Progressive Feminism in The Big Lebowski

905 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Feminism in film industry

Throughout The Big Lebowski, the Dude’s laid-back, pleasure-loving lifestyle is entertaining and endearing to both male and female viewers, and his personality and progressive values are at odds with the patriarchal, sexist society in which he abides. One the film’s great appeals is due, in considerable part, to his easy-going personality and progressive principles. Female roles in this work and the Dude’s pro-feminist ideals work together to push a storyline of progressive feminism. It is important to understand this concept within the film because it influences character’s actions and drives the plot. By examining the Dude’s personal beliefs and Maude’s role in the film, viewers can better understand how and why the narrative unfolds and reaches a resolution.
One way the Dude displays his feminist inclinations by recognizing society’s commodification of the female body. At one point the Dude states, “Mr. Treehorn treats objects like women,” about a pornographer named Jackie Treehorn. This inverted observation points to a certain progressive awareness. When he sees Logjammin’, a film directed by Treehorn and starring Bunny Lebowski, his response is witty and sarcastic. Maude verbalizes how “ludicrous” the story is and the Dude responds critically with a somewhat unexpected sharpness. Even when the Dude encounters Treehorn he is unimpressed by his ambitions. He sees through the director’s artistic pretensions and his skepticism is outlined when Treehorn says, “I deal in publishing, entertainment, political advocacy” to which the Dude replies, “Which one’s Logjammin?”.
The Dude’s first meeting with Maude at her loft is eye-catching and literally over the top. Passing directly over him, she sails nude through the air on ropes befor...

... middle of paper ...

...e attempts to present himself as, and is instead given “a reasonable allowance” by Maude. Maude helps The Dude gather information and get ahead of the schemes surrounding him. She also ruptures her father’s masculine vanity and shines a light on the true background of the storyline. Maude’s father highlights how patriarchy is shown to be fraudulent in the Big Lebowski.
The ending contains a satisfying resolution for both genders, assuring the audience that, “there’s a little Lebowski on the way”. While this may not offer the typical romantic movie ending, both the protagonist and his “lady friend” get what they want: Maude is blessed with a child and the Dude returns to his old, peaceful life. The Big Lebowski acknowledges female reproductive activity and power while offering an amusing, rebellious portrait of masculinity, proposing that the future is matriarchal.

Show More
Related

  • Gender Roles In Night Of The Living Dead

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Discriminating gender roles throughout the movie leaves one to believe if they are supposed to act a certain way. This film gives women and men roles that don’t exist anymore, during the 60s women were known to care for the family and take care of the house, basically working at home. However, a male was supposed to fight for his family, doing all the hard work so his wife didn’t have too. In today’s world, everyone does what makes them happy. You can’t tell a woman to stay at home, that makes them feel useless. Furthermore, males still play the roles of hard workers, they are powerful compared to a woman. However, in today’s world a male knows it isn’t right to boss a woman around, where in the 60s, it happened, today women have rights to do what they want not what they are

    Read More

  • Hedwig and the Angry Inch

    1986 Words  | 4 Pages

    A large portion of contemporary film and theatre has been lacking in substance. More often than not, we are presented with a “been there, seen that” scenario. One such exception to this rule is Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a film by John Cameron Mitchell that was released in 2001. Set primarily in post-Cold War America, Hedwig is a film that characteristically breaks convention. Our story follows Hedwig, a forgotten and confused homo…trans…well, human being. Growing up in East Berlin during the Cold War, Hansel Schmidt (John Cameron Mitchell) lives what I would call a horrible childhood in the bleak landscape of communist occupied Germany. He falls in love with an American soldier, and undergoes a sex change in order to marry him and leave East Berlin. The operation is botched, leaving him/her as a physical contradiction. Not quite a man, but not yet a woman, Hansel (now Hedwig) has what she describes as an “angry inch.” When describing it in lighter terms, she calls it a “Barbie doll crotch.” Upon arriving in America, the soldier leaves her the same day the Berlin wall comes down. Destroyed, Hedwig spends some time discovering her new self and eventually finds a soul mate in a young boy named Tommy Speck (Michael Pitt). They collaborate musically and romantically, but upon discovering Hedwig’s secret he leaves with all of their music. He becomes a huge rock star, living Hedwig’s dream while simultaneously leaving her in the dust. From then on, Hedwig and her band “The Angry Inch” follow Tommy as he tours the nation while Hedwig tries desperately to gain the notoriety she deserves for her music. Viewing this film through the lens of a feminist gender perspective, I find that Hedwig is a pioneer on the forefront of changing the gende...

