Full transcript
0:08The 1998 Coen brothers film, The Big Lebowski, is one of my favorites. I know this isn't a unique opinion. The Big Lebowski isn't some obscure art film that only the hippest, most cultured film buffs have heard of. It's It's widely adored, and it's no secret why. It's [ __ ] hilarious. There's just something so entertaining about
0:28watching these incompetent characters stumble stumble through such a complex and layered plot, all the while being completely incapable of even communicating with each other. This is why I first fell in love with this movie. But, as I grew older and learned more about filmmaking, I realized this film was not only immensely entertaining, but rich in themes and symbolism. This
0:50film is layered with hidden meaning. So, what's the film trying to say? What is it really about? Some people have said it's a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. Some say it's about the clash between authority and counterculture. Now, yes, I think both of these explanations play a part in unraveling the meaning of this film.
1:12But, I wouldn't say they solve everything, because this film isn't about just one thing. Like the story found within it, the film's overarching meaning is a complex mystery. But, if I had to label one thing that defines this film, if I was forced to say what it's most about, I'd say masculinity. More specifically, the
1:33battle between masculinity and femininity, between the patriarchy and the matriarchy. It is about weak men, failed men, in all different styles and shades. In this video, I'm going to spotlight the moments in this film where this theme is most apparent. And with this, I'm going to unravel the mystery of the plot itself. I'll give my best
1:53explanation of who did what, of who's working for who. But, but at the end of the day, whether it's the the the beats of the plot or the characters or the actions that tie the two, they all end up suggesting a similar theme. The decline of masculinity. The first clue to this is found within the title itself, The Big Lebowski. It
2:12pays homage to the classic noir film The Big Sleep. Because, yes, The Big Lebowski is a noir film. Well, it's It sort of is. I mean, really it's it's something entirely unique. But, but I don't know. I mean, it's definitely a lot like a noir film. But, rather than having strong, confident, masculine characters solve the mystery, like
2:32Humphrey Bogart, for example, it has lazy, incompetent losers. Gone are the characters who fight and charm their way through obstacles, who woo and rescue the fragile females. The Big Lebowski reverses the roles of classics such as The Big Sleep. There's no display of old-school Hollywood masculinity here. A style of masculinity now considered toxic. In the Coen
2:54brothers' take on the noir genre, there's no grabbing women by the arm and forcing them into a kiss, no condescension, no knight in shining armor saving and simultaneously dominating the delicate females. Instead, it's the women who do the dominating. Okay, but let's actually get into the movie. It begins with a narration over shots of a tumbleweed coming out from
3:14the western desert and into the streets of LA. This narrator is Sam Elliott, one of the most masculine men to ever live, the Marlboro Man, and just an all around just manly man cowboy. He's [ __ ] cool, totally unlike all of the characters in the story he's about to tell us. He is not part of their world. He
3:34doesn't fit in, much like the desert tumbleweed on the neon-lit city streets. When our narrator finally begins to introduce the main character, The Dude, he begins to jumble his words and he keeps repeating But, sometimes there's a man. Sometimes there's a man. Wow.
3:54Lost my train of thought here. But Yeah, hell. In my opinion, this is the movie getting right to the point of telling us that it has something to say about men. And I know this little detail may seem irrelevant right now, you know, just a a line the narrator is saying somehow means something like there's no way that
4:13that is actually relevant, but believe me, it is. Every word in this script was chosen for a reason. There are so many little moments, so many little lines of dialogue that hint at the overarching theme of weak men. And throughout this video, I'm going to point out as many examples as I can. Look at the next scene, for instance, when Jackie
4:33Treehorn's goons mistake the Dude for Jeffrey Lebowski, a rich and powerful man with the same name as the Dude, whose wife owes him money. One of the goons pisses on the Dude's rug. Now, sure, primary purpose of this action is to set the entire plot in motion, but it also makes us think about the primal competition for dominance amongst men.
