A Portrait of The Dude

There is a 3ft x 2.5ft portrait of the Coen Brothers' "The Dude" in my dining room. My DINING room...Whose choice it was to put the portrait in there, I don't actually know, but I didn't ever have any understanding of the universal application of  The Dude until I watched the movie.

In The Big Lebowski, The Dude is mistaken for a rich man with the same name for owing an owner of a pornography business money. After some thugs burst into his apartment demanding payment, they pee on his beloved rug. The Dude seeks out the man he was mistaken for, and the man offers little information to him about the misunderstanding. On his way out of the mansion, The Dude steals one of his rugs and calls it a day. Later, he gets a call from The Big Lebowski, the man at the mansion, saying that his trophy wife, Bunny, has been kidnapped, and The Dude is the only one who can deliver the high ransom. In a series of over complicated and amusing events with The Dude and bowling loving friends, it eventually is figured out that Bunny had just taken a week vacation, the Big Lebowski, originally thought to be very rich, had actually lost all of his money, and the entire event was at the hands of Bunny, who owed the owner of the business money. The story ends with The Dude in the same place as he started, seemingly unaffected by the entire incident, and bowling with his friends again.

Oh, and how could I forget? The entire story is translated through the life of the The Dude and his love for "White Russians," and alcoholic drink made of vodka and heavy cream.

The Big Lebowski, in the most textbook sense, is a comedy because the story makes the viewers feel sympathy for The Dude, combined with a strange desire to experience his ease and lack of care for all things stereotypically important in life. The Dude, because he originally is portrayed as completely helpless, rises in fortune because he continues to gain strength throughout the movie. By the end, he has a control of his environment where the narrator even suggests that he is living in the ease of everyone else's actions and others should envy him.

If asked whether I thought the Coen Brothers' use of comedy was effective or not, I answered with a complete yes. The Dude's crazy story illustrates a situational irony where The Dude is able to survive  a ridiculous and dangerous triangle completely unscathed by being the opposite of precise or quick witted. The Dude is the epitome of chillness. He does his life the way he wants. Nothing will ever influence a lifestyle change. The message to me is that being uptight doesn't alway mean you are making yourself better off. I'm not saying I admire The Dude, but maybe I could learn a thing or two from him...or not...

So, in context, the large blown up image of The Dude makes perfect sense, but maybe we could move it to a different room.