Dogma: Resurrected - 25 years later at the Alamo Draft House

My introduction to Kevin Smith began in 2006. Clerks 2 was released July 21st, 2006, the summer after high school. I purchased my ticket at the multiplex at Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, NJ. I have the stub to prove it, signed by the director himself. Currently AMC Theaters, previously Lowes Multiplex, and Sony prior to that. One of those iterations was the very theater Kevin famously protested his own movie.

It's that sort of attitude, tongue-in-cheek behavior, not taking oneself too seriously, but in a very smart way, that has made me a long-term fan of Kevin. We constantly look for connections in life to try to make sense of it. Time after time, feeling lost in life, his material challenged my own thought patterns.

I was away on a work trip when I stumbled upon the Alamo Drafthouse in Loudoun, VA. I've seen events marketed for Drafthouse in general multiple times, but had never been in the vicinity of one to take in a show. Lately, I have been questioning my own faith, which is a funny statement to express as I often say I'm spiritual and do not tie myself distinctly to religion. I have been playing with a variety of ideas that I have held onto so tightly, I failed to recognize that I turned those ideas into beliefs. I used my personal life experiences to back those ideas.

That's the central theme behind Dogma. That's an idea that still holds up 25 years later. There are things that aged well and things that did not age well in the movie. The not-so-well would be the prophets Jay and Silent Bob's pursuit of getting laid. I've grown out of that type of humor. The idea that certain rules and faith are things to live by tightly, rather than just seeing them as good ideas that can change, hopefully for the better, has aged well.

That philosophy can be applied to all walks of life. The metaphor that dogmatic belief can obliterate all of existence can apply to an individual simply by recognizing that an individual's perspective is all of their existence. If you want to apply it externally, tightly held beliefs held dogmatically can ruin another's existence. Every person has a perspective or view in which they perceive the world uniquely and, in that way, experience reality uniquely, though we all share common aspects of our lives.

More could probably be analyzed with the Angels' calling to go home being the thing that destroys it all.

Hopefully, if a Dogma 2 gets made, maybe more people will realize the value in having flexible ideas.

As for the Drafthouse, I love a place that attracts people who love movies and caters heavily to the movie-going experience. I look forward to see more movies there when the opportunity arises.