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'Lebowski' for deep thinkers
October 18, 2006

by Jeffery Lee Puckett, The (Louisville, KY) Courier-Journal

The Dude is not a complicated man. He requires his White Russians, a steady supply of weed, a couple of reliable friends and bowling. Oh, and a rug that ties the room together.

But in "The Big Lebowski," a 1998 tribute to crime noir films and slapstick comedies that has achieved cult status, the Dude, who just wants to replace a soiled rug, is thrust into a complex world filled with a possible kidnapping, nihilists, pornographers, interpretive dance, marmots, micturating thugs and severed toes.

Things get complicated. But until the last few years, we had no idea just how complex a world the movie's creators, Joel and Ethan Coen, had created for the Dude, played by Jeff Bridges.

A host of academics are now setting us straight with dozens of university-taught classes and papers with titles such as "Chuckleheaded Beacon in an Existential Night: A Brief History of the Bowling Noir Film Genre with Some Post Modernist-Neo Noir Afterthoughts" and "Logjammin and Gutterballs: Masculinities in 'The Big Lebowski.' "
Recently, Louisville hosted the fifth annual Lebowski Fest, which included an academic discussion called "The Lebowski Cult: An Academic Symposium." Nearly 30 presenters, including Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Joe Morgenstern, discussed multiple aspects of the film.

Two area English professors, Aaron Jaffe and Ed Comentale, organized the symposium with the blessing of Lebowski Fest co-founders Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell. Jaffe is assistant professor of English at the University of Louisville, and Comentale is associate professor of English at Indiana University.

"Working with the founders of the . . . Lebowski Fest and with the Dude's own attention span as our guide, we have convened a program of academics and non-academics that departs from the usual format of scholarly conferences," said Jaffe, 35. "Papers are shorter, approaches more varied, and there's lots more time for the greasy lane food and wild-eyed discussion we love."

The symposium was supported by the University of Louisville's Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society, the English departments at the University of Louisville and Indiana University, the University of Louisville's Liberal Studies Department and Lebowski Fest.

The idea of having the symposium in conjunction with Lebowski Fest was hatched last year, when Russell and Shuffitt spoke at a class in which Jaffe was teaching the densely literate and deeply funny screenplay. Russell and Shuffitt started the festival simply because they love the film, but it has grown into a minor phenomenon, with six satellite fests held nationwide and attendees from around the world.
So the Founding Dudes knew that the film had been scrutinized, but not to such an extent.

"I'm probably the furthest thing from an academic," Shuffitt says, "but some things about the movie really are interesting to think about. I think people will be into it."

Not everyone adores "The Big Lebowski." Film historian Alan Dale, whose day job is as a corporate tax lawyer in Washington, D.C., also wrote "Comedy Is a Man in Trouble" and feels that comedies are what American filmmakers do best.

Still, he's cautious about the Coen brothers and "The Big Lebowski," preferring "Fargo" and even "Intolerable Cruelty," which many Coen brothers fans dismiss. He provided balance to the symposium's dissenting voice, but welcomed the dialogue.

"I would be more apprehensive about being the lone negative voice at a 'Million Dollar Baby' festival," he says. "That's the kind of movie that people take very personally. I imagine the fans of 'The Big Lebowski' will simply think I don't get it, and I guess they're right. It just doesn't make me laugh that hard."
Steve Wenders, 38, taught English last year at the University of Louisville and presented "What Condition the Postmodern Condition Is In: Collecting Culture in 'The Big Lebowski.' " He has a different take.

"The cult of Lebowski gains a lot of strength from the fact that it represents the kind of cinematic achievement that is almost never recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, critics or cultural tastemakers," says Wenders. "It's an extraordinary film, but because it also happens to be a slapstick comedy it's also easily dismissed. Hence the imperative to heap adoration on it becomes more of an imperative.

"The Dude is something like a postmodern Buddha for the masses, a source of comfort that transcends rational thought -- as the narrator says, we can take comfort in the fact that he's out there somewhere, 'takin' it easy for all us sinners.' "

Walrus sighting!

No, I mean there's an actual walrus behind you.

theodore hertzel.