September 12, 2008
The prescient politics of The Big Lebowski
David Haglund in Slate:
Just released for a third time on DVD, The Big Lebowski has, in a decade, inspired a following to rival all cinematic cults, complete with annual festivals, monthly podcasts, and teachings to live by. At the heart of this denomination is the Dude, brilliantly incarnated by Jeff Bridges as a Zen slob whose three great loves are weed, white Russians, and bowling. And the Dude is indeed a fantastic character. Ten years on, though, the movie's most striking role belongs to John Goodman as Walter Sobchak: a hawkish, slightly unhinged Vietnam vet and the Dude's best friend and bowling partner. Watching The Big Lebowski in 2008, it becomes clear that appreciating Walter is essential to understanding what the Coen brothers are up to in this movie, which is slyer, more political, and more prescient than many of its fans have recognized. Perhaps that's because Walter, with his bellowing, Old Testament righteousness and his deeply entrenched militarism, is an American type that barely registered on the pop-culture landscape 10 years ago. He's a neocon.
More here.
Posted by Abbas Raza at 03:45 AM | Permalink
Comments
Hard to believe that Pynchon hasn't sued the Coens for ripping off Vineland. Generous guy.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Sep 12, 2008 5:00:39 PM
Big is better than Vineland. I will go with the Coens. While Gravity's Rainbow is a great read, Pynchon has a mystique that blocks criticism.
I found Vineland somewhat trite.
What ever improvements can be made in Vineland by the Coens is a bonus.
Posted by: Dave Ranning | Sep 12, 2008 9:33:26 PM
As a 3-time "Best Walter" winner at LebowskiFests in LA and NYC and a Vietnam vet, I must say that I think Walter would be enraged at the twist in the Bush II and McCain era lies.
This aggression will not stand, man. Walter may have been a proto-neocon in September 1991 [note the date on the check the Dude writes: Sept 11, 1991.], but he'd have eventually seen through the bullshit, and he'd be even more enraged for being so massively lied to by the Rpublican machine.
Posted by: Walter LaFester | Sep 13, 2008 1:11:55 AM
"Run Through the Jungle" is such a kick ass Creedance number. They (Coens) understand the language of film so it doesn't matter if they ripped of Pychon. For all we know Pynchon ripped off the Rockford Files.
Posted by: Woody | Sep 13, 2008 3:27:24 AM
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