Jay and Silent Bob

Jay and Silent Bob

Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse (a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Kevin Smith).

Jay and Silent Bob have appeared in all of Smith's films with the exception of Jersey Girl. They are drug dealers (mainly marijuana) who spend most of their time standing in front of stores selling their product, and are generally stoned. The resultant characters then express eclectic characteristics in pop culture which make them familiar, but distant; such as people you would buy things from, but never associate with.

As an example, the duo express a great interest in John Hughes' films (especially Sixteen Candles), the movie Purple Rain, the heavy metal musician King Diamond and the funk and dance-pop ensemble Morris Day and the Time.

As depicted in an early scene of the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay and Silent Bob were born in Leonardo, New Jersey, in the early 1970s, and met when they were infants in front of the Quick Stop Groceries while their mothers shopped inside the store. Jay curses a lot, apparently due to his over-bearing mother, who is shown using continuous profanity in front of him. His first word was fuck.

Of the duo, Jay usually takes the role of the leader, because Silent Bob, as his nickname suggests, seldom talks. Bob only speaks to deliver insightful monologues to the other characters, which he does very rarely, and only in appropriate situations. Otherwise, he relies on hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate, with the occasional exception of quiet, muffled laughter. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, he gets angry when Jay does not understand his gestures and yells at Jay, perhaps for the first time.

Silent Bob's distinguishing features are his heavy smoking, long coat often with a blank pin (an homage to Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles"), and backwards baseball cap. Jay's distinguishing feature is his long blond hair. In several of the later View Askewniverse films Jay wears a black tuque, which has also become a well-known feature.

Silent Bob was raised Catholic and is an electrical genius; he often appears to be the more clean-minded or intelligent of the two and when he does speak, he often has something profound or intelligent to say. Nevertheless, he remains almost as foul-minded and foul-mouthed as Jay.

According to the (non-canon) animated series, Silent Bob's full name is revealed to be Robert Blutarsky, which is a nod to the film Animal House, where one of the main characters is also revealed to later become a Senator of the same name.

The Kevin Smith movies (particularly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) play on the question of both characters' sexuality. Jay receives the most attention in this regard, despite his insistence in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 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 Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back and Bob's mention of a relationship with the never-seen Amy in Chasing Amy.

In Clerks, Jay appeared to be extremely homophobic, calling anyone he didn't like a "faggot". In Dogma, however, Rufus reveals that Jay masturbates more than any other man on the planet (which he nonchalantly acknowledges) and does so while fantasizing about other men. (Jay responds, "Dude, not all the time!"). In the dining car when Jay wakes up he inadvertently says "I didn't cum in you, Pete, I swear!" In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay uses facial and hand gestures to describe giving oral sex and is clearly representing sex with another male for a few moments before quickly and embarrasedly changing his technique. In Clerks and Clerks II Jay imitates Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

In issue #2 of the questionably canonical Chasing Dogma comic series, Jay launches into a lengthy and thoroughly impassioned impromptu speech on gay rights and tolerance before he notices Silent Bob's astonished expression and brushes the matter off. Moreover, in the prison scene in Clerks II, Jay wants Dante and Randal to blow each other in exchange for him and Bob loaning them the money to re-open the Quick Stop and RST. He may say this merely to get Dante and Randal to humiliate themselves, but after Bob's disgusted look, he retracts the demand. In a cut version of the same scene, available among the deleted scenes on the Clerks II DVD, Bob tells Jay that he (Jay) is a deeply-repressed gay man.

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 proven conclusively to be a heterosexual in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as he spends much of the film in love with Justice and ends up "getting the girl" in a way which suggests he feels no inner conflict despite his previously-indicated sexuality.

In one scene in Mallrats, Silent Bob removes from his coat a male inflate-o-mate as well as a vibrator shaped like a finger. In Chasing Amy, Jay states that Silent Bob is a Barbra Streisand fan. Streisand has often been associated with gay culture. Silent Bob is usually thought of as a heterosexual due to his apparent attraction, as seen in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to women and to his offscreen relationship with "Amy"

The nature of the relationship between the two characters has often been questioned, mainly because the two are seldom apart. On the View Askew forums, Kevin Smith gave an interesting answer when asked about Silent Bob's future relationships: Q: Is Silent Bob ever going to meet his counterpart, Silent Girl-with-a-one-syllable-name? A (KS):I think we've seen all the romance we're ever gonna see for Silent Bob. It's pretty much Jay all the way. (Q&A with KS, VA-forum , Feb. 21, 2006)

Kevin Smith also has stated that he sees Jay as ambisexual: "Jay — who's always talking about women — is a character a lot of young hetero guys identify with. But I think Jay's really ambisexual. So it's nice to throw them a curveball to open up their perspective a bit. If I can lead a few cats into being a bit more tolerant, I feel pretty good" (Advocate, July 4, 2000).

Jay and Silent Bob also seem to share a deep love of animals. In particular, Jay seems to have an affinity to circus seals, as he makes numerous references to them, such as:

"Silent Bob, you're a rude motherfucker, you know that? But you're cute as hell. I could go down on you, suck you, line up three other guys and make like a circus seal. Eww, you fucking faggot! I hate guys! I love women!" - Clerks.

"See man, he's lining' us up like fucking' circus seals." - Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

"Sometimes I wish I had done more with my life than standing in front places selling’ weed and shit. Maybe I could have been an animal doctor. Why not me? I like seals and shit." - Clerks II

In addition, Jay and Silent Bob have scenes in Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Chasing Amy, and Clerks: The Animated Series, which show affection towards animals. At their first appearance in Mallrats, the two are hanging out in front of a pet store, where they play with the kittens in the window. In Clerks: The Animated Series, the two are seen hanging out at a different pet store, where they befriend a monkey and attempt to teach it to smoke. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Mallrats and Chasing Dogma, the two have scenes with Suzanne, the orangutan, and, in a rare show of compassion, free all the animals from an animal testing facility.