Today I started thinking about the Big Lebowski, why I love it and why it seems like no one outside of the US seems to like it as much as we do. Stop. Let's go back. Today I'll be talking about the first times I saw the film and how I came to love it
When I first saw the Big Lebowski in theaters I didn't get it. I distinctly remember leaving the theater as a senior in high school think "What the fuck was that?" I just didn't understand what I had seen. It was just a big blur of bowling, cursing, and breasts. At the ripe old age of seventeen I liked those last two, but it seemed as if nothing had happened. But, the movie, or rather my feelings about the movie had stuck with me. After a while the confusion faded as time passed.
Three years later, I saw the DVD at Best Buy. Now, I have a bit of an addiction to buying DVDs (and now Blu Rays) and so, I had probably walked past it over fifty times: sometimes glancing at the title and feeling that confusion rearing it's head. Until that point, I had backed away from it each time. I'm not sure what made me do it, but as with all things that seem be have been fated afterwards, it seems right that I picked it up, took it to the register and brought it to my house at college. Eventually, I watched it. I don't remember if it was the same day or the next week, but I do remember watching it. That day, "The Big Lebowski" changed my life a little bit. That was when I truly began to appreciate cinema and what it can do to you. I distinctly remember turning to one of my house mates and telling him "I love this movie." It was true; I don't even think I knew I loved it until I said it aloud, but there you have it. I love this movie.
So, the question became, why did I love this movie. If you ask most people who are between 25 and 35 who love the Big Lebowski and saw the movie in the theater the first time, it seems to me that they will most likely say that when they first they saw the film, they didn't like it much and it was only upon a second viewing much later that they began to love it. This may be because the humor was too complex and we did not have the experiences to understand it, but I contend that instead that there was too much of us in it. It was too self-descriptive for us to understand why it affected us like it did and only upon looking back, could we see the humor in it. How so, you ask, well that will have to wait until my next post.
When I first saw the Big Lebowski in theaters I didn't get it. I distinctly remember leaving the theater as a senior in high school think "What the fuck was that?" I just didn't understand what I had seen. It was just a big blur of bowling, cursing, and breasts. At the ripe old age of seventeen I liked those last two, but it seemed as if nothing had happened. But, the movie, or rather my feelings about the movie had stuck with me. After a while the confusion faded as time passed.
Three years later, I saw the DVD at Best Buy. Now, I have a bit of an addiction to buying DVDs (and now Blu Rays) and so, I had probably walked past it over fifty times: sometimes glancing at the title and feeling that confusion rearing it's head. Until that point, I had backed away from it each time. I'm not sure what made me do it, but as with all things that seem be have been fated afterwards, it seems right that I picked it up, took it to the register and brought it to my house at college. Eventually, I watched it. I don't remember if it was the same day or the next week, but I do remember watching it. That day, "The Big Lebowski" changed my life a little bit. That was when I truly began to appreciate cinema and what it can do to you. I distinctly remember turning to one of my house mates and telling him "I love this movie." It was true; I don't even think I knew I loved it until I said it aloud, but there you have it. I love this movie.
So, the question became, why did I love this movie. If you ask most people who are between 25 and 35 who love the Big Lebowski and saw the movie in the theater the first time, it seems to me that they will most likely say that when they first they saw the film, they didn't like it much and it was only upon a second viewing much later that they began to love it. This may be because the humor was too complex and we did not have the experiences to understand it, but I contend that instead that there was too much of us in it. It was too self-descriptive for us to understand why it affected us like it did and only upon looking back, could we see the humor in it. How so, you ask, well that will have to wait until my next post.