4:54You know, the way that dogs piss on each other's territory. And of course, this occurs in the Dude's dirty apartment, one with a dirty toilet with the seat left up, one where a female is clearly not present. Then we move on to the opening credits. It plays the song The Man in Me by Bob Dylan. Some of the lyrics we hear are,
5:12"The man in me will do nearly any task. As for compensation, there's little he will ask. Take a woman like you to get through to a man like me." And lines like, "The man in me will hide some time and you know, you get it. Obviously, it's a song about men and how they relate to women. And maybe even how they could be
5:30used by women. We see our main characters bowling. All three of them are losers, failed men in in their own way. The Dude, whose nickname is a male nickname and who calls everyone else man, is lazy. Walter is physically strong, but he's impulsive. He's overly aggressive at the wrong times, but then also a pushover at
5:52others. Donny is weak, timid, and ignorant. Donny rarely speaks a word to anyone, but when he does, he's usually only doing so to try to figure out what's going on. If my wife goes out and owes money all over town and they pee on my rug? They pee on your [ __ ] rug? They peed on my [ __ ] rug.
6:11When the Dude goes to Mr. Lebowski's house, his servant Brandt gives the Dude a tour of Mr. Lebowski's achievements. One of them is at least as far as I can tell, the first nod to Alice in Wonderland in the movie. It's a large key. You know, it's like in Alice in Wonderland, she gets shrunk down and the
6:29key is really big compared to her, you know thing. And then another thing that Brandt shows the Dude is a photo that Mr. Lebowski got with Nancy Reagan. But, not Ronald Reagan. Only the wife of the president, never the president himself. And then of course, notice the man of the year on the fake Time magazine. Again, themes about
6:50what's male and female, just, you know, all over the place. Okay, so you're a Lebowski, I'm a Lebowski, that's terrific. But I am very busy as I imagine you are. What can I do for you, sir? Uh In the next scene, where uh the Dude and Mr. Lebowski argue about whether or not he deserves a replacement rug for the
7:12one that was pissed on by the people whom his wife owed money to. This is where another meaning of the film first shows. It's about the clash, the cultural battle between the authority, the man, and the hippies, the bums. The man, the authority, they hate people like the Dude. THE BUMS LOST. MY ADVICE TO YOU IS TO DO
7:34WHAT YOUR PARENTS DID. GET A JOB, SIR. THE BUMS WILL ALWAYS LOSE. YOU HEAR ME, LEBOWSKI? THE Lebowski and all he represents shows his contempt for the dude by refusing to replace the rug. But as soon as the dude is out of the office, he just steals the rug anyway. And then he meets Bunny, Mr. Lebowski's trophy wife, the one who owes
7:56money to the goons from before. Floating in the pool is Uli Kunkel, Bunny's friend. Oh, something his dog. I think it's a Pomeranian. We see that Walter is taking care of his ex-wife's dog while she goes on vacation with her new boyfriend. He is a pushover. He is used by his ex-wife. He's even remained a practicing Jew,
8:16going to the same synagogue as her, even though he wasn't born Jewish. He still wears his wedding ring around his neck. He makes up for his failings with women by lashing out against the environment. And this scene right here is a perfect example of that. But it's not like it's really that impressive for him to lash out against his environment. His
8:33environment is weak, to say the least. He surrounds himself with aging hippies. It makes no sense for him, you know, as as a tough Vietnam veteran to hang out with these people. But maybe this is just a testament of how insecure Walter really is. The dude's landlord is as weak and scared as they come. He's so anxious, he he can he can hardly sum up
8:54the courage to ask the dude for the rent money, even though it's already 10 days late. And he also does this for fun or like a hobby or something. So, interpret that however you'd like. The dude is called back to meet with Lebowski again, thus setting the main plot in motion because Lebowski's trophy
9:14wife, Bunny, has been kidnapped. What makes a man, Mr. Lebowski? Are you saying that there's like a theme to some of his dialogue? Strong men also cry. Strong men also cry.
9:36The dude and Walter's bowling rival, Jesus, is introduced. He bowls incredibly and he then taunts the Dude and Walter after. We see he's aggressive, capable, and intimidating. Listen to me, we're going to [ __ ] you up. In a sense, this sort of seems masculine, but everything else about him says the opposite. His outfit, his
9:58painted [ __ ] towel, his pink bowling ball, the fact that he's a convicted sex offender. He's a sex offender. What's the record? He did 6 months in Chino for exposing himself to an 8-year-old. When he moved to Hollywood, he had to go door-to-door to tell everyone he was a pederast. Well, and again, look at that package.
