Saddle Up, Dude: Why The Big Lebowski is the Ultimate Modern Western
On the surface, Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski appears to be a slacker comedy, a shaggy-dog detective story wrapped in a thick haze of marijuana smoke. Yet, beneath the bathrobes, White Russians, and nihilist threats lies the unmistakable dust of a classic Western. Strip away the contemporary Los Angeles setting, and you’ll find that the Dude, Walter, Donny, and their eclectic associates are archetypes straight out of the Wild West, navigating a morally ambiguous landscape with their own peculiar code. At its heart, The Big Lebowski embodies the core tenets of the Western genre. The Dude, Jeffrey Lebowski, is the quintessential reluctant anti-hero. Like a grizzled gunslinger pulled from retirement, he simply wants to be left alone, to bowl and smoke reefer. But fate, in the form of mistaken identity and a rug-pissing incident, drags him into a complex web of deceit, kidnapping, and shady dealings. He’s the man who doesn't seek trouble but finds it anywa...
