This analysis is about a scene from the movie "The Big Lebowski", directed by Coen Brothers.
The theater performance of Marty the Landlord represents confused thoughts of Jeff Lebowski, the Dude.
Hence, if you want to demonstrate or show what are the the unconscious thoughts of your protagonist, you can do that in the following way. Introduce unexpected action, like here the theater performance. Since the theatre performance looks like completely unrelated to the current unfolding story (Dude's search for rug and the money), you, as the audience, will search for the reference and the meaning for it. The only possible explanation is that the Marty's performance represents the Dude's unconscious thoughts and Dude's abstract thinking about the events and even about life. The reason why that may be so is how the scene is set up. The Dude is in the dark, watching the theatre scene, which is well lit. This contrast between darkness from which the Dude is watching the lit stage is the tool to represent his unconscious thoughts, to show how the Dude's abstract thinking works. Right away, here, you perceive the stage as the projection of Dude's thinking. Now, in order to prevent that Dude is thinking about Marty only, the sheet and the shadows are introduced to further abstract the movements of the performer and give them more universal, transcendent meaning. The mastery of choosing the method of artistic expression of Coen Brothers, with mathematical precision is evident here.
Also, since Marty briefly talked to Dude earlier (and asked him to attend the theatre play to give him "notes") the direct reference and link to Dude is clear as well.
Perhaps another explanation is in place as well. In the same way our conscious mind lives as a tenant in much larger unconscious space, the Dude lives as e tenant at Marty's rented apartment. This metaphorical mapping is very powerful artistic expression tool.
[ Big Lebowski, Coen Brothers, Dude, Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges, Joel Coen, Lebowski, Lebowski Fest, Lebowski movie, LebowskiFest, Lenowski analysis, The Big Lebowski, The Dude ]
The theater performance of Marty the Landlord represents confused thoughts of Jeff Lebowski, the Dude.
Hence, if you want to demonstrate or show what are the the unconscious thoughts of your protagonist, you can do that in the following way. Introduce unexpected action, like here the theater performance. Since the theatre performance looks like completely unrelated to the current unfolding story (Dude's search for rug and the money), you, as the audience, will search for the reference and the meaning for it. The only possible explanation is that the Marty's performance represents the Dude's unconscious thoughts and Dude's abstract thinking about the events and even about life. The reason why that may be so is how the scene is set up. The Dude is in the dark, watching the theatre scene, which is well lit. This contrast between darkness from which the Dude is watching the lit stage is the tool to represent his unconscious thoughts, to show how the Dude's abstract thinking works. Right away, here, you perceive the stage as the projection of Dude's thinking. Now, in order to prevent that Dude is thinking about Marty only, the sheet and the shadows are introduced to further abstract the movements of the performer and give them more universal, transcendent meaning. The mastery of choosing the method of artistic expression of Coen Brothers, with mathematical precision is evident here.
Also, since Marty briefly talked to Dude earlier (and asked him to attend the theatre play to give him "notes") the direct reference and link to Dude is clear as well.
Perhaps another explanation is in place as well. In the same way our conscious mind lives as a tenant in much larger unconscious space, the Dude lives as e tenant at Marty's rented apartment. This metaphorical mapping is very powerful artistic expression tool.
[ Big Lebowski, Coen Brothers, Dude, Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges, Joel Coen, Lebowski, Lebowski Fest, Lebowski movie, LebowskiFest, Lenowski analysis, The Big Lebowski, The Dude ]
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