Comparing Joel And Ethan Coen's Film 'The Big Lebowski'

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In March of 1998, Joel and Ethan Coen’s film The Big Lebowski was released. It was an instant cult classic due to its innovative style of satirical comedy and lovable characters, particularly a character named The Dude. Set in Los Angeles, the film follows a deadbeat stoner named Jeffrey Lebowski, primarily known as The Dude. The Dude is mistaken for a millionaire whose name is Jeffery Lebowski. Bunny, who is Jeffrey Lebowski’s wife, owes money to some spiteful people, as a result these people go and try to get their money back from Jeffrey Lebowski. Instead, they attempt to collect the money from The Dude, who is essentially broke. When the debt collectors learn this, they deface his rug and leave. This makes The Dude quite upset, which starts him on a chaotic journey to get a new rug. Yet, the reason …show more content…

It means whenever a change or challenge arises you should live with it, accept it, and trust that it will all work out (Introduction to Daoism). In addition to that, there are some other aspects of philosophical Daoism that are represented in the film. For example, someone who is enlightened with the Dao could appear to be foolish (Laozi 15). This is not necessarily a bad thing, it is merely a side effect of being enlightened. Furthermore, in order to be enlightened with the principles of Daoist philosophy, you must know oneself and be able to embrace one's nature (Laozi 12). All in all, the main principle of Daoist philosophy is going with the Dao, which is characterized by wu-wei and conforming to the natural ways of things. Now with a deeper understanding of Daoist philosophy, the various instances where The Dude employs them become more apparent. Twenty minutes into the film, The Dude wakes up and is immediately bombarded with bad news. He is informed that he could be disqualified from his bowling tournament. He is also being summoned to the millionaire Jeffery Lebowski because they have a job for

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