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Films

The Big Lebowski

Matt Qvortrup contemplates Dude philosophy.

Maybe, just maybe, the meaning of life is to live it: to leave the worries to one side and, as in The Big Lebowski, say, “Fuck it… let’s go bowling” – or whatever pointless activity takes your fancy.

To assent to this idea, it must be said, is not to assert that the philosophy of The Big Lebowski (1998) can be reduced to a single insight. Indeed, it is in the nature of the true work of art that it contains many, often contradictory, stands. This film is no exception. Still, it is above all a funny film, with a perfectly cast Jeff Bridges as the antihero Jeffrey Lebowski, who answers to ‘the Dude’, or “his Dudeness, Duder, or El Duderino if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.

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