10:16What's a pederast, Walter? Shut the [ __ ] up, Donnie. The most important character in the movie, Maude Lebowski, daughter of Jeffrey Lebowski, shows up to the Dude's house with her bodyguards. They knock him out, steal the rug, and then disappear. This bump on the head
10:38triggers a dream sequence that plays the same song as the intro. You know, that one about being used by women. We see the Dude chasing after Maude on the carpet she's just stolen, but he falls. And when we see the Dude again, he's been shrunken down. And he goes into a hole, you know, kind of like a rabbit
10:54hole. And more references to Alice in Wonderland. But anyway, he's shoved into the hole of a bowling ball and then he's taken on a dizzying ride. Besides the Alice in Wonderland thing, I also think that this imagery, um, when paired with the song, could be another commentary on the relationship between men and women, cuz, you know, like, he gets gets shoved
11:14in a hole and then stuck up the hole and then you get it. Or again, it's it's just a rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland. Or, you know, more than likely it's both. Remember, every frame of this movie is packed with a variety of themes and symbols. Here's the money. And the phone. Please, Dude, follow whatever instructions they give.
11:33All right. Her life is in your hands. The Dude is called back to Lebowski's house, again. He's tasked with delivering a briefcase of money to the kidnappers in exchange for Bunny. And in case you haven't realized it already, he's chasing a bunny. You know, like like Alice in Wonderland, you know? So, he brings Walter along, and if you pay attention to this shot,
11:54we can see that Walter owns his own crummy security company, which is very fitting for his character. The characters in this movie are so well written. Anyways, Walter has a plan of his own, a simple plan. That's right, Dude. The beauty of this is its simplicity. Once a plan gets too complex, everything can go wrong. This line, maybe, could be seen as a
12:16fourth-wall breaking line, you know? It's like a line that's talking about the big plan within the film itself. Anyway, Walter decides to uh give the kidnappers a bag filled with his underwear and keep the briefcase of Lebowski's money. And it appears to work until later that night the Dude's car is stolen outside the bowling alley, along with the briefcase of money they had
12:35left inside it. Do you find them much uh these stolen cars? Takes a minute. Sometimes. Wouldn't hold out much hope for the tape deck, though. The two cops interviewing the Dude over his stolen car represent two very different things. The white cop is just another weak, feminized male like most of the characters in the story,
12:56while the black cop is firm and tough. By the way the macho, manly cop is looking at the Dude, we can tell that he isn't a fan of his lifestyle. Again, this is about that clash between the Dude and authority, the hippies versus the man. Uh is that what this is a picture of? In a sense, yes.
13:15Maude Lebowski contacts the Dude and brings him to her lair. Well, like I said, Maude is the most important character to the plot of this movie. I'll explain what I mean by this later, but for now let's just look at her character. She's a feminist who has a flock of strong, most likely gay, men obeying her every command. She's an
13:33avant-garde artist, very much involved in all of the city's culture from art museums to video making to the music industry. Her lair is covered in artwork, a lot of which seems to do with the female form and motherhood. In this scene, she shows the Dude a porn of Bunny and her nihilist friend, a porn produced by Jackie Treehorn, the man who
13:55sent the goons to Dude's house in the beginning of the movie. I'm going to use a shower. The story is ludicrous. Again, this could be interpreted as a line talking about the movie itself. In just about every other line she has in this scene, though, the themes of masculinity and femininity, of sexuality, are bursting out. My art has been commended as being
14:16strongly vaginal, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina. Oh, yeah? Yes, they don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say, whereas without batting an eye, a man will refer to his dick or his rod or his Johnson. So, these lines are pretty explicit, pretty blatant. There isn't much secrecy
14:37to what they imply. Now, while there is much more of lines like these in the movie, um there are many sexual references that are hidden. And And I mean hidden well. Anyway, like later on in the scene, like okay, why Maude brought the Dude here is because she wanted to hire him to get the money back. You see, she tells the Dude that
14:55her father got the ransom money from a charity fund he had no right getting into, a charity that only her and her father have access to. That is meant for charity, not for paying off the ransom to your kidnapped trophy wife. She tells the Dude that if he can get her the money, then he can have 100,000 of it.
