An Introduction to Cultural Studies: the Man, the Dude, & the Hegemon
An Introduction to Cultural Studies
Identifying concepts of
Hegemony and Representation in ‘The Big
Lebowski’
Prof. Bakunin
Written by the Coen brothers and released in
1998, The Big Lebowski is a
counter-hegemonic comedy film that questions popular representations of
cultural identity and flouts notions of conformity. From the standpoint of
Jeffrey the Dude Lebowski, an
apathetic and unemployed member of the Los Angeles subaltern in 1991, the film
rejects social standards and inverts social hierarchies. By glorifying the Dude’s moral virtue and non-conformity,
Joel and Ethan Coen successfully renounce the American dream as a mechanism of
hegemony and, by reversing hierarchical stereotypes, vilify its votaries.
Hegemony,
deriving from the Greek word hēgemōn,
for leader, is defined as the “leadership or dominance,
especially by one state or social group over others.”[1]
But cultural hegemony is a Marxist theory, associated predominantly with
Antonio Gramsci, which describes the notion that a ruling class may manipulate
the values and mores of a society to impose their own Weltanschauung. To contextualise cultural hegemony the American
dream must not be viewed as a national ethos, but instead as an instrument of
social manipulation, used to direct the national agenda, preoccupy the
proletariat, and ensure the maintenance of a subordinate society. Hegemony must
also be understood as a process of coercion and negotiation between the
‘collective wills’ of proletariat and state, and, therefore, can be
defined as the imposition of power or social ascendancy by one group within a
certain society or milieu.
Whereas representation denotes that although mankind is
categorised in binary terms, other distinctions between individuals are
culturally determined. Stuart Hall’s stalwart belief that ‘blackness’ is a
social-construct, devised by the white ruling classes to ‘marginalise’ and ‘dehumanise’
the ‘black-people’, underpins much of representational theory. Due to the
contrived nature of mass media representations and the pervasiveness of
hegemonic encoding, Hall asserts that representation is a ‘mechanism of
hegemony’, as the ‘mass media serves to maintain the dominance of those already
in power.’[2] Stuart Hall defines
representation as ‘to depict something or to place a likeness of it before us
in our mind or senses’, and the Oxford Dictionary states it is, ‘a mental state or
concept regarded as corresponding to a thing perceived.’[3][4]
If representation describes the interpretation and categorisation
of ‘assigned meanings in relation to other identities’, culture is the climate
in which identities originate.[5]
The Coen brothers, by ennobling
Jeff Bridge’s character and demonising state representations in The Big Lebowski, successfully invert US hierarchies and critique its
hegemonic values whilst empathising with the beat generation that ‘the
neo-liberal reshaping of America left behind.’[6] The Anti-War movement and
the mobilisation of black civil rights during the 1960’s gave birth to a subculture
of dissent and non-conformity. Culminating in 1967 with the Summer of Love, the anti-state
counterculture that emerged dispelled confidence in the national ethos and
ridiculed those that prescribed to the American dream. Yet while the hippies
opposed the ‘American work ethic’, Thaddeus Russell continues, ‘a great number
celebrated their Americanism’, and in the mid-seventies –following the end of
the draft in 1973 and the Vietnam War in 1975– the hippie culture deteriorated.[7] An increased sense of
national fervour and a dearth of media interest for the hippie counterculture,
accompanied by the American Bicentenary celebration in 1976, and the majority
of the once flagrant nonconformists became ‘shiftless slaves’ conforming to the
commercial and materialist culture they had initially scorned.[8] The Dude, therefore,
labelled as both ‘the man for his time and place’ and ‘possibly the laziest man
world-wide’, personifies a continued survival of the hippie generation.[9] Based on Jeff Dowd, a
political activist and low-key film producer, the Dude informs us that he was a
co-author of the ‘original Port Huron Statement’ and a member of the ‘Seattle
Seven,’ an anti-war group from
Washington University in 1960, that later roused the Students for a Democratic
Society movement.[10] The Coen brothers, by
subtly revealing the Dude’s disused intelligence and renegade past, ensure a
symbolic victory for the surviving ‘60’s burnouts.’[11] Not only do they denounce
the hegemonic focus on ‘money, advancement and competition’ promulgated
by new wave liberals of 80’s America, but also they outline -with an ironic
inversion of social stereotypes- the ‘absurdity and deep sadness’ that a
cultural adoption of these notions caused.[12] In the same way the Port
Huron Statement ‘criticized American society for its focus on career
advancement, material possessions, and military strength’ in 1962, The Big Lebowski flouted contemporary
hegemonic values.
