The Big Walter Sobchak

I think the author overlooks the impact of Walter’s apology to the Dude at Donny’s funeral and what this means to the character’s arc. Something does happen. Walter realizes that he did fuck up. He fucked everything up from the very beginning. Everything is a travesty thanks to him.

The Dude could have just been sitting here with pee stains on his rug… and when the Dude says this, Walter retreats from taking the blame (as he does throughout the movie) by going on about National Socialism vs. Nihilism. And it’s not that Walter admires National Socialism – it’s just that he puts it on a peg hire than Nihilism because at least it’s a belief in something.

Every time Walter is to blame and his defense mechanism is to launch into one of his tirades and diatribes… the Over the Line scene, the Shomer Shabbos scene, and the Family Restaurant scene are classic examples, but there are more.

It’s not until Donny dies that Walter can finally accept blame… blame for fucking up the eulogy of course, but also blame for instigating the Dude to pursue his rug, blame for injecting himself into the handoff which he botches, blame for the antagonizing the Nihilists to the point which causes Donny’s heart attack. Walter is perhaps the most complicated character. He’s living in the past for sure. And not just the 4000 years of beautiful tradition. He’s also still in the failed Vietnam War. He’s also still in his failed marriage. Just look at what’s hanging on his necklace during the eulogy… his dog tag and his wedding ring… two representations of love and loss, whether it was his buddies who died face down in the muck or his marriage which went sour because… well, we can imagine why.

But when Walter accepts blame, apologizes, and hugs the Dude, it is Walter’s most humanizing moment. The character has survive the ordeal, overcome death, and has emerged as a changed man.

I know what you’re thinking… if you’ve made it this far… What about the Dude? Isn’t he the main character? Isn’t he supposed to be the one who changes? Nope. The Dude is perfect as he is. There are lot of stories out there like this. Not sure why, but Ferris Bueller’s Day Off comes to mind. Ferris is perfect. It’s Cameron who is flawed. And Cameron has his own eulogistic moment after the Ferrari is destroyed and he finally decides that he is going to accept blame for everything.

There I go again. Rambling.

A Reddit comment by levine2112. The Big Lebowski is my favortie film. It wasn’t always, I actually saw it in cinema when it came out, when I was about 18, but it didn’t make much sense to me at the time. I’m not sure when exactly I fell in love with it, but I know it by heart and whenever there’s something to celebrate, this is the movie I’ll put on.

I think about Lebowski a lot. It’s almost like a Zen Koan. What is it about? I must say that this comment here sure makes a solid argument…