“The Dude Abides”
What is it that makes smoking a roach, listening to audio tracks of humpback whales, and laying in a bathtub so special? For The Dude, life does not get any better. He has his small house with one rug that supposedly ties the room together, and that is all he needs. In the 1998 film directed by Joel Coen The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges stars as a character known as Jeff Lebowski or more commonly known as “The Dude.” He is an unemployed middle-aged man with a beard, t-shirt, shorts, and not a care in the world. His lifestyle is portrayed as being similar to that of someone who lived in the fifties and sixties. His physical features along with his beliefs are shared with famous writers including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Gary Snyder, and many others. These men were the forerunners of a legacy that still lives in the hearts of people today.
The Dude is a man who doesn’t stress about a job, an expensive home, or starting a family to fall back on. He is fine right where he is with a beer, a joint, and a robe to keep him warm. In part two of Howl by Allen Ginsberg he states “Moloch whose blood is running money!” (Ginsberg). Moloch is the ancient demonic prince that is known for stealing children from their mothers. In Howl Ginsberg uses this as a symbol for capitalism and how people are falling victim to it. This reflects the Beat hatred for any type of power, mainly in the government. When asked if he was employed, and if that is how he dresses on a weekday The Dude replied with “Is this a… what day is this?”( Coen). He isn’t very impressed by being rich and have accomplished noble things like “The Big Lebowski” who plays the other Jeffery Lebowski in the movie. After seeing and hearing the many accolades of the Lebowski history he remains inattentive with a dull expression. Throughout this movie “The Big Lebowski” is seen as the antagonist because he is so into himself, and his yearning for the answer of his own identity. “The Dude believes that in order to be a man, you have to have a pair of testicles” (Coen). The Dude believes that why put in so much effort trying to find answers that you may never find. He just focuses on what makes him, and ignores society’s push to give him a clean shave and a brand new suit.
A common Beat ideal is that people should focus on living an authentic life without things that are misleading answers to happiness. By giving up a materialistic lifestyle we can see the truths that lie behind the ugliness that consumerism has produced. The poem Conversation Among Mountains by Li Po directly correlates with The Dude’s mind state. When someone asks him a question he usually responds with a simple answer and a bit of sarcasm. When the thugs break in his house and say “He looks like a fuckin’ loser”(Coen). The Dude just tilts his glasses over his nose and stares at them, as he smokes a joint of marijuana. Li Po’s lifestyle is questioned in his poem when he wrote “ You ask why I live in these green mountains, I smile, can’t answer, I am completely at peace” (Po). He and The Dude know that life isn’t what everyone sees it as because “…there are worlds beyond this one”(Po). They live without having to understand life’s complex questions. They know to appreciate the warmth of simplicity, where they can relax and observe the beauty around them.
Charles Bukowski contemplated the beliefs of Li Po in his poem Immortal Wino. As he sips on red wine he remembers the words of a great philosopher, and describes the tragedy of the modern world. He states “the wine is still good, and in spite of all, there’s still some time to sit alone and drink plentifully”( Bukowski). He drinks the wine so he can numb the pain of having to live in a world full of filth, and stressful circumstances. In the poem he describes his cat and says “ In this drunken room, this drunken night, are these great yellow eyes staring at me”(Bukowski). The eyes draw him in because he feels that they are judging him as he sits and shares a few moments with his bottle of wine. And even if they are he doesn’t care, so he salutes Li Po and pours another glass. An important feature of the The Dude is that he also enjoys alcohol, but not so much that would put him off kilter. During the course of the movie he drinks 9 White Russians or “Caucasians” as he calls them. When he is in a stressful situation he kicks back and sips on his drink. He holds this drink so close to him because it helps him cope with the tense environment around him. Like Bukowski, he holds up a glass in the face of the arbiter.
The Big Lebowski hollers at The Dude that he is a bum and should be more like his parents who had a job. The Dude’s mind state infers that he doesn’t care about how his parents would want him to live because they don’t know what matters to him. His parents grew up in a time where society was very restricting and conservative. It is likely that when he was younger he was kept under an orderly house that pushed him into being the poster child American. The Dude doesn’t need to pursuit anything other than what he has, so his motivation lies solely in staying within himself as The Dude. Gregory Corso wrote “We will not force ourselves into any hand-me-down- inherited straight jacket of all cast-off moral concepts mixed with beastly superstition derived from primitive mythology in its proper place. We are human” (Corso). Corso knew just as well as The Dude knows, the human race is constantly changing. There doesn’t need to be an instruction manual on how to live life. The Dude will live his life and abide to any ridicule of the opposition.
At the end of movie The Dude is at a bar at a bowling alley where the actor Sam Elliot is sitting. Sam Elliot has been the narrator throughout the movie and shares his admiration for The Dude with the audience. Even though he only is a voiceover for a short amount of time, he plays a very important role in the story of The Dude. His closing lines state “It’s good to know he’s out there, taking it easy for all of us sinners”(Coen). Elliot is there to get a message across to the audience of the overlying theme of the story. The directors Joel and Ethan Coen stated in an interview that “The plot is secondary to what is actually going on”(Coen). He is hinting at the theme in being in Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski. He is an unexpected hero that Elliot insists on looking up to. Instead of selling himself to society he lives alone experiencing his own personal happiness. And instead of getting caught up in a fast-paced world, he remains idle and appreciative of the true delicacies around him.
Sam Elliot then goes on the say “I didn’t like seeing Donny go, but I happen to know there’s a little Lebowski on the way. I guess that’s the way the whole darn human comedy keeps perpetuating itself down through the generations”(Coen). This statement makes it clear that the directors believe the Beat legacy has developed over decades and will continue to be a part of human lifestyle. It started with the comedic connotations of the Beat authors, and remains in the hearts of many people to this day.
References
Bukowski, Charles. “Immortal Wino.” New York Quarterly 1987: n. pag. Bukowski.net. Web. 8 Dec. 2010.
<http://bukowski.net/database/detail.php?WorkNumber=1659>.
Coen, Joel, and Ethan Coen. The Big Lebowski. Poly Grams, Working Title Films, 1998. Film.
Corso, Gregory. “from Variations on a Generation.” The Portable Beat Reader. Ed. Ann Charters.
New York: Penguin, 1992. 184.
Ginsberg, Allen. Howl. pangloss. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2010.
http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/ Ramble/howl_text.html
Po, Li. "Conversation Among Mountations." Integral Options Cafe. Blogger.com, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2010.
<http://integral-options.blogspot.com/2006/03/poem-li-po.html>.
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