Saturday, November 26, 2016
Please post your response to The Big Lebowski here. Your response
should be no less than 200 words and should try to address the way the
film explores various philosophies through the lens of pop culture.
Somethings you could also respond to are the elements of genre employed
throughout the film and choices of style.
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In the Big Lebowski, different philosophies are presented through the lens of pop culture because each of the individual characters is symbolic of a different philosophy and the entire movie is a commentary about the interactions of those philosophies in our society, masked behind the guise of a comedy. For instance, Jeff Bridges symbolizes the philosophy of peace and love because of his acid-tripping, chill attitude that remains constant throughout the movie. He repeatedly tells Walt that violence isn’t the answer and tries to persuade the Nihilists with money instead of fighting them. Walt, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite. He represents the philosophy of aggression and action, which is reflecting by him biting the Nihilists ear off, pulling the gun in the bowling alley, and smashing the neighbor’s sports car. However, both of these philosophies are exaggerated to the point of hyperbole within each character in order to make the individual philosophies more distinct and to better illustrate the contrast between them, which becomes funny because it is so exaggerated. The fact that Walt and Lebowski are friends and have adventures together not only brings the philosophies into close contrast for the purposes of humor, but also illustrates how different philosophies can co-exist and work together within a societal mechanism in order to achieve whatever objective is desired, which in the case of the movie is finding Ms. Lebowski. The movie is also self-aware of what it is doing and willingly presents that to the audience through the narrator, represents by the cowboy, who is the philosophy of Zen and “interest without action.” The fact that he continuously breaks the fourth wall provides the mechanism for the story to take place and also adds a humorous element since the audience does not initially anticipate this. Additionally, by placing all of the interactions between the characters and philosophies into a setting that would have been familiar and recent to the audience when it was released, around the time of the Gulf War, it causes the interactions to be more relevant to the audience, which also increases the humor since the audience would have more familiarity with that time period.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski features several philosophies influenced by pop culture but there is one specific concept I am going to focus on- the relationship between The Dude and The Big Lebowski. These two characters are polar opposites; The Dude is a free-spirited member of the hippie movement and The Big Lebowski is an apparent millionaire who fought in the Korean War. From history class, we all know that the hippie movements focus was on stopping war and promoting peace throughout the United States and the world. In the movie, The Big Lebowski is critical of The Dude, calling him “a bum” and a “deadbeat”, which is a reflection of the true way the hippies were seen by people outside of their movement. It is also apparent that The Dude is brilliant but too lazy to do anything about it a stranger even says “The Dude, from Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man - and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in all of Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide”. Additionally, it appears he cracks the mystery of the movie far before anyone else. The Dude is supposed to appear as a representation of many people in the United States during the time of the movie, so the producers are able to use this piece of pop culture to create a successful character. The same is done with the Big Lebowski, he represents the opposite type of American citizens, he is rich, privileged, and greatly prides himself of his own achievements. The real commentary is determined by the viewer and their perspective of which character is correct in their way of thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski has many different philosophies throughout its duration. They are presented in many different ways through people and events. The dude represents a normal guy just living his life during the time of the movie who mistakenly gets dragged into a completely different kind of life of a millionaires problems. The fact that "The Dude" and Walter have such different personalities and ways of handling situations but are best friends show how opposites can get along. The dude is very laid back, and goes with the flow. Walter on the other hand is very aggressive and loud. If things don't go his way then there will be a problem like in the scene where he pulls a gun on smokey in the bowling alley and threatens to introduce him to a 'world of pain'. The two ways of life are brought together in pop culture through this film. Even the antagonists of the big Lebowski, bunny, and the nihlilists have different ways of life. The whole movie is a mystery surrounded by unrelated and random events that make up the details of the movie and turn what really is a mystery into a comedy.