A terrific article in the WSJ (of all places) on Why 'The Big Lebowski' is a cult classic:

"What makes a relatively minor film like "The Big Lebowski" a cult object in the first place? Here the discussion was more accessible, even fathomable. People love it. They love it because it's densely and quirkily detailed. They love it precisely because it's minor; a classic film noir like "The Big Sleep" has already been appropriated by previous generations, and its Hollywood descendants, like the now-classic "Chinatown," carry the burden of mainstream stars and commercial success.

Young people in particular identify with the Dude's slackerdom because they're feeling pressured by the need to make fateful choices in a complex, competitive world. (Or because they're cultivating an authentic gift for sloth.) They identify with the film's mix of goofiness, stylization, alienation (the Dude is a blithely befuddled, superannuated campus radical from the '60s, while his buddy Walter is a Vietnam vet raging hilariously against straight society) and mock-epic flavor (the Stranger, a mustachioed cowboy narrator played by Sam Elliott, ties the film to the mythology of Hollywood Westerns).

"Lebowski" fans who may be inclined toward mysticism are captivated by one detail that surfaces in the first reel: The date of a check that The Dude writes to pay for a 69-cent supermarket purchase is Sept. 11. "It's the sort of talismanic mystery that helps to cement cult status," a symposium participant said. (As a resident of Santa Monica, I had noted from the address on the check that the Dude lived near me, in neighboring Venice, but I had never noticed the date.)

Most of all, Lebowski cultists love the film because it's full of oddball characters -- "multiple points of identification," that is -- spouting memorable, often profane lines. Weaving many of those lines into their conversations, the happy congregants in Louisville wore others on their jackets or bowling shirts ("The Dude abides"; "The rug tied the room together"; "At least I'm housebroken"; "Let's roll"; "You're entering a world of pain"; "Fuck it, Dude, let's go bowling")."

I keep telling you: I don't roll on Shabbos

Source:
Deconstructing the Dude
Why 'The Big Lebowski' is a cult classic -- and a cultural touchstone
WSJ, October 7, 2006; Page P13
http://tinyurl.com/y32vde

Posted at 06:44 AM in Film | Permalink

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