MovieChat Forums > The Big Lebowski (1998) Discussion > Did anyone watch this again years later ...

Did anyone watch this again years later and just feel mostly depressed?


I mean, I enjoyed certain reliable bits, like getting thrown out by the black Eagles-loving cabbie and Jeff being baffled by Maude's giggling friend, but mostly it just felt like strung-together episodes in the life of a shapeless, directionless loser.

It was a lot funnier when I was twentysomething and could laugh at an old hippy goofball, but twenty years later there's just something sad about a man's life that's turned out like this, living in some craphole and in a bowling league with a psychotic vet and various unemployed freaks. I'm not saying the cold yuppie life should be the alternative, but this is basically a portrait of a man who's let his life slowly slip down the toilet.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEYpvl0tPVo.





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...there's just something sad about a man's life that's turned out like this, living in some craphole and in a bowling league with a psychotic vet and various unemployed freaks.


Nahh; don't see it that way at all. Dude's house seemed pretty nice, his landlord got along with him well... the guy wasn't even too big a jerk about Dude's rent being late.

Walter may be an explosive reactionary, but I'm not sure he's a full-blown psychotic. Dude seemed to enjoy most of the conversations they had; they argued, sure.. but it was arguments like two people who'd known each other a long time and were very comfortable with one-another. Walter even seemed to show real compassion for the Dude at Donny's funeral.

Bottom line for me, is that Dude's life seemed pretty comfortable... he didn't seem to be going hungry, and was living to make himself happy; I'm not sure what 'various unemployed freaks' you mean... he looked to me, to be generally content, answering to nobody, wanting for nothing and surrounded by people who enjoyed his company.


Sometimes fires don't go out when you're done playin' with them.

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this is basically a portrait of a man who's let his life slowly slip down the toilet.


It's down there somewhere, lemme take another look.

"Don't believe everything you hear on the radio." - Charles Foster Kane

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Lol why would I be depressed watching it? The Dude is totally happy with his life prior to the rug-pissing and subsequent *beep* bits. He has a Zen-like centered-ness and is happy with the simplicity of his life. At no point does he bemoan his retreat from society or not being rich or what have you. In fact you could draw parallels to his demeanor and way of life to Taoism and Buddhism, although the Dude does show clingy-ness and attachment to his rug and his car at some points in the film, and loses his cool with Walter's foolishness as well, but aside from that he is just abiding in his natural state and going with the flow.

Keep in mind that most of the events of the film wouldn't have even happened were it not for Walter screwing everything up. Everything was balanced prior to that, and Walter's actions are what caused a disturbance in the natural balance/order of things, setting of the chain of events that were to come.

So no, there's nothing inherently depressing about the Dude's life, really. Even after all the *beep* he went through, he returns to normalcy and happiness at the end. He outright takes note of this when he says to the Stranger that it's been "ups and downs, strikes and gutters" and that he's just going with it and abiding. Your interpretation of the Dude's situation is tinged with a very pathetically-Western notion of "happiness is gained via success and material gain" which is why you most likely came to that conclusion.

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Wut ; this movie has so much symbolism in it,but even the movie itself doesn't care about it lol

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I watched it and felt a little gassy.




Or my isn't name...

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Living the life you want to live - and not buying the lies fed to us by "leaders", Madison Avenue, and our "fellow" citizens, as you obviously have - is the opposite of being a "loser" (this word means nothing at all anymore), and certainly not a man whose life is down the drain.

The Dude knows it's all a lie - he has no time for meaningless structure, meaningless "achievement", meaningless status. Or meaningless expectation.

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Walter, I love you, but sooner or later you're goong to have to face the fact you're god damn moron :p

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