"Clerks Barry and Dick are emotional cripples stuck in that male pop-culture circle of hell in which having seen a film (the right kind of film) or owning a record (the right kind of record) act as substitutes for being able to express what these things mean to them. Since they are incapable of really talking about human feelings, they get by by standing next to each other at rock shows and making each other complicated tapes of obscure songs."