Was the Dude actually happy? Was he content with wasting his life?

Was the Dude actually happy? Was he content with wasting his life?

Happy birthday Jeff Bridges

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Literally the only time he is discontent is when he loses his rug.

I wish I could be more like the dude.

Not happy, but complacent with his life
How happy can you be living his life?

why are super smart people usually burn outs and under achievers?
I've seen this happen IRL

The Dude didn't see chilling, bowling, and being high all the time as wasting his life. He literally just did the things that made him happy and didn't give a fuck about anything else

So to answer your question, yes he was happy

smart enough to know its pointless

Say something nice about him.

Was Sisyphus happy rolling a boulder up a mountain all day every day? He kept doing it. Isn't that an allegory for all our lives? Isn't everything eventually pointless?

I guess. I know a guy that allegedly has an IQ of 140+, knows a few languages fluently and is content with landscaping

Because they're smart enough to realise that ultimatly striving your whole life to achieve an unattainable goal that won't make you happy is stupid. So they're content with what they have and just want to chill and hang out.

He wasn't happy. He wasn't sad either. He just was.

whats wrong with landscaping

Does it cure cancer? Does it stop aging? Does it allow for brain transplant? Does it grow eatable meat from nothing? No? It's fucking worthless.

too high expectations/goals leads to apathy and depression

He was based on the hippie activist Jeff Dowd who went to jail as part of the Seattle Seven for Vietnam anti-war activism.

The point is that The Dude used to give a shit but life beat it out of him and now he just exists and tries to avoid misery, hence the highly specific early 90's LA setting where a lot of burnt out jaded old hippies would have ended up.

why would you want to do any of those? Is your ego so frail that you can't accept that that's how nature works?
Maybe the dude likes