Why was the Cowboy in the Big Lebowski?
By Garland Ward
The cowboy may seem out of place upon first glance in this film, but once you consider one of the major themes in the film, he starts to fit right in.
This theme I’m thinking about is the replacement of the American hero. This theme probably wouldn’t be much without a few keys words in the introduction of the film and the cowboy character, but since it is present, it makes the entire film work on a new level than it previously had.
In the introductory monologue, the narrator, who we later find out is actually the cowboy, describes Los Angeles and the Dude. He praises the Dude as being “the man for his time and place” and says he fits in perfectly. This is later contrasted sharply by the way the cowboy doesn’t fit in at all in the rest of the movie.
The movie plays out, with the Dude responding to an injustice performed on him. The cowboy and the Dude have two significant interactions, one in which the cowboy offers advice and consolation to the dude, and the other at the end of the movie when the Dude has finished his arc.
These interactions are significant when you consider that the cowboy is aware of being replaced by the Dude. In the second interaction, we see the Dude recite the adage the cowboy told his from the first, and the cowboy seems pleased by it. Then the cowboy asks if the Dude has to curse so much, an obvious critique of the Dude style since cowboys aren’t typically foul mouthed. The Dude responds with “the fuck you talking about?” and instead of feeling crossed, the cowboy tells him to have it his way with a smile. This is because it actually outlines a similar rebelliousness between the Dude and the cowboy, and the cowboy likes that.
The last thing the Dude says to the cowboy is that “the dude abides”, and the cowboy tells the audience that he “takes great comfort in that”. This is a stark difference between the cowboy, who would typically rise to the call of action and fight, and the Dude, who abides, and is seen actively avoiding a fight all through the movie. It’s also probably why this line is one of the most memorable lines from the movie.
This theme in The Big Lebowksi is I think what the movie is really meant to be about. The cowboys narration bookends the film, and although he and the Dude only interact twice, they are major plot points in the film. It is a fun, quirky story, but it exists to convey this changing of the guard, from the wild western cowboy to a lazy good hearted man from the settled West. It also makes a hell of a lot more sense then a random cowboy narrating the film.
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By Garland Ward. Copywrite 2018, do not copy without citing me please, that’s plagiarism and you’ll die instantly from the shock of it.