    Read More

  • Analysis From Feminist/Gender Critic Of Book Wicked

    1930 Words  | 4 Pages

    Picture a child sitting in front of a television watching the Wizard of Oz. To them, it is an assortment of magical beings, a land filled with wonderful places, with varieties of different colors. They do not picture it as something with far more meaning than just a plain fairytale. On the other hand, gender/feminist critics have been able to analyze the Wizard of Oz as well as Wicked, in order to find a more elaborate meaning behind the story itself. They have discussed what lies behind the story when it comes to the issue of sexism and masculinity towards the book itself as well as the characters. There are many concepts as well that help to further explain feminism and gender criticism. The four concepts that will be discussed later on are gender, feminist writings, patriarchal society, and gynocriticism. These concepts will then be reviewed as to how they play a part in the book Wicked.

    Read More

  • Symbolism Inherent in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    The climax is illustrated and clarified through the symbolic tearing or exposing of the bare walls. She wants to free the woman within, yet ends up trading places, or becoming, that "other" woman completely. Her husband's reaction only serves as closure to her psychotic episode, forcing him into the unfortunate realization that she has been unwell this whole time.

    Read More

  • Alien (1979): Alien: Feminism In The Film Alien

    1901 Words  | 4 Pages

    Susan Jeffords’ journal entry “The Battle of the Big Mamas” does agree that the film contains feminist themes throughout; however she feels as if it doesn’t give off the message the producers were originally going for. Jeffords criticizes the film for presenting a “feminism that can succeed only by making women ‘alien’ to themselves” (Jeffords 75). Jeffords argues that women “accept the point of view of a corporate masculinity at the expense of relations between women” (76). This point can see be seen throughout the decades as women purposely drop their feminine touch in order to gain the respect as an equal that women feel they deserve. Jeffords emphasizes that the film encourages women to leave behind all feminist qualities and to act like a man in order to be equal with man. This gives a very different point of view from the other sources, which highly support that the film praises feminism and its true qualities

    Read More

  • Women in Film as Portrayed in the Movie, Double Indemnity

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite the fact that the character of Phyllis as the “tough as nails” perpetual, intentional aggressor is a valid attempt to obliterate the image of women as the oppressed, one interpretation of this role is that she ultimately seems to misrepresent herself, and females in cinema, anyway. Janet Todd, author of Women and Film, states that, “Women do not exist in American film. Instead we find another creation, made by men, growing out of their ideological imperatives”(130). Though these “power girl”characters are strong examples of anything but submissive and sexual females,the...

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Goodfellas

    1441 Words  | 3 Pages

    If there is one overlapping theme that connects Gloria Steinem’s 1978 essay, “If Men Could Menstruate”, and Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film, Goodfellas, it is that society is a patriarchy where men and women are not looked at equally, as men are seen as the superior gender. Men were made to be the superior gender not by God or through Evolution, but by the cultural construction of society. Although there is no physical evidence pointing to men being better than women, males have somehow convinced females to play second-fiddle in the orchestra that is society. The film exposes the patriarchal structure of organized crime—“the family” as mafia members call it. Goodfellas indulges in and critiques this world by showing both the actions and the natures

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Quentin Tarantino's Films

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Quentin Tarantino has proven time and time again to be one of the most confusing directors to understand when attempting to unravel the personal ideologies in his films. Each of his films deals with race, sexuality, and gender to some extent, and it is often difficult to know whether or not Tarantino is making a commentary on these things or if he truly believes much of the problematic discourse found in his films. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 are a testament to this understanding of Tarantino’s films, as they appear to be extremely feminist films at surface level yet, upon deeper inspection, have some very problematic qualities. Looking at Kill Bill Vol.’s 1 and 2 through both a feminist and anti feminist lens can allow the audience to better

    Read More

  • Women in the Progressive Era

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the 1890s, American women emerged as a major force for social reform. Millions joined civic organizations and extended their roles from domestic duties to concerns about their communities and environments. These years, between 1890 and 1920, were a time of many social changes that later became known as the Progressive Era. In this time era, millions of Americans organized associations to come up with solutions to the many problems that society was facing, and many of these problems were staring American women right in the face.