The Coen brothers also
repeatedly question notions of common
sense in the film, berating popular culture for its subservience to the
American dream and reproving the unwitting acceptance of democracy. The film
subtly tests the common sense of its
audience by simultaneously presenting false interpretations of objects
alongside their real representations. Note that the two animals in the film,
interpreted as a “fuckin’ Pomeranian” and a “nice marmot”, are in actual fact a
Yorkshire terrier and a ferret.[13] Representation further
helps us understand The Big Lebowski,
as each character in the film represents a different subculture of contemporary
America. Jeffrey Lebowski fulfils the role of the Marxist bourgeois leader, John Goodman plays the militant realist (Walter Sobchak), Tara Reid is
the materialistic consumer (Bunny), John Turturro, an eroticised representation
of a fetishised Hollywood construction, acts Jesus –“the pederast”– and the
Dude, indifferent to the economic system and neither an active worker nor
consumer, represents a resistance to hegemony. Intended as a spoof on The Big Sleep, the Coen brothers implement
the same film noire detective story in The Big Lebowski. However, the film goes beyond a synthesis of just film noire techniques and uses
idiosyncrasies from other contemporaneous and culturally significant
representation modes as well, such as pornography (by way of Jackie Treehorn &
Bunny) and post-modernism (in form of Maude Lebowski). By recycling themes used in Bogart and Bacalls’ 1946 thriller, Coen & Coen employ the Dude as Chandler did Marlowe,
placing the tragic hero in a corrupt society ‘where everyone has a price and the powerful win out
every time.’[14]
Although the ‘labyrinthine storyline’ in The
Big Lebowski is itself a ‘parody of the genre’, the Dude, as a satiric
reflection of Philip Marlowe, represents the principled but tragic hero who prevails
against the odds.[15]
All advanced societies are, as Stuart Hall
states, ‘structured in dominance’ and so by using two characters of the same
name, but from opposite ends of the cultural hierarchy, the Coen brothers
reverse preconceived interpretations of the ‘good’ and ‘righteous.’[16] The differences between
the Dude and Big Lebowski highlight this reversal of typecasts. The
juxtaposition of the closed frame shot seen at 11:55 –in which the apathetic
underachieving Jeffrey Lebowski is seen looking into a TIME: Man of the Year mirror– with the entrance of the socially
distinguished Jeffrey Lebowski in his wheelchair, is a visible inversion of
stereotypical representations. Jeffrey Lebowski is culturally and socially
celebrated, and he offers an ironic personification of capitalism and the
American confidence in it. With proleptic irony we are told about his, “various
commendations, awards, excitations, honorary degrees etc.”[17] from the state of
California, and so his vice at the end of the film highlights the misdirection
and duplicity of hegemonic values in the US. The Big Lebowski tries to impose
authority over the Dude with his discourse, continuously attacking the ‘bums’
and the ‘deadbeats’ during the film.
“The bums will always
lose, Mr Lebowski. Do you hear me? The bums will always lose.”
(Coen & Coen, 54:05)
The Big Lebowski’s statement is supported by most common
representations of the ‘purposeless’ and ‘apathetic people in society’, but the
Coen brothers, with further use of proleptic irony, ensure the opposite.[18] Beyond the simple
comparison of The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski, it is arguable that
traditional film noire of the 1940’s
and 50’s, as with much of the literature from the beat generation,
critiques both the American dream and the peripheralisation of those that fail
to achieve it. At a time of war and growing social mobility the subaltern of America
expressed their discontent with hegemony and some even sought to redefine the
American dream. Hunter S. Thompson, with similar tones of drug-induced apathy
to the Dude, proposed in Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas;
“Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the
weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas... with the music at top
volume and at least a pint of ether.”[19] (Thompson, Hunter S.)