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Big Lebowski" there are various concepts presented that were a major development of pop culture. Certain factors of this film seem very ironic given the background of the characters and how they relate to each other. The Dude seems to be a free spirited and "chill" person while he's best friend and bowling teammate,Walter, comes off as aggressive and forward. Walter is a Vietnam Veteran and relates almost all decisions and factors that are presented based on the "case" to his time serving in the war. The fact that him and The Dude are friends presents an interesting image within itself. At the end of the Vietnam War, the counterculture was rearing its ugly head and those who were in the early twenties would show disrespect to the soldiers of the war. Many hippies would spit on the veterans as they were coming home. In this movie, two characters are close friends yet seem to be coming from different sides and thus showing the difference in the opinions they have on how to handle the situation with the millionaire Lebowski and Bunny. Then, many oddities are presented that relate to the pop culture of the time period. Although the case involved a kidnapping, random factors added to the hard time The Dude went through. In the end, the dude never got his rug or money. He and Walter just turn back to what they know best, as if nothing ever happened. The movie ends and begins with bowling and a pretty comical story of the events that had occurred.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski present a variety of philosophies throughout the film. These philosophies are presented in many different ways through various characters. The first is presented through the character Jeffery Lebowski, who is called The Dude throughout the movie. The Dude lives a very laid back lifestyle and does not have a care in the world. He is in using acid and does not have a job, thus it seems like he is part of this hippie movement. This hippie movement as learned in history courses was a sort of cross-cultural movement that rebelled against the norms of our society. The Dude is a very intelligent person, yet like many other young people during this hippie movement he did not want to do any work. Another thing to note is that this film takes place in Los Angeles, which was a hub for these hippie movements. Another character in the movie is Walter. Walter was a solider in Vietnam and has a very hardnose personality. He is very loud and lets people know his opinion at all times. He is very easily agitated as shown by the bowling league incident where he pulls a gun. The Dude tries to advise Walt many times throughout the film that being aggressive is not the right way to do things. The Dude seems to represent the attitude of many America’s at the time. As it relates to the style of the movie, it is a fairly linear store that shows us a view in the life of The Dude. The movie uses some songs similarly to those we viewed in Monday’s class before break to contribute to the overall mood of the film. I think this truly further developed the story of the Big Lebowski.
ReplyDeleteThe philosophy that stands out the most in the film is the “going with the flow” philosophy (The Dude) that contrasts with the very corporate and fairly normal philosophy (Jeff Lebowski). The Big Lebowski's characters each have their own personal philosophies that are either very different to one another, or very alike. In The Big Lebowski, the main character, Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski is the character that stands out the most because of the very eccentric go with the flow attitude that dominates the dude's life. The Dude doesn't care about the future, the Dude focuses on the present. The Dude Jeff Lebowski is completely different to millionaire Jeff Lebowski. Millionaire Jeff Lebowski is a sociopathic businessman who doesn't have the same moral values and lifestyle as The Dude does. The Dude is the stereotypical chill person, a chill dude, he is a dude, he is “The” Dude, the ultimate wingman, the bro that every bro wants to have. The pop culture stereotype of what a dude is reaches its epitome with Jeff The Dude Lebowski. The Dude contrasts with Jeff Lebowski because of their differing lifestyles, way of speaking, diet, hobbies, manners, etc. Both characters are used to create one another and to accent the different philosophies they each follow. Both are the perfect stereotypes of what their characters are trying to present and both are contrasted to create humor. The Coen brothers put both Jeff Lebowski's side by side to show their different philosophies and by doing so make situations comedic in nature.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski revolves around pointing out the hypocrisy in various philosophies. The philosophy of the dude is that everything is pointless and people should just do their best to be happy. The film acknowledges the merits of his worldview by pointing out that if “the dude” hadn’t listened to Walter and simply accepted that his rug was ruined, he wouldn’t have any problems. However, the film also shows how “the dude” is unable to remain calm and careless once the situation becomes serious. Walter’s philosophy of treating everything to be as serious as war is also shown to flawed. He almost kills a man over losing a bowling match and his decision to fight the nihilists at the end of the film gets his friend killed. Mr. Lebowski has the more traditional philosophy that focuses on a life of hard work. The film tears the legitimacy of his worldview apart by revealing that his wife was the one that had made all the money.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, the film seems to give the most support to the philosophy of “the dude.” This is done through the way the film subverts the detective genre. Despite all the twists and turns that occur throughout the story, none of it ever amounts to anything. The only really significant result of the mystery is the heart attack that claims his friend, but even this can be considered more the result of an underlying heart problem than the events related to the kidnapping.
