The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West

If you order your custom term paper from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West paper right on time. Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West paper at affordable prices!

Far too often, movies are thrown into easily provided categories known as genres and therefore are forced to follow a certain level of guidelines required of the genre. It is this quality of the genre which provides for a very static and unoriginal library of films within the genre. It is the opinion of the author that good movies should be all encompassing and therefore would not be susceptible to the generalizations of a genre. Prior to writing this I encountered this problem with a movie called The Big Lebowski written, produced, and directed by the Joel and Ethan Coen. In the video store the movie was categorized as a comedy, however, after watching it multiple times it became painfully obvious that it was so much more than just a comedy. The Big Lebowski is a movie about the modern West and the changes in the West since the Western era, and how they have changed the ideals and principles of the genre.

Genre is composed of elements of a film which collectively provides a generalization of the film. Those elements of a Western are easily mapped out by Thomas Schatz in his essay, Film Genre and the Genre Film, "plot development is effectively displaced by setting and character (Braudy 650)." The setting and character of a Western are the crucial elements that make it a Western. First and foremost is setting. The Big Lebowski is set within Los Angeles. The first sentence of the film begins, "Way out west…" thus getting the audience immediately immersed in the idea that this is a western. The very establishing thought you should have when you first begin to watch this movie is that it is a Western and should be viewed as such. The setting of Los Angeles is the epitome of the modern West and is the social epicenter of the Western hemisphere. Secondly and perhaps more importantly is the character. The main character is the Dude, also known as Jeff Lebowski, but prefers to be referred to as the Dude.

For an authority on the subject of the Western hero and the attributes that make him so unique, I consulted Robert Warshows essay, The Westerner. As I began to read the first quality of a Western hero to enter into my view was "a figure of repose (655)." The Western hero is a very relaxed and leisurely individual who makes sudden moves for no man. The Dude is most certainly an ideal representation of the quintessential Western hero, he does not have a job, does not dress up, does not know what day of the week it is, etc. With that under my belt, I was able to classify The Big Lebowski as a Western and went back for more information on the Western genre.

Being that Westerns are all about the setting and character, the issues in which Westerns delve into are also concern that of the setting and character. Schatz goes on to point out the general themes and "fundamental issues" pertaining to a Western, "taming of the frontier, the celebration of the hero's rugged individualism, the hero's conflicts with the frontier community, etc. (64)." All of which apply too perfectly to ignore the connection to the Western genre. The taming of the frontier is that of Los Angeles. Throughout his dealings with the briefcase and all the players involved in the kidnapping, the dude uses the city of Los Angeles to it's complete resources and as a member of the community, embodies it's qualities and meshes perfectly with its ideals and principles.

As far as the Dudes celebration of individualism, he lives and travels alone, with the exception of bowling, the Dude rarely resides within a group of individuals, and is overall comfortable with his solitary situation. The Dude is happy with where he is in life and if it were not for the initial urinating on the rug, the conflict would have never arose. However, it did, and the Dude simply wanted compensation for the rug that was urinated upon, nothing more, than what was due to him. The Dude also has an abundance of conflict with members of the Los Angeles community, the list begins with the Big Lebowski in Pasadena and the kidnapping issues, Jackie Treehorn in Malibu and his outstanding loans from Lebowski's wife bunny, Maude Lebowski and the withdraw of $1 million dollars from the Little Lebowski Urban Achiever foundation, the chief of Police of Malibu, Larry Centers the kid who stole the Dudes car, etc. The conflict within the general Los Angeles community is an ever-growing list for the Dude.

As stated before, the Dude himself is a representation of what Los Angeles has become and the drastic change from a hundred years before when Westerns were set. The changes are drastic, however, the hero still retains his Westerner qualities. For instance, the Westerner is said to be the problem solver and "the man-in the middle, mediating the forces of order and anarchy, yet separate from each (647)." The Dude is the man in the middle of the whole conflict spreading from the fake kidnapping to the conception of Maude's child, the Dude is in the middle of it all. He is working for the Big Lebowski delivering the money, trying to recover the money for both Maude Lebowski as well as Jackie Treehorn, and fighting off threatening Nileists. However, through it all, the Dude has no real connection to the case with the exception of his rug.

The Westerner is always a man of tranquility and peaceful nature; however, his somber mood is not on account of a harsh situation thrust upon him, but rather through his own contempt (647). His somber mood, stems from a higher level of understanding of life and his particular situation as opposed to pity for his place in life. Likewise, the Dude is also very content with his position in life and the way things are going. He is not employed but never mentions that as a problem or something to be ashamed of. The people in his community and practically everyone who opposes him, seems to mention it as an issue against his character but the Dude does not view unemployment in that way. Both the Chief of Police of Malibu and the Big Lebowski both refer to the Dude as a Bum and see his unemployment as a drain upon society immediately generalizing him as the movie was generalized as a comedy. However, lets examine the value of a job in the Western. In old Westerns, the issue of a job or income was not generally brought up, however, the change in values and the society as a whole has lead to the employment dependent community of Los Angeles and the corrupt modern world.

