Jay making an unguardedly candid comment or 'joke' before defensively refuting the statement. For example, offering to fellate a hypothetical row of men "like a circus seal" (Clerks), grabbing at the crotches of Brodie Bruce and T.S. Quint in Mallrats, accidentally making fellatio gestures when describing what Jason Biggs could have done to Shannon Elizabeth during shooting of American Pie in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, or awaking from a dream muttering "I didn't cum in you Pete, I swear" (Dogma). Of particular note is another scene in Dogma where the near-omniscient 13th Apostle Rufus (Chris Rock) reveals that Jay masturbates "more than anyone else on the planet" but that when Jay does so "he's thinking about guys" (Jay's impromptu and inept response to this is "man, not all the time".) There is no contextual evidence to suggest that Rufus is either lying or incorrect in his statement. Also in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay offers to let a security guard watch Silent Bob give him a blowjob if he'll let them go. Jay proceeds to knock the guard out after Bob gets on his knees, then proceeds to laugh at him. Shortly after, Jay asks Bob if he "was really gonna suck his dick". Bob shakes his head, but when Jay turns his back, Bob shrugs and nods.

Also, in issue #2 of the presumably canonical Chasing Dogma comic series, Jay launches into a lengthy and thoroughly impassioned impromptu speech on gay rights and tolerance from a clearly personal perspective before noticing Silent Bob's astonished expression and brushing the matter off rather unconvincingly. Despite the large number of Jay's aspersions to the contrary, it is generally assumed, however, that Silent Bob is indeed heterosexual.

As hinted at in one of the Q&A sessions on the An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD, some of Smith's fans are disappointed, upset and/or confused over the apparent contradiction that Jay appears to be depicted conclusively as a heterosexual in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as he spends much of the film in love with the jewel-thief Justice (Shannon Elizabeth) and ends up "getting the girl" in a way which suggests he feels no inner conflict despite his previously-indicated sexuality. One explanation is that this is just Jay's ever-deeper denial of his true sexual orientation (although nothing in the film truly suggests this), another is that the character is in fact happily bisexual, although perhaps is still not self-aware on this matter. While repeatedly making gestures to possibly being homosexual, in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back both characters are highly defensive in response to the acts portrayed by the hitchhiking George Carlin. Jay refuses to abide by "the unwritten book of the road." He also later runs into a nun to whom he attempts to give oral favors.

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Silent Bob Hidden History

When filming Dogma, actor Ben Affleck, during the third take of the train fight, shouted "Schüler Bob!" (schüler meaning schoolboy in German). When told that there was no real reason to keep it in the movie (it was an inside joke between Smith and Affleck), Ben Affleck created a reason for it.

Throughout time, Affleck's character, Bartleby, had been thwarted in his evil plots by the same mysterious warrior, whom he never got to see. When he is finally ready to kill the Last Scion, his enemy-through-time grabs him, stopping him once more and revealing himself to be Silent Bob. Finally seeing his enemy's true face, he calls out his name in the angelic tongue (Which Affleck decided was a butchered German): Schüler Bob.

Affleck would also state on the DVD of Dogma that Silent Bob was really a Germanic spirit.

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Bluntman and Chronic

Image:Chroblun.jpg In Chasing Amy the characters Banky Edwards and Holden McNeil work on a comic titled Bluntman and Chronic which is inspired by Jay and Bob. In the storyline of Bluntman and Chronic, as depicted in the actual Bluntman and Chronic comic distributed by Graphitti Designs, Silent Bob wins ten billion dollars from a scratch off lottery ticket and they decide to become superheroes. Thus they get fitted out for costumes, an underground lair and tons of cool gadgets and fight super villains. Jay and Bob have a scene in Chasing Amy where they meet with Holden to pick up the cash they are owed due to character likeness issues. The main plot of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is Jay and Bob making a trip to Hollywood to foil the production of a Bluntman and Chronic movie. Bluntman and Chronic are used somewhat akin to how South Park's Terrance and Phillip are used: both as a joke and as a way for the author to comment on how their own work is seen. Eventually, they meet the stars playing the movie versions of themselves: Jason Biggs is playing Silent Bob/Bluntman, and James Van Der Beek plays Jay/Chronic.

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Silent Bob quotes

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Silent Bob speaks at least one line in each of the View Askewniverse films (usually near the close of the movie). They include the following:

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Clerks

"Y'know there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude, but they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of them just cheat on you."

Silent Bob says this to the character Dante in regards to trouble he's having with his girlfriend. In actuality, Silent Bob was never meant to speak this line; Jay was supposed to. Jason Mewes, however, was having trouble reading the line so Kevin Smith decided to take it instead. Had Mewes not had difficulty with the line, it is likely that Silent Bob would never have said anything in any future film either.