15:13I will compensate you to the tune of 10% of the recovered sum. 100 thousand, yes. Bones or clams or whatever you call them. Bones and clams. Why choose bones and when have those ever been called Oh, oh, okay. They're nicknames for male and female genitals. You see what I mean? You know, I suppose it could be a
15:34coincidence, you know, you saying bones and clams, but I also suppose that's exactly what they want me to suppose. So, you'll see what I mean later when this movie continues to do this. It It loves talking about genitals. All right. So, he says, "My wife's a pain in the ass. She's always busting my freaking ass." The dude listens to Maud's limo driver
15:53complain about the plight of being a married man. Once home, he's thrusted into Lebowski's limo, who accuses the dude of taking his money instead of delivering it. The kidnappers have sent one of Bunny's toes to raise the stakes. Walter isn't impressed by the toe, though. He yells in the diner, but is scolded to quiet down. What about the toe? WHAT ABOUT THE
16:14[ __ ] TOE? EXCUSE ME, SIR. Could you please keep your voices down? This is a family restaurant. Oh, please, dear. This happens to him a lot. Browly rejected prior restraint. a First Amendment thing, man. If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Lady, I got buddies who died face down in the muck.
16:34like the little touch of the dude accidentally grabbing a joint with the change in his pocket when he goes to pay. I'm staying. The kidnappers now come after dude, seeing as how he failed to deliver the money they assume he has it. And they're serious because they threaten to cut off his dick if he doesn't comply. I said we'd CUT OFF YOUR JOHNSON.
16:55AH, YOU KNOW, THE THE themes of shattered masculinity couldn't be any more obvious when characters are threatening each other with castration. But, the dude has gotten some good news. The cops found his car. going to find these guys or, you know, I mean, you got any promising uh leads or Leads? Yeah, sure. I'll uh check with the boys
17:18down at the crime lab. They uh got uh four more detectives working on the case. They got us WORKING IN SHIFTS. LEADS. AGAIN, THIS MAY BE A commentary on the mystery of the movie itself. Solving the case of the movie and how it's
17:40how how you're never going to solve it. And also, you know, it it it again shows the relationship between the Dude and the man, the authority. Now, that is just ridiculous, Dude. No one's going to cut your dick off. Man, I need my [ __ ] Johnson. What do you need that for, Dude? You have got to buck up, man.
17:58And then the tumbleweed song from the very beginning of the movie starts eerily playing in the bowling alley and the narrator just sort of appears next to the Dude. He's confident, he's cool, and he's dressed like a cowboy. Like the tumbling weed in the city that the narrator doesn't belong in this world. His contrast to the environment makes
18:17him seem almost supernatural. A moment later, Maude Lebowski gives the Dude a phone call. Somehow she knew where and when to contact him. Anyway, she invites him to go back to her lair. He gets there and she's not there yet, so he waits for her. If you listen really closely here, you can hear tires screech outside.
18:40Maude rushes in, sets up another art piece about femininity, and dumps onto her counter some supplies that I think are used in cutting cocaine. Somehow her character has gotten even more interesting. We learn that Maude knows of Bunny's kidnappers. The leader's name is Uli Kunkel, the same guy floating in Mr. Lebowski's pool from
19:01the beginning of the movie, and also the same guy in the Jackie Treehorn porno production. Oh, oh, and also his name is Kunkel. Do you see what I'm saying about like hiding sexual terms? Kunkel. I guess it's not that similar, but I mean it it's it's sort of similar, right? Like it's right in that it's conkle. It's
19:17like you know it it it it's like [ __ ] I'm saying [ __ ] On his drive home, the dude notices that a car is following him. And even though he just got it back, he immediately does more damage to his car. But this does cause him to find a high school paper in his car seat. Probably belonging to the
19:34kid that stole it. Walter figures out where the car thief lives and they go visit him. The kid that stole the dude's car is the son of a famous screenwriter who wrote an old western series that Walter is a fan of. This man was the creator of Tales of Masculinity and Heroism, but is now reduced to a
19:52vegetable with a punk criminal as a son. So the dude and Walter, they try to get the kid to tell them what he did with the briefcase of money that was in the car. The dude even starts repeating the same threat that he was just told. homework. I'm going to cut your dick off, Larry. You're killing your father, Larry.