"The Big Lebowski" is essentially a conflict of ideas and philosophies presented on the premise of zany, comedic conflict. The plot centers around a man referred to as "The Dude", a moniker that reflects his laid-back, hippie lifestyle. He's played in contrast to Walter, an intense and opinionated war veteran. They have to work together once they're caught up in the scandal with Bunny and the Big Lebowski, making the point that astronomically different people are in fact capable of cooperating. However, this cooperation does not come without a great deal of humor and exaggeration, which in some cases might make it easier for the audience to understand the film's point. With contrast of ideology at the forefront, the film becomes a natural vessel for other philosophies to be explored, naturally through the other cast members. Of course, some presentations are subtle, and others not so much (see: our favorite band of Nihilists). The Big Lebowski's use of character as a means of expressing philosophy was not particularly new at the time of its production, but it serves as an example of the power film and other genres of pop culture can have. More often than we would like to believe, we draw opinions from the pop media we consume, and so creators that are conscious of their influence will exercise it in innovative ways.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski. The movie draws on pop culture that we understand, but that I feel may not be as relevant today. The smoking, bowling, fire arms in public places, unlocked front doors, these all seem to be the culture of an older generation, but one that we still understand. The movie is obviously older and did fall into the pop culture that it portrayed. A ot of the movie relies on chance and irony. What are the chances that there are two Lebowskis (I wouldn’t classify it as a common name)? Or the fact that Mr. Lebowski was actually a poor man who claimed to be a millionaire? The fact that Donny died of a heart attack at the end of the movie instead of the first assumed murder is both morbid and ironic. In a fight involving weapons and a million dollars, it seems that it would be a weird chance that one of the protagonists would die of a heart attack. They also show dreams Dude is having every time he passes out. I don’t think that is commonly seen in movies now or if it is it has more relevance unlike the Dude’s fantasies. But it may give more insight to this culture because a lot of older movies (like Grease) also include these fantasy-like scenes with costume changes and crazy music and something that feels like a vision.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski does a very effective job of exploring different philosophies and a certain conflict of ideas throughout pop culture and our society as a whole. The movie is completely centered around a man with the nickname "The Dude" who represents a philosophy based on a relaxed take on live and represents a culture of people who simply "go with the flow." His relaxed lifestyle and his attitude on life only exacerbates his situation even more throughout the film. The dude's attitude towards life is wildly contrasted with the temperamental and angry attitude of Walter, a angry Vietnam War Veteran. Despite their very different philosophies and temperamental differences they are forced to work together throughout the film. The two different characters two differences of attitude and philosophy that continue to perpetuate throughout American society today. Walter is representative of people who straightforward and hardworking throughout their lives. It is a segment of the population that has a very pessimistic view of live and society in their minds. On the other side, we have and the dude and his philosophy. He represents the segment of society that values creativity and the importance of ideas. They do not focus as much on the need for a meaningless job and for a cynical outlook on live and society.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski features a diverse number of philosophies through several of the characters, activities, and events of the film. Each character serves to demonstrate to the audience that too much of any one philosophy will lead to negative consequences. "The Dude" is so easy going and care-free that his lifestyle has some appeal, but his inability to be assertive and driven in life leads to him being seen as a "bum". Due to this philosophy of his, he is taken advantage of by the older Jeffrey Lebowski and finds himself in unfortunate scenarios led on by Walt’s impulsiveness and lack of foresight. Walt teaches the audience that being quick to action or quick to anger can make things go from bad to worse. Bunny represents lust, youth, and ignorance, as her presence demonstrates that even the most esteemed intellectual members of society, such as the older Jeffrey Lebowski can be corrupted. In addition to desires for a “trophy wife”, Mr. Lebowski is tempted by greed and a desire to keep a clean public reputation. Bunny and her busband become so enveloped in their philosophies that they end up being in a seemingly mismatched and loveless relationship. It appears that Mr. Lebowski’s daughter adopted a lifestyle of “loveless sex”, which led to her encounter with “the Dude”, partly due to the influence of her father’s relationships during her upbringing. The genre of film allows the movie’s message to be delivered through sight and hearing as the characters are presented. The sharp contrast of philosophies of the Lebowskis in the film effectively suggests that becoming too immersed in one’s self-image or not caring enough about self-image can have negative consequences on an individual’s self-respect and relationship with others.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski does an excellent job of exploring life's purpose and man's purpose in life. The ‘dude’ tries to live a chill life and the intersection of this philosophy and real life application is perfectly represented through a projection of his subconscious. The scene that I'm referring to is where he's in the bowling alley and has the vision where he's floating through all these bowling pins and naked beautiful women. In the background there's a pop song playing and women jump on trampolines. Despite the chill philosophy he still is driven by one of the most base desires in society, sex. The common maxim “Sex Sells” is echoed in all the ads, music videos and packaging that is consumed by the average American. Despite his devotion to Dudism, Lebowski is trapped in the pit of American consumerism. Lebowski, like Kurt Cobain who wrote “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in protest of the encroachment of consumerism but ended up spiking huge sales in the women's deodorant ‘Teen Spirit', cannot truly escape from a culture that has permeated deep into his psyche. The whole complex plot of the movie that ropes Lebowski into an adventure that is not his own, is symbolic of how much little control we have over what enters our head or even what we think.