Love is an element of human life which is widely used throughout the film community and in all types of stories. The Westerner never goes looking for love, but rather deals with the women that fall at his lap. There are generally two women in the Western hero's life, the good wholesome women he is to marry, and the well-strong independent barroom girl. As a Gentleman the Westerner will not go against his nature and attempt to woo a woman as most hero's would, but rather the Westerner is involved in situation where "love is at best an irrelevance (655)".

The Big Lebowski brings attention to this element of the Western through the Maude Lebowski character. She is a very independent, feminist, artists, who wants a child from the Dude. Maude represents both of the women in the Westerners life by first and foremost, providing the strong will, sex loving, feminist, to the story and secondly coming a family with the Dude by conceiving his child. The Love might not be as genuine as in the Westerns of old, but that simply reflects the constant alterations of the genre. The values of the community bring forth a different situation and for the audience to reevaluate their perception of the Western and what it represents. Love is never the main theme of a Western and usually serves as a compliment to the action and just another obstacle for the Westerner to conquer. The Westerner is not completely in sync with his female counterparts that is part of the reason for conflict. The women the Westerner confronts generally ensue a "clash of cultures" and thus a breakdown in communication. Through these elements the Westerner is able to control and manipulate the audience and his female counterparts into solving both situations and having everything work out his way in the end.

When he is not by himself or his special lady, the Western hero can be found playing a game of leisure. In the Westerns of old, the Westerner played poker while drinking, a game of skill, leisure, and whit. Warshow explains that poker "expresses perfectly his talent for remaining relaxed and in the midst of tension (656)." The game is an extension of his character and his proficient skill in the game allows for a display of his authority and position in the community. The Dude on the other hand, chooses the game of bowling for his sport of leisure. Although the game asks from some form of physical walking and throwing of a heavy ball, the leisurely nature of bowling fits perfectly within the scheme of the Western. The bowling has now transcended into the poker game of the nineties. No longer are saloons available for gambling on every corner, instead people spend money and enter a league to keep games regular. The method is very different but the principles of the game remain the same to the Western hero. The game is one of leisure, in which drinks are served and skill is tested.

The Western hero is never employed by a structured economy but rather fends for himself on the open prairie. The constant flow of income is not necessary for he himself to survive and provide for himself, instead he survives through other methods of self employment. As stated earlier, the Dude is unemployed and takes pride in the fact that he does not work and is content with that. However, he does accept the opportunity for some outside employment with the Big Lebowski, Maude Lebowski, and Jackie Treehorn too. However, Warshow argues "it is not because he needs to make a living (656)" but rather that the Dude has more noble intentions than that.

The essence of the Western hero however, lies in his selflessness and his dedication to honor and justice. The Western hero exemplifies the American ideal of what a man should be and what exactly he should strive to accomplish. Perhaps even revealing a male fantasy of what the ideal American man is and associating him with the progressive West. The West and the idea of manifest destiny, bring about the connection from the goal for America to progress across North America and it ideally expanding from coast to coast. The same connection can be made with the idea of the Western hero. The Westerner was the ideal model for a man both for men to strive towards and for women to look for in a man, strong, quiet, level headed, and powerful.

The Dude on the other hand is not an ideal model for today's men to emulate and it remains doubtful that women look for unemployed marijuana smokers who bowl for fun in a league. Leading to the obvious conclusion that the cinema no longer provides the audience with positive figures from which to emulate but rather the rebels and criminals which run the crime world and further extend our fascination with crime, drugs, and money. That is the world in which the Dude leads us into even though he is not himself a member.

The Dude is not a member of this crime community because he has higher standards for himself and sustains his high level content nature. He is a noble man, however, his standards do not always agree with that of the common community regardless if he represents them or not. The true essence of the Western hero is his selfless nature only geared towards protecting his stature and personal value. Warshow, touches on this fact and adds that "his tragedy lies in the fact that even this circumscribed demand cannot be fully realized", the other characters in the film, and at times the audience, does not realize the nobility which lies within the Western hero. This realization comes to the audience when what "we respond to is not his victory but his defeat (660)." This point is illustrated beautifully in the death of Donny.

At the end of the movie, the character of Donny dies of a heart attack and although the Dude has already solved the mystery and squared himself with all parties, in essence came out on top, he takes a devastating blow with Donny. However, after Donny dies we see the Dude back where we expect him, in the bowling alley ordering a beer. It becomes obvious to the audience at this point that the Dude chooses this life for himself, he uses this lifestyle to compensate for the chaos and inconsistency of the outside world.

Whether it is the Western genre or any other for that matter, the qualities which once shaped the film might at some point have to be revised do to time. The values and

ethics reflected within the communities these films represent are in constant danger of evolution and thus the film industry must comply. The Dude is a representation of what the west has become and perhaps embodies the true essence of the modern West. Braudy, Leo and Marshall Coen, Film Theory and Criticism.

Oxford University Press, New York, 1.

The Big Lebowski. Dir. Joel Coen. Perf. Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, and John Turturro. Polygram, 18.

Please note that this sample paper on The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West, we are here to assist you. Your cheap custom college paper on The Big Lebowski: A Representation of the New West will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.

Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!