The Big Lebowski, as a classified as comedy and noir, is a film about a sloppy slacker that likes to call himself”The Dude” who eventually gets into a messy situation involving a kidnapping. The Dude is an Absurd hero who lives his life the way he wants to and doesn’t try to make more interesting by doing other activities other than bowling. It’s about someone who doesn’t belong, about “… he’s the man for his time and place. ” (Stranger) Regardless of its success in the box office and what critics had to say about it, The Big Lebowski gained its popularity through time and the writings of academics in film and literature.
As the story unfolds to the dungeons of nonsense, the audience gets to see fictional characters that undoubtedly relate to real life characters. The themes of The Big Lebowski extend far beyond its narrative setting, the crafty opening shot fills us by panning over desert terrain, with credits appearing in a classic western font. Any first time viewer could easily assume they’re about to watch a western, but the shot pans up to reveal the cityscape of L. A.
Hints of a wild-west connotations are scattered across the film, such as Dude’s comment to Walter about the Chinaman, “Walter this isn’t a guy who built the railroads here. ” But the wild-west isn’t the only alternative context that is being touched upon. The cowboy’s closing words are one of the indications that the Cohen brothers have openly expressed their emotions as film makers who bring authenticity to their stories. They never seem to be promoting any specific worldview, perhaps other than it’s a crazy world.
For those who find it difficult to reconcile humor with genuine art, a film like The Big Lebowski will merely confuse as it did with many critics and a lot of audiences. The Dude appears in almost every scene, and has as much information about the unfolding story as we have. Yet we consistently find amusement in his perceptual mistakes and inability to predict the obvious. The only two pieces of information we are presented The Dude is denied are the Nihilists sitting in the cafe with one of their girlfriend’s missing a toe, and Bonnie speeding down the road in her Corvette with all her toes intact.
Nevertheless, Dude still comes off as something of an idiot. He and Walter try to interrogate a 15-year-old kid about the missing million dollars, and after Walter smashes the kid’s sports car, only to find out that it’s the neighbors car, Dude still thinks the kid has the million dollars and reports this to Jackie Treehorn; “Your money is being held by a kid named Larry Sellers. ” The one trait of The Dude that is presented in a positive way is his objectivity, “It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners. (Stranger) The Dude’s appeal can be passed off as a promotion of extreme laziness, “The Dude is no Great American Dreamer (or achiever—the Stranger calls him “a lazy man”); he’s just a nameless, impoverished, collapse of a man. ” (Tangney) But there is more to him than that. Take his obsession with the rug, “Dude’s rug is shabby at best, but as he says on more than one occasion, ‘it really tied the room together, man. ‘
Small space or not, the apartment is his and he takes pride in it. ” (Tangney) When the Chinaman undoes his pants, Dude says, “Not on the rug, man. As if it would be acceptable for him to urinate anywhere else in the room. Dude’s contentment with the new rug from the Lebowski mansion rules out any particular sentimental attachments to his original rug, unlike Maude who bought her rug as a gift to her mother. As Maude tries to engage him on the subject of sex, “Sex. The physical act of love. Coitus. Do you like it? ” he is disinterested, “I was talking about my rug. ” When he is offered $20,000 to deliver ransom money to a group of supposed kidnappers, he tells Walter, “20 grand, man.
And, of course, I still get to keep the rug… ” Even when Maude offers him a $100,000 to recover the stolen money, he still prioritizes the rug. Jackie Treehorn later offers him 10% deal on finding the money and after being spiked The Dude mumbles his simple motive again as he loses consciousness, “All the Dude ever wanted was his rug back… it really tied the room together. ” On two occasions we see The Dude relaxing, standing on the rug with one foot in the air meditating. Then we see laying on the rug listening to an audio tape as his arms make meditative gestures.
The Dude is definitely not a materialist; therefore, this rug obsession is most likely symbolic. It seems that the rug represents The Dude’s spiritual well-being, and his ability to remain calm. The connection to this is emphasized in the first dream sequence; Dude is seen chasing after Maude who is flying away towards the sun on his rug. This magic flying carpet’s images perhaps is giving us a glimpse of Dude’s internal meditative world. While lying on the rug he practically takes himself anywhere he wishes to go. The wheelchair bound Lebowski is a very angry, aggressive, and hateful man.
Which is again the opposite of The Dude. His efforts in bloating his own image are ridiculous. Such as playing dramatic classical music as he sits before a giant fire place pretending to be deep in thought. He fakes tears and tells The Dude, “Strong men also cry. ” He pays the price for this deception when his ransom money scam, if it even was a scam, is exposed by the “bum” that he thought he could pin it on. He ends up laying on the floor this time shedding real tears. But the only sympathy he gets is from the little dog licking his face.
Unlike Lebowski, Dude has no need for verification of his own sense of identity, “I am not Mr. Lebowski. You’re Mr. Lebowski. I’m The Dude. ” By choosing his own name, rather than the one society handed out to him, he has chosen his own identity. He knows who he is and he is happy with himself. That’s something the wealth in the world can’t compensate for. While the characters in the film seem to be playing out different ideological conflicts, Walter represents the military man preoccupied with simplistic justifications of war with foreign cultures, and always ready to resort to violence.
Denial is Walter’s weak point. Whenever Dude pushes him on an issue he doesn’t want to deal with, he resorts to, “Am I wrong? “, and if that doesn’t work he emotionally explodes on an innocent bystander on a completely different issue. The prime example of Walter’s moronic behavior is when Dude tries to tell him the truth about bringing his ex-wife’s dog to the bowling alley, Walter then immediately flips out and pulls a gun on a bowling competitor. He makes a mess of every situation, the funniest and most ironic has to be him smashing up a complete stranger’s new car while screaming at the top of his lungs.
Walter being lewish also has several clashes with the bowling competitor called Jesus. Even religious conflict is being played out through these characters. Maude and Bonnie Lebowski, while being very different from each other, are also very strong and independent woman. One uses her sexuality to get whatever she wants from any man she wants, and the other is capable of fulfilling all her needs without men. The only exception being her use of the Dude for conception, “Maude, too, is concerned with the Dude only for his functioning Johnson… educing him to a walking sperm bank. ” (Singer)
Essentially the characters are set to be out of place, born too late, and not able to forget the past. This is the biggest connection between the absurd and The Big Lebowski. Life is all about the “strikes and gutters, ups and downs,” “lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have yous. ” So is the Dude. Although the film is fought through in hardship, clumsiness, and bitterness, it ends happily. The film’s ending and with the little Lebowski on the way, we might just have a new beginning for everyone.