ReplyDeleteThe film explores philosophy about individuals and society by portraying several stereotypical characters and weaves a complicated narrative between them that in the end has little effect on the protagonists. Jeff Lebowski, known as “The Dude” gets mistakenly dragged into a mysterious conflict that he ends up solving. He reflects the typical hippie; he has long, unkempt hair, doesn’t hold a job, smokes Marijuana, drinks, and has a sloppy lifestyle. His best friend, Walter, is the opposite; he is a Vietnam veteran, is violent, aggressive, and sticks religiously to the rules of bowling and Judaism. The film mocks the seriousness of the situation by contrasting it with the laid-back attitude of The Dude and the unprofessionalism of his companions. The pop-culture references, such as those seen in
ReplyDeleteThe Dude’s dream sequence, serve to help satirize the culture’s obsession with wealth, power, and sex. The entire skirmish revolved around those three things, and it amounted in no real change for either Walter or The Dude. Even after they had a make-shift memorial for Donny, who had a heart attack during a fight with the nihilists, they both laughed and went bowling, which is what they were doing at the opening of the film. The friendship between The Dude and Walter is atypical, but it makes a mockery of the polarity of society and of values in general; the message remains that people are going to be what they are and rarely change.
In The Big Lebowski, the film uses older clichés to display the various philosophies present throughout the film. “The Dude” is portrayed as your typical post-Vietnam War hippie that prefers to go with the flow and cares little about the happenings in the world. We’ve all known someone who appears like they don’t care strongly about anything in their life and the film uses “The Dude” as an example of that. Contrasting this is Lebowski’s bowling buddy Walter who is stereotyped as the military meathead that takes everything way too seriously. Despite this stereotype being somewhat outdated, we can identify with it because we all know that one person that can’t stop sharing pro-military and gun articles on Facebook. Even though these clichés are somewhat outdated, the ideas behind these types of people are timeless and can appeal to viewers of any time. The movie uses these familiar stereotypes to help us identify and see the contrast between the super relaxed demeanor of The Dude, and the Gung-ho attitude of Walter. With these personalities being so opposite, this is the main thing that sets up the humor in the movie and is the main driving factor behind the many misadventures that they get into.
ReplyDeleteThe film the Big Lebowski explores themes of sex, greed, and betrayal. With the main character, Jeffrey Lebowski also known as “The Dude”, representing a dead end type of guy. He’s a hippie, he smokes weed, partakes in a lot of day drinking, and has no job. Despite having such a seemingly horrible life, he was one of the happiest characters in the movie. His life was flipped and the movie plot thickened when The Dude is mistaken as a very wealthy, much richer man that he happens to share the same name with. This horrible, but hilarious mix up leads to Jeffrey Lebowski’s adventure, where he ends up solving the mystery behind the mix up. The theme of sex is seen throughout his adventure with the beautiful, sexy women in the movie, even at the bowling alley, which I personally think is a very unsexy place. That's just another example of something funny in the movie though, the ability to sexualize a bowling alley is talent. Greed is seen cause the people chasing after the dude are after his money, which he obviously doesn’t have because it’s not the same person. The movie was not something I would have chosen to watch on my own, but I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThe film "The Big Lebowski" acts as a commentary on various political and social beliefs and philosophies by using pop culture as a springboard for societal critique. The most blatant example of the film using pop culture to make a point on philosophy is the main character, "The Dude." The Dude acts as a clear caricature of sloth and laziness in modern times. We have all met someone like The Dude; someone with potential, who lives comfortably, but could achieve much greater things if they were only a little bit more ambitious and a little less opposed to labor and tribulation. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the film's titular "Big Lebowski," a corporate workaholic who expresses his discontent with The Dude at every chance he gets. However, while one might assume that because The Dude is such a clear judgement on lazy people that the Big Lebowski would be more akin to a protagonist, but no; the Big Lebowski is just as insufferable, just as extreme in his quest for achievement as The Dude is extreme in his apathy. A third example of a extremist is Maude, who is explicitly feminist and uses The Dude only to have a child; this bears striking contrast to the Big Lebowski's romantic partner, Bunny, who is a vapid gold-digger with no regard for any sort of politics such as feminism.