20:07Walter decides to smash the new Corvette sitting in the road that he assumes the kid just bought with the stolen money. THIS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU [ __ ] A STRANGER IN THE ASS, LARRY. DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY, WHEN YOU [ __ ] A STRANGER IN THE ASS? THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY, WHEN YOU
20:26[ __ ] A STRANGER IN THE WHAT THE [ __ ] YOU DOING, MAN? STOP IT! HEY, MAN. I JUST BOUGHT THAT [ __ ] GUN LAST WEEK. WOAH, WOAH, WOAH. YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO INVEST IN little extras like story, production value, feelings. Jackie Treehorn, the man behind the goons in the beginning, the the porn producer,
20:46summons the dude to his massive house. At first glance, it seems that Treehorn might be the first masculine character of the movie to not be an incompetent [ __ ] but a moment later, Treehorn shows himself to be just like the rest of the male characters. Thinking that they're in control, but really dealing only in nonsense. here we
21:05go. Treehorn drugs the dude, sending him into a second dream sequence that includes Maude dressed up as some sort of royal warrior. This sequence is filled with tons of clues we can use to solve the mystery, but I don't really want to give my my solution to it just yet. So, I'll come back to this when I give my explanation
21:24at the end. What's important now is seeing the dude running from the nihilist with the the giant scissors. He He doesn't want to lose his manhood. The sequence shows itself to be a hallucination the dude is having while running down the street. This gets him arrested. This leads to another scene of the dude clashing with authority. I want a [ __ ] lawyer, man.
21:42I want the old Consuela. Okay, did we hear the last name? Was that Consuela? That's just [ __ ] with a slur at the end of it. Like, again with the vaginal sounding names. I mean, okay. Okay, let's move on to Yep, we're on to another macho manly character that hates the dude. It's a cabby who throws the
22:01dude out on the street just because he didn't like the music he was playing. And then in the same shot we see Bunny drive by. She still has her toe and beyond this she's having a great time. Clearly she was never kidnapped. The dude returns home to find Maude naked. They sleep together and she tells him she's basically using him as a sperm
22:21donor. Was that yoga? It increases the chances of conception. She tells the dude that Jeffrey Lebowski, her father, is a phony. He has no money of his own. He gets an allowance from her, his own daughter, much like how his trophy wife did from him. The dude starts to piece together what he thinks is the solution. He
22:39rushes outside into the street waiting for Walter to pick him up. He notices a man spying on him. It turns out a private investigator has been the one following him. And Ken this private investigator is yet another weak and incompetent man, but he does do one good thing. He tells the dude that Bunny is actually a high school girl, a
22:58runaway, and that her parents hired him to track her down bring her back home. He tells the dude that Bunny Lebowski's real name is Fawn Knutsen. Knutsen. Do do you see again, another [ __ ] sounding name. [ __ ] Damn it, I love this movie. The nihilists eat at a diner and we see that one of their girlfriends has cut off her
23:20own toe. Interesting. Walter picks up the dude and they drive to Lebowski's house and they see Bunny's car parked in a fountain. The license plate on her car says Lapine. And what does Lapine mean? It's a castrated male rabbit. So, if you were hoping to see some definitive proof that this movie is really about weak men,
23:40there you go. The Dude and Walter confront Lebowski. They learn that he never gave them any ransom money to begin with. He pulled the money out of him and his daughter's trust fund and he kept it, but he could claim it was lost by the Dude. He didn't even care that his wife was kidnapped. He would rather keep the money for
23:55himself. Walter assumes that Lebowski must be lying about literally everything and once again, shows impulsive and misplaced aggression. This guy [ __ ] walks. I've never been more certain of anything in my life. You stay away from me. Walter I'm more certain of anything in MY [ __ ] LIFE. GET AWAY FROM CALM DOWN.
24:16PUT HIM DOWN, MAN. YEAH, I'LL PUT HIM DOWN, DUDE. WALTER! I'M CALM, DONNIE. We see Donnie bowling.
24:37He's left with one pin standing. He reacts to this as if it's a bad omen. When he sits down next to Walter and the Dude, he isn't looking too good. The focus of the scene is is on Walter and the Dude, but if you happen to pay attention to Donnie, you'll see that he's having something that looks like
24:51numbness in his hands, pain in the arm. I will all [ __ ] you in the ass Saturday. I'll [ __ ] you in the ass in next Wednesday instead. YOU GOT A DATE WEDNESDAY, BABY. When the three of them finished bowling, they head outside to find the dude's car burning and the nihilist musicians who pretended to kidnap Bunny waiting for
25:12them. They fight. TAKE IT EASY, MAN. HIT THE FOUR DOLLARS. AND OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, like any other scene where there's even slight aggressive action taken to you know, there there's talk of ass [ __ ] and you know, sexual domination and men raping each other cuz you know, that's
25:33in every scene. And this movie Oh yeah, and then you know, Donnie dies. It's a heart attack. Call the medics, dude. And then we are introduced to yet another weak pathetic male. He gives them Donnie's ashes. Walter [ __ ] up scattering the ashes and then of course, they bowl.
