“I’m sure I’ve mentioned this somewhere along the way, but every year I go on a pub crawl with some friends along(ish) the freedom trail. For a few years, we had a game that involved randomly picking nametags that we had to answer to for the day. One year, I was “”The Dude””. All day, friends would ask whether or not I abide. My affirmative answer was met with cheers.
But I wasn’t always a fan of The Big Lebowski. In fact, I think it’s that day that may have convinced me to reconsider. The film was a hall favorite back at my dorm, and was often on in our tv lounge. For whatever reason, whenever I’d walk in on it playing, it was always the funeral-esque scene. That, and I recall often hearing someone say “”Shut the \m/ up, Donny””, which was occassionally jokingly directed at me, playing off our name similarity.
Revisiting The Dude, I’ve learned to compartmentalize the film a bit. I think what mostly turned me off before were the weird dream sequences and just the absurdity of the plot. Now, I just sorta ignored those elements, focused more on the Dude and his interactions with his buddies. That’s where the magic is. Just don’t try to think about it too much, which was my problem before. Simply abide.”