A celebration of all things "lebowski", 2006's first Lebowskifest event is being held on Saturday 4th March in Los Angeles. This movie saw me, and my filmic comrades-in-arms, through the final years of the 1990s. It seemed, at the time, a fun way to end a millenium; on reflection, however, the movie has lingered for a lot longer than any of us anticipated during that first viewing...
Little did I know then, that almost a decade later, I would be standing, on Halloween night, in a South London Tesco's, engaged in my own personal homage to 'The Dude', may he abide in all of us.
I don't know 'bout you, but I take comfort 'n that...
3 comments:
Seeing that picture,
One truth rang loud:
The dude abides.
Furthermore, from the City of the Angels Film Festival:
The Dude (Jeff Bridges) keeps the hallucinatory spirit of the Sixties alive. Yet, the Coen Brothers' send-up of slackers, performance artists, and bowlers named Jesus came closest to suggesting the salvific aspects of comedy. The film offers a basic creed ("The Dude abides") and comfort ("It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners"). He plays the fool, but reveals a method to his madness. Fueled by a steady diet of White Russians, The Dude and his posse take down nihilists, pederasts, and pornographers. Is the foolishness of the Dude a nod to Shakespeare's "wise fool"?
Is it good to be a fool? Proverbs doesn't recommend it. Yet, Paul writes that "God chose the foolish things to confound the wise" (1 Cor. 1:27). So, what is the kind of foolishness that God encourages?
The great Japanese author, Shusaku Endo, portrayed Jesus as a Wonderful Fool. Georges Roault painted Christ as a clown. Dostoevsky respectfully declared him The Idiot. Jesus told silly stories, about camels passing through needles and people crawling back into their mother's womb—to be born again.
Did I ever tell you that I meet Jeff Bridges once. in canada. Did I ever tell you I was in Canada...
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