25:54The end. All right, but what does it all mean? Before giving my full explanation to the mystery of the movie and what I think the movie is saying, I need to get some side stuff out of the way. Some strange geopolitical stuff that I noticed. This film takes place in 1991 during the Gulf War. The war is kind of like a backdrop
26:14for what's happening in Los Angeles. Like it shows George Bush on a television saying, you know, this aggression will not stand. Now, this too could be a commentary on masculinity and you know, territorial blah blah blah, but but then again, I think there's more than this going on here because there's a bunch of other imagery in this film that could relate
26:35to the conflict in the Middle East. The obvious example here is that Saddam is in the dude's dream. And then there are lines like, you know, Let me point out something. Pacifism is not Look at our current situation with that camel [ __ ] in Iraq. Pacifism is not something to hide behind. We're talking about unchecked aggression here.
26:53I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, dude. Across this line, you do not Possibly drawing a parallel between the Dude's struggle and the Middle East. Then there are a few other things that seem like they could be related, but I don't know. Stuff like Walter being a strict Jew cuz you you know how the Jews and the
27:12Muslims get along. And And then how Walter has an Uzi, which was a weapon designed by Israel. And I mean, if it's a weapon that Israelis are using, they're probably using it on Muslims. And then the Dude and Walter's bowling team that their name is Medina Saad. Medina being a Muslim holy site in Saudi Arabia. And Saad meaning ground,
27:34I think. Or it could mean like Sodom, like Sodom and Gomorrah. And And then there's just the fact that this bowling team, again, the Medina Saad, battles Jesus. I mean, this could all mean something more, but I'm not really in any position to know exactly what that is. And then there's also this really strange coincidence that I just have to
27:51point out. I mean, just to give the crazy conspiracy people something to think about. Look Look at the dates on the check that the Dude writes in the first scene. That's right. It's September 11th. This film takes place exactly 10 years before 9/11. Remember, it was released in 1998. Okay, but let's get back to reality. Or not
28:11really reality, but the reality of this story in this movie. As far as the who did what, and more importantly, what happened with the whole missing dollars thing, the movie never totally answers it. This is because the movie is only really about a couple of people that happen to get involved with the mystery. It isn't about those closest to it. This
28:31means that once the Dude is done playing his part in the mystery, then the movie moves past it. So, the inner workings of the mystery don't really matter for the structure and entertainment value of the movie, but they do matter when analyzing it. For the meaning of this film to be known, the mystery of its story must be solved.
28:50Now, I have a theory that attempts to do this. What is this theory? It's simple. Maud Lebowski is behind everything. Now, I'm not saying this theory is completely my own creation. Others have made similar claims before me, but I feel that what I've shown in relation to the theme of declining masculinity does add nicely to this theory.
29:12And I also think I've found a few new clues. But first, let let me explain exactly what I think took place in the background of Big Lebowski's story. Let me tell you the role that I think Maud Lebowski played. When the movie begins, Maud and her father are the only two people in control of this charity trust, but they
29:30hate each other. One is the pinnacle of the hard-working businessman stereotype, the patriarchy, and the other is the pinnacle of the modern, cultured, successful, independent feminist. Both of them most likely want all the power and money of the trust to be under their own control. Considering Mr. Lebowski is phony, dumb, and is actually getting an allowance
29:51from the daughter he despises, I doubt he would try to cross her. But she has every reason to take control away from him. Even more so now that he's married this crazy young woman who's borrowing money all over town, money that her organization will eventually have to pay back. Maud happens to know a group of nihilist musicians that the wife, Bunny,
30:10hangs out with. So, with them, she devises a plan. They get Bunny to leave town for a few days and pose as her kidnappers. One of them even sacrifices a toe to make it look real. Maud knows that her father will have to pull the money out of the charity trust, violating its rules. Because she is in control of the
30:28kidnappers, or is at least working with the kidnappers, she will receive the ransom money once it is given to them. She will collect the ransom money and put it right back into the trust, meaning the trust will stay the same, but her father will no longer be running it. Or maybe she'll keep it for herself. I don't know. It doesn't matter because
30:45the plan doesn't go that far. Because her father does use the kidnapping as an excuse to take the money out of the trust, but instead of paying it to the kidnappers, he just keeps it for himself. All the parties involved don't know this though. They think that the Dude has it. But as Maude herself begins to investigate this, as as she meets the
31:02Dude to try and figure out where the money is, she realizes that he's the perfect man to give her a child. Judging from the art in her home, she's obviously far more obsessed with motherhood than she is ripping off her dad. This woman wants a child and the Dude is now an opportunity to provide her with that. And yeah, I mean probably
31:19the only reason she chose the Dude to give her the child, probably the reason that the Dude was perfect to be the man to give her that child is, you know, because of the fact that her father would hate it. Uh but anyway, after getting pregnant from the Dude and then learning he doesn't have the money, she
31:34no longer has a use for him. The Dude stops playing a part in the mystery and returns to his simple life of bowling. Because the movie is about him and not Maude, the movie ends. Again, the specifics of the mystery or how it reaches its conclusions aren't necessary for the film to function. The conclusion to this story can never be known.
