What of the geopolitical, historical, foreign policy backdrop of the film.

Contemporary, Cult, Commercial Surrealism: THE BIG LEBOWSKI

We started this unit considering the original Surrealism movement in its infancy and heyday, the interwar period in western Europe. Luis Buñuel famously adapted the movement’s values and aesthetics to cinema, proving to a skeptical Andre Breton (the movement’s founder) that film could be an ideal format for Surrealism. Indeed, his first feature, L’Age d’or, embodies Surrealism from start to finish — in its disjointed structure, lack of traditional protagonists and character development, its dark humor and pointed, sometimes shocking social commentary, and its abstraction. In the more commercial context of postwar Mexico, expat Buñuel often struck a balance between commercial studio cinema and Surrealism, as The Exterminating Angel demonstrates.

Fast forward to the turn of the 21st century and we might assume surrealism is no more, with only its relics to be found in modern art museums. While the original movement may no longer exist, many artists, authors, and filmmakers remain greatly influenced by Surrealism, producing works that clearly belong in its orbit. This is especially (or at least visibly) the case in film, where popular filmmakers such as David Lynch, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, the Coen brothers, Terry Gilliam, and Kunio Kato have helped to popularize surrealism into the present.

This week we’re focusing on one of the most popular examples of contemporary surreal cinema, The Big Lebowski, by the Coen brothers. It was quite successful upon its release in 1998, but in the years that followed, the film achieved cult status. Like many cult films — whether Rocky Horror Picture Show, Blue Velvet, or Donnie Darko — this one gained a cult following due in large part to its surreal qualities — its absurdity, dark humor, genre-blending, and memorable sub-conscious forays.
In approaching The Big Lebowski as a surreal text, we have many paths available to us. Let me point out a few that you may wish to pursue in this discussion.

First off, let’s consider the protagonist, Jeff Lebowski, played by Jeff Bridges. How does this character, and particularly his lifestyle and attitudes toward work and the American Dream, live up to certain ideals of surrealism and “surrealistic heroism”? For example, if we compare him to his counterpart (if in name only), arch-capitalist Mr. Lebowski, the Dude resists American ideals of hard work and consumer capitalism.

Original Surrealism was hung up on sexual repression because of its moment and Catholic backdrop. This film much less so, or maybe differently. How does the film explore sexuality as a surreal critique of repression, domesticity, and conformity in a modern age, more or less? Consider Maude (Julianne Moore), in fact, who finds ways to critique patriarchal society’s repression around women’s anatomy and sexuality.

A hallmark of Surrealism is the collision of conscious reality and the subconscious, often resulting in a dream-like realm. What role does dream-work and the subconscious play in this film? How do the settings, in particular the bowling alley, figure in this subconscious play?

Several critics have pointed out how L’Age d’or may be thought of as a series of gags; indeed, Surrealism privileged the absurd and humor (and dark humor, in particular). To satirize and laugh about conventional, bourgeois, proper society is to generate social critique of the highest order, according to Andre Breton, the movement’s founder. Are there ways to consider some of the comedy and absurdity in The Big Lebowski surreal? To what extent does this film’s reframing of a Raymond Chandler-esque noir, complete with private detectives, Los Angeles setting, (seemingly) wealthy clients, kidnap gone wrong, etc., figure into the film’s darkly absurd and humorous surrealism?

Speaking of which, the absurdism is constant in this film. Nearly every scene has a dose of the absurd, a key ingredient to the surrealist tone. Consider: the tumbleweed rolling across Los Angeles; the hired thugs accidentally hitting the wrong Jeff Lebowski; the German nihilists (“We believe in nothing!”); just about any scene with Walter and Donny in it; the Dude’s introduction to Maude flying above splattering paint on the canvas; and on and on.

The Big Lebowski has key literary and poetic qualities that Surrealism, originally a literary movement, has long embraced. Note all the linguistic repetitions — the phrases, words, lines recurringly repeated across characters, settings, and scenes. They are used in different contexts, taking on different meanings all along.

What of the geopolitical, historical, foreign policy backdrop of the film. Two wars are referenced repeatedly, the Vietnam War (of which Walter is a vet) and the Iraq War that’s going on in the present tense of the film. In both instances, American aggression is on full display. Perhaps we can tie that into the film’s (or at least the Dude’s) surrealist critique of American culture, both domestically and abroad.