S.I.R.? What's So Appealing About Smith and Mewes (or is that Smewes?)

(image sourced: http://www.jmewes.com/mewesmas.html)

It's interesting to me that I am so entertained by public figures such as Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith is a bit more of a normal fascination in a 'The Globe-National Inquirer-Star' magazine sense, but Jason Mewes seems to me to be a bit below the tabloid radar. I think that he has been a hopeless fiend and hasn't cared to hide the fact, particularly now that he has a very public outlet for speaking about such hopelessness. In a way, it is probably like gawking at a car crash as you pass however there seems to be considerably more to it than that.

Mewes has considerable value to contribute within his circle of peers, whether it is his active and worthwhile participation in Kevin Smith's movies and podcasts, or his numerous other television and feature appearances.

Maybe it is because of this duality – hopeless fiend, but with something big to bring to the entertainment table – that elevates them from the 'under the bridge' dope addict, to something more akin to a fictional character. Something more like Ozzie Osborne, but with less apparent brain damage.

Their stories are complex, their personalities are so different from people we befriend and hang out with daily, with their tales all the more fascinating as a result. In fact, now that I am giving the issue this much thought, it becomes apparent that these folk, because of the openness with which they bare their lives to the public, are – consciously or not – slowly writing brand new characters for their audience to follow the adventures of.

Focussing on Mewes for a minute. Through numerous podcasts, commentary tracks and interviews, we know that he was a friend of Kevin's from their adolescence. He was a fascinating, slightly younger kid to hang out with because of his off-kilter personality. He was a little bit off the rails, but more mischievous than criminal, and his only real criminality arose out of his dependencies.

It is Kevin and Jason's ability to actually make a cohesive narrative out of theirs and others lives that makes it like they are actually creating a whole new fictional world, immensely detailed and gigantic in scale. They let us in on just a little bit more detail, a few more insights and anecdotes every week. They, perhaps deliberately, create an emotional arc with their performances. It has its descriptive moments, it has its moments of levity and sadness, and it always involves a healthy dose of silliness (Let Us F**k!).

It is as if every week, they focus their personal x-ray machine upon the Van Gough painting that has been their lives so far. Every week, they take one hour out in order to shine the light on a tiny new piece of their parchment, and another handful of layers, colour, texture and detail are revealed beneath to give us visibility of just a bit more of these real-life characters.

'Real-life character' sounds rubbish. What about 'factional' characters. Not to imply their alignment with a faction, but to mean fictional characters derived from fact.

Maybe in their more toilet oriented moments they're revealing some 'fuctional characters' for their audience.

I think this is what makes their public offerings so bloody compelling. They are already people that we have become interested in because of their contribution to 'generation y' *cringe* culture. From that starting point, we can't help but be intrigued by someone who is so tuned in to the issues that run through our heads day in and out. These are guys who have insight, motivation and creativity, and as a result have lived somewhat extraordinary lives.

They are people who deliver works of interest to us all in the form of feature film, cartoon series and now - podcasts. Its almost as if their former (perhaps more standard) creative works are now taking a back seat to this new form of creative work which is documentary-cum-romantic comedy-cum-drama (hehehe cum-drama) as they lay out their lives for our entertainment.

And entertaining it is!

I for one, cannot wait for S.I.R. to launch in May. If these guys can monetise their investment in technology and communications as convincingly as Mister Smith has managed to monetise his projects in the past, I would expect that we will be hearing from them for quite some time to come, and that is some damn welcome news.

Bring it.