31:53But what I think we can know is who caused it. And who is that person? Maude Lebowski. Now, if we assume even half of this theory is correct, or even if we just assume that Maude is behind the kidnapping scheme, it gives the movie an entirely new meaning. It makes the movie much more about the matriarchy versus
32:12the patriarchy. It makes it much more about sex and gender than it does, you know, the '60s counterculture or Alice in Wonderland. Not that these also can't be included. I mean, these themes are still useful to solving this mystery. Let me let me show you. Like, let's go back to that dream sequence where Maude is some sort of royal warrior and where
32:30the Dude is being chased by the big scissors. This is where Alice in Wonderland comes back into play. The sequence tells us that if the Dude is Alice, then Maude is the Red Queen. I mean, just look at the floor they're standing on. It's checkered. Just like a chessboard. I mean, it is just obvious that she is the Red Queen. I mean, she's
32:47got the red hair, the red look. I mean, all her art it it's she's the Red Queen, okay? That's that it she's the Red Queen. And what does the Red Queen say? Off with their heads. But this version of the Red Queen doesn't threaten decapitation. She threatens to cut off people's dicks. But wait, wasn't it the nihilist who
33:04threatened that? Weren't weren't weren't the nihilists the ones carrying around the giant scissors in in the dream sequence? Now now yes, you're you're onto something there because you see, for this theory to work, there has to be a link between these two groups. There has to be evidence that shows the nihilist and Maude are working together. There
33:20are plenty of little pieces of evidence throughout the movie such as her saying that she knows of them or or her having their album. But this doesn't prove that they would conspire together. As far as I can tell, there is only one piece of evidence that links Maude and the nihilist together in the scheme. It's a secret little Easter egg that the
33:37filmmakers hoped we would find. It is right here. Hanging on Maude's wall. This is what I think definitively shows that Maude is behind the nihilist. Maude is behind the threats of castration. Maude is the one saying off with their heads. Maude is the Red Queen. This right here is the filmmakers telling us that she controls
34:00all of it. Okay, but what are the Coen brothers saying with this movie? With Maude in control and and the dude getting her pregnant? What are they saying? Well, I mean, the the beautiful thing about movies like this is that you never know exactly what they're saying. You can only make your best guess with the
34:20themes and symbols they feed you. For instance, maybe here they are saying that that now, decades after the '60s, this old hippy peace and love ideology that abandoned most aspects of masculinity is now being used to fuel, to impregnate this new matriarchal underground subculture that's spreading in the entertainment industry.
34:42Or or maybe they're not saying something this extreme or or specific, but at the very least I'd say they're commenting on male weakness, particularly in all that Hollywood represents. There has been a noticeable decline of what we call masculinity in pop culture. And this isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing. You know, Bogart's style of masculinity
35:02had its charm, but it also had some very real problems. This film shows the polar opposite of this style. It isn't just an undoing a censoring of toxic masculinity. It shows the destruction of masculinity in general. Now, maybe the Coen brothers are saying this is good. Maybe they're saying it's
35:23bad. Maybe they're not talking about this at all, but from what I can tell, these themes are far too prominent for them to have written this script without these notions at least partially in mind. But at the end of the day, I don't think I or even they can really say exactly what this film means because one, there are
35:42no complete answers for something like this, and two, this film's primary purpose isn't about making some grand statement. It's about being funny. Yes, it may be deep and layered and thematic and wise and mysterious, but but above everything else, it's [ __ ] funny. Am I wrong? No. Am I wrong? Yeah, but Okay, then.