Zondervan Publishing is telling us that there's a new book pending called, The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers. That should be a holy hoot.
The Coen Brothers, of course, are the film genii (geniuses?) who have given us, Fargo, Blood Simple, No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, Burn After Reading and, my personal fave, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Among other film classics.
The mind reels at what "The Gospel of the Coen Brothers" might include. I know one of my favorite takes on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is the paraphrase offered by Ulysses Everett McGill, in O Brother, when he says...
Consider the lilies of the god-damned field or... hell! Take at look at Delmar here as your paradigm of hope. Sacrilegious? I reckon. But apt? Absolutely.
Or how about these excerpts from Lebowski...
Donny: Are these the Nazis, Walter?
Walter Sobchak: No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of.
And:
Bunny Lebowski: Uli doesn't care about anything. He's a Nihilist.
The Dude: Ah, that must be exhausting.
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I love the poor nihilists!
How about it? If you were writing this "gospel," what excerpts and readings would you include?
[WARNING: Any discussion of the Coen Brothers movies will quite likely involve obscenities and questionably tasteless material. Enter these comments at your own risk...]
10 comments:
Cool topic!
Since my latest re-viewing of The Big Lebowski, I've been fascinated with the theme of rules. Especially the scene where Walter calls foul on another bowler, saying "This is not Vietnam, this is bowling, there are rules!" A moment later he breaks one of the cardinal rules of league play by drawing a firearm. Walter, you may recall, is a self proclaimed shomer Shabbos who sure as heck doesn't ROLL on Shabbos!
So, would Walter be representing the Pharisees, you think?
Perhaps. I confess I don't know enough about the Pharisees, but Walter does seem to make up the rules as he goes. (Tossing a briefcase of his dirty undies out in lieu of ransom money comes to mind)
And, from O Brother, after they pick Tommy up, Everett says "Well Delmar and Pete here's just been saved, and you sold your soul to the Devil, so I guess I'm the only one who remains spiritually unaffiliated!" Or something like that.
I'll have to watch "Raising Arizona" again to see if there are any enlightening moments. And Fargo. Hmmm, that may be a tough one. :)
I love that line - and the glee with which Clooney delivers it - in O Brother. I also dig the exchange between Delmar and Tommy, when Tommy said he'd sold his soul to the devil for guitar skills...
Delmar: Oh son, for that you sold your everlasting soul?
Tommy: Oh, it's okay, I wasn't using it...
I didn't realize that the Coen brothers did all of those films--wow!
Thanks for the heads up--I look forward to the book, it sounds like it would make a terrific "sunday school" class!
ps...Dan I've got an award waiting for you at my place, please come and get it...congrats!
I've really been looking forward to this book coming out. You should check out http://dudespaper.com. We're trying to think critically about the Dude over there.
A Dude cult? Cool. I'll check it out.
And thank you very much Crystal, what an honor!
You might also be interested in http://lebowskipodcast.com
I just love the phrase, "Think critically about the Dude..."
Here's an actual link to http://dudespaper.com/ and http://lebowskipodcast.com.
And I also LOVE the Dudespaper. Get ordained as a Dudeist priest?? For free?? Whoa...
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