ReplyDeleteI found the film The Big Lebowski very interesting because, while it was not my usual taste in genre, in had a certain appeal to it that kept me watching. The movie gives a glimpse into the life of a man who is both un-relatable, but at the same time relatable. Pop culture and this movie both have a common focus on the slacker lifestyle, which means a focus on weed, drinking, and fun. The Big Lebowski, otherwise known as Dude, is mistaken for a richer man who happens to have the same name, and is furthermore forced to partake in a series of terrible, yet hilarious situations, as he tries to get his life back. The movie has a common focus on the themes of greed, sex and betrayal. The Dude spends his life not caring, taking advantaged of what is thrown at him, from girls to a rug, or weed. He does not let his status in society get in his way of being happy. The Dude’s best friend, Walter, shows opposite qualities because he is prone to aggressions and lets the past get in the way of his present happiness. However, despite the stark difference in personalities, they find a way to stay great friends, almost living in harmony. Throughout the movie there is comedic relief after addressing serious topics, keeping the movie very lively and intriguing.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Lebowski is a cult classic movie that follows the story of an extremely laid-back man – “The Dude” – who gets wrapped up in a convoluted plot filled with overly aggressive people, and through this story, several philosophies receive their share of social commentary. The Dude himself appears representative of extreme passivity, often preferring the route of non-confrontation and non-violence. This apathy and blasé attitude often turns him into a doormat or punching bag for the belligerent and hostile people around him who use him for their own material gains. The movie seems to be encouraging taking a route of more activism – however, through Walter it demonstrates how one can go too far in that aggressive path. By having the pair work as a team, it suggests a need for balance and moderation in solving issues. Additionally, this movie came out at the end of a century full of war and nationalism, and so it could also be argued that The Dude represented the tiredness of American citizens to war in general, only stirred into action by the insistence and goading of a bellicose army veteran – in this inciting incident, Walter may have represented President Bush pushing for a war in the Middle East in the 1990’s. And while the Coen brothers could not have known how the war would turn out, they seemed to fairly accurately predict how American citizens fell back into apathy so quickly after it began.
ReplyDeleteThroughout The Big Lebowski, there are many different philosophies present. These philosophies are presented through the characters and the events that take place. The main character of the film is Jeff Lebowski, also known as “The Dude.” The Dude’s personality is a stereotypical stoner. He smokes weed, dresses like a bum, doesn’t seem to have much care. The Dude gets himself into a messy conflict, but is very calm throughout most events in the film. For example, upon breaking into his house, two men shove The Dude’s head into a toilet and urinate on his rug. The Dude goes to meet the Big Lebowski to ask him for money for a new rug. Later on in the film, the Dude fell asleep after drinking and was murmuring “All the Dude ever wanted was his rug back..it really tied the room together.” Through the crazy events that take place throughout the film, this quote sheds some humor that the Dude got caught up in this big mess because of his rug. On the other hand, The Dude has a best friend named Walter. Walter has the exact opposite personality as The Dude. He is a Vietnam veteran and is very aggressive in his behavior. In one scene, Walter pulls out a gun over an argument in the bowling alley. The differences between the two personalities adds much of the humor to the film. The differences help soften the seriousness of some events that take place in the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe film presents a different philosophy through each of the characters. Some examples are the philosophies presented through Jeff Lebowski or "the Dude", Mr. Lebowski, and Walter. The Dudes philosophy is one of calmness. He doesn't care about anything, doesn't have a job, pays his rent late, and hardly reacts when his house is broken into multiple times. Mr. Lebowski is the opposite. He is wealthy, high strung, and is not calm during any scene of the movie. It can be seen by his reaction to the dude asking for him to buy him a new rug. He responds by insulting him and yelling at him until he leaves. Walters philosophy is more aggressive. He is always angry and doesn't think before he does anything. He threatened to shoot someone if they wouldn't record the bowling score how he wanted. The Dudes philosophy fits in with the pop culture aspect of the movie. He doesn't work, is a hippie, drinks and smokes all the time and has no responsibility. The movie approaches Mr. Lebowski's philosophy through pop culture by making him an old wealthy man with a young wife which is stereotypical. Walters philosophy is addressed through pop culture because he is a war veteran so he's made to be angry and aggressive.
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