    Read More

  • Feminism: Crystal Eastman

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    Feminism is the public support for or recommendation of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. In a more simple way of stating it, women rights equivalent to those of men. Before suffrage begun, women were strictly to act as women should, or what they were expected to act like. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, and clean. Not only were they supposed to do house work, but they also couldn’t vote or own any property. On August 26th, 1920, after 72 long-lasting years of fighting, and prolonged anticipation, women finally won their rights to be treated equally. There have been, and still are, many feminists in this world. One very prominent feminist is Crystal Eastman.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Feminist Theory: From Margin To Center By Bell Hooks

    1987 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hooks begins by stating that Feminism in the United States did not emerge as a result of victimized, underprivileged women who faced sexist oppression so much so they have internalized it , but in fact by bourgeois upper-class white women whose idea's of equality were far different. She begins this criticism with Betty Friedan, a leading figure in the women's movement and the author of the classic The Feminine Mystique claiming that the book ignored the difficulty and even the existence of non-white, poor women with the assumption that her concerns were harmonious wi...

    Read More

  • Some Like It Hot

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    Like most popular gender-bending films, Some Like It Hot calls us to critique constructions of sexuality and gender both within the context of historicized moment of the films production and from the perspective of later generations. Every time the two men presented themselves as women several assumptions were made as to how women look, of their intelligence, and of how they act. This was the female image at the time; the high heels, the dress, and even the stereotypical “party girl” were all characteristics of the female. The film defines gender differences by portraying wo...

    Read More

  • The Feminist Scarlet Letter

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter can easily be seen as an early feminist piece of work. Nathaniel Hawthorne created a story that exemplifies Hester as a strong female character living with her choices, whether they were good or bad, and also as the protagonist. He also presents the daughter of Hester, Pearl, as an intelligent female, especially for her age. He goes on to prove man as imperfect through both the characters of Dimmesdale and of Chillingworth. With the situation that all the characters face, Hawthorne establishes the female as the triumphant one, accomplishing something that, during Nathaniel Hawthorne’s time, authors did not attempt.

    Read More

  • Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Critics

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    The biological differences that set apart the male and female gender throughout any culture remain eminent. Men are perceived as the stronger and dominant gender; women play the role of the weaker. In each culture the expectation of the manner in which men and women behave are influenced by the ideals and customs of that culture. In most predominant cultures, the man undertakes the role as a leader, and the woman devotes her life to the husband. Throughout history, traditions and literature provide a template to the identities of various cultures. Sleeping Beauty’s classic tale of a beautiful princess takes a central precept that previous patriarchal archetypes dominated during the 17th Century. The archetypal perceptions of women resulted from conscious and unconscious literature influenced by male-dominated perspectives and social standards.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: We Should All Be Feminist

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her powerful words she is able to speak to both men and women on how feminism is not art all what society labels it to be. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks the puissant words, “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn't have the weight if gender expectations (Adichie, 18:31).” These extremely powerful words are the basis for the beginning of the comprehension of why character’s resist the influence of conformity, yet the question as to how much one rejects societal norms and how this passion for nonconformity alters the minds of the authors and their characters conveyed. Unfortunately, this extreme drive we see can be altered into one’s own contorted ideals that in the end does not lead them in the right direction. Through the words of Dick Hickock, he evades conformity even to his very last breath. While on the gallows, he does the complete opposite of what you might expect a dead man to do. Instead, he shakes the hands of the men who captured him and says that he is going to a better world

    Read More

More about Progressive Feminism in The Big Lebowski

Open Document