The quote is used at the end of the song "Bad Case of Broken Heart" by the pop rock band The Ataris.

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Mallrats

"Adventure, excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."

This is a quote Silent Bob borrows from the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back. In the film, Silent Bob has recently seen the Star Wars trilogy and is obsessed with tapping into his Jedi mind powers and trying to levitate objects. Near the end of the film, Silent Bob is dangling from a rope backstage a game show and trying desperately to levitate a VHS cassette tape into his hands. Unbeknownst to Silent Bob, a character named Willam Black kicks the stage and the tape mysteriously rises into Silent Bob's hands. Silent Bob is then able to use the cassette tape to aid his friend, Brodie.

Considering the science fiction and comic book aspect of the film, this is a very appropriate line for Silent Bob in the film. Originally, in The Empire Strikes Back, the line is spoken by Yoda.

Oddly enough, Silent Bob initially had even more dialogue. On the Mallrats 10th Anniversary Edition of the film, there is an extended version of the film in addition to the original theatric release. In this extended cut, Silent Bob's dialogue is as follows:

Jay: Hey, it was out of your reach, how the hell did you get it?
(Silent Bob shrugs)
Jay: The Jedi mind trick! Holy shit, motherfucker, Yoda and shit!
Silent Bob: Adventure, excitement? A Jedi craves not these things.
Jay: Holy.... you spoke!
Silent Bob: I just never had anything good to say before.

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Chasing Amy

Near the closing of the film, Bob speaks to Holden at length of his former girlfriend, Amy. Bob's speech is a turning point in the film, as it helps the main character, Holden McNeil, contrive a plan to solve his problems with Alyssa. Bob's speech also invokes the title, as he says he's been "chasing Amy."

Bob makes a Star Wars reference at the end of this scene with another quote from Yoda, this time "Do, or do not. There is no try.", directed towards Holden's attitude to his relationship with Alyssa.

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Dogma

"No ticket."

Silent Bob says this to a frightened passenger who has just witnessed him toss Ben Affleck's Bartleby character out of a moving train. The line is a reference to a scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where it is spoken by Harrison Ford under similar circumstances

"Thanks."

Silent Bob's response to the line spoken by Rufus (Chris Rock) before his return to Heaven: "And if you clean up your language, I just might put in a good word for you too," which he presumably intended for Jay.

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Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back


"The SIGN, on the BACK of the CAR, said CRITTERS OF HOLLYWOOD, you dumb FUCK!"

Silent Bob says this after attempting to play a type of charades game with Jay, trying to tell him who just kidnapped the orangutan they had with them. After various attempts to try to get Jay to understand, he grabbed Jay by his jacket and shouted this quote into his face. Afterwards, Jay remarked "Say it, don't spray it".

"Oh, but I think it is... We had a deal with you, on the comics remember, for likeness rights, and as we're not only the artistic basis, but also obviously the character basis, for your intellectual property, Bluntman and Chronic, when said property was optioned by Miramax Films, you were legally obliged to secure our permission to transfer the concept to another medium. As you failed to do that, Banky, you are in breach of the original contract, ergo you find yourself in a very actionable position."

Silent Bob produces this line near the end of the film in response to Banky Edwards attempting to shrug off the whole reason Jay and Bob have come to stop the Bluntman and Chronic movie. After Bob has finished Jay breaks his surprised silence by simply agreeing, "Yeah."


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Etymology of Jay's Vocabulary

Jay's mannerisms and phrases have always been a bit of a mystery. He says things like "snoochie-boochies," and "nugga-nooch." These evolved from things he said when he was around the 13-16 age group. In An Evening with Kevin Smith the origin and development of Jay's original colloquialisms are revealed as being something like this:

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  1. He started with "neh," such as "I'm gonna fuck your mom, neh."
  2. He then progressed to "nootch," making his suffix a little longer.
  3. Then, "snootch," adding a letter.
  4. He added to that to create "snoochie-boochies," adding a lot of length.
  5. Then he went crazy with things such as "snigi-nigi-nooch," being a lot longer than "neh," by the way.
  6. He ended up shortening it to "snoogans," in order to encompass all previous forms of the word.

Originally, the phrase conveyed a passive/apologetic air of "just kidding, don't kick my ass" (e.g. "Maybe I'll go fuck your mom, Neh"), but it is now most commonly used as a celebratory exclamation (e.g. "Snootch to the Nootch!"). As he and Silent Bob jump into a fight with the hockey playing demon-teens from Dogma he exclaims, "Snootch to the mothafuckin' nooootch!"

It should also be noted his use of the word "Bung", which is used as an affirmative or exclamation of happiness. In Dogma, after finding out that Beth, the female lead, would have sex with him if they had five minutes left to live he remarks "She's a slut, bung." It has also been extended to a longer form: "bunnnnng".



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