The criticism of hegemony and the American dream is nothing
new; however, The Big Lebowski is set
‘in the late-twentieth-century’ and, as Shaunanne Tangney states, ‘a
late-capitalist America’, and so the marginalisation is magnified and the ‘widening
gap between rich and poor prompts a re-evaluation of the American dream itself.’[20] The American dream is unequivocally an instrument of the
state, used to direct US national agenda and preoccupy the proletariat for the
maintenance of a subordinate and manageable society. Hegemony has a plethora of
manipulative functions, from oppressive discourse to the marginalisation of
recusants, but if subordinate society does not benefit from hegemony, they will
withhold their consent and resist popular culture. The Big Lebowski, with its cult following and resultant religion of
‘Dudeism’, is a primary example of a rejection of popular culture.[21]
The film’s cult status alone indicates a common sense of sentimentality for cultural
and political nonconformists.
Hall also proposes
that representation may be used by the hegemon as an effective means of marginalising
certain subcultures. Not only do engrained representations lead to
stereotyping, but in a similar fashion to Gramsci’s notion of common sense, they also promote the
marginalisation of peripheral subcultures.
Within the movie we see eroticised representations
of Jesus, the Hispanic ‘pederast’ that ‘can roll.’[22] When filming The Big Lebowski, for example, John Turturro wore a ‘bag of bird-seed in his pants.’[23] The prurient mystique and
overemphasised bowling ability that the Coen brothers use to identify Jesus
with are primary examples of, in Hall’s terms, “representations that justify
the alienation of marginalised subcultures.”[24] The majority of
representations in the film, however, serve to denounce hegemony in a similar
way to the rest of the film. Thus, we encounter innumerable allusions to war
and several demonised representations of the state. In the first scene we see
Bush Snr. condemning the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990, next is the bellicose
and patriotic hyperbole of Sobchak, and finally, during the Dude’s ‘acid
flashback’, he encounters Saddam Hussein at the bowling alley. In another
scene, after having his caucasian
spiked by Jackie Treehorn, the Dude is arrested, assaulted and then ejected
from Malibu by a despotic sheriff. On hearing the Dude’s intoxicated
interpretation of events, the sheriff replies, “Jackie Treehorn draws a lot of
water in this town. You don’t draw shit, Lebowski.”[25] This quotation supports the
notion that the state, as a component of hegemony, helps to maintain the ascendancy
of those already in power. Such demonised representations of the state and
frequent war references only help to highlight the Dude’s resilience in the
face of injustice and are employed to outline his unerring rectitude, despite
his ‘deadbeat’ social status, within the most sinful and corrupt of societies.
The
Big Lebowski is a nostalgic film, indulgent in a bygone 60’s sentiment,
and whilst it only offers discredited representations of authority, it does
offer useful models for the increased understanding of cultural hegemony. In
homage to a generation socially and culturally disregarded the film upends
cultural convention and reverses stereotypical representations of both the state and hero. By satirically criticising both the hegemonic values of
America and those people that benefit from conforming to such values, The Big Lebowski helps us analyse,
understand and contextualise, albeit in candid terms, both cultural hegemony
and representation.
[1] Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
(1989)
[2] Hall, Stuart Representation
& the Media ChallengingMedia
(Oct 4, 2006) [Accessed 17 May 2015]
<www.youtube.com>
[5] Anon. Stuart Hall: Representation pptx. Blackboard Portal (2015) <blackboard.ncl.ac.uk> [Accessed 17 May 2015]
[7] Russell, Thaddeus A Renegade History of the United States: How
Drunks, Delinquents and Other Outcasts made America Simon & Schuster,
2010 [Accessed 18 May 2015]
[10] Vietnam
War Era Ephemera Collection Digital
Collections 2004 University of Washington Library <content.lib.washington.edu>
[11] Raz, Guy The Dude: A Little Lebowski,
Alive in All of Us (May 2008) <www.npr.org> [Accessed 18 May
2015]
[15] Mina di Sospiro, Guido
An Esoteric Take on The Big Lebowski 2013
<realitysandwich.com> [Accessed 19 May 2015]
[18] Mina di Sospiro, Guido
An Esoteric Take on The Big Lebowski 2013
<realitysandwich.com> [Accessed 19 May 2015]
[19] Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (pg.12) Random House 1971
[20] Tangney, Shaunanne The Dream Abides: “The Big Lebowski”, Film
Noir, and the American Dream Rocky Mountain mla. 2012 <www.jstor.org/discover> [Accessed 19 May
2015]
[21] Jones, Jenny The Big Lebowski: An Illustrated, Annotated History of
the Greatest Cult film of All Time MBI.
2012 <books.google.co.uk>
[Accessed 19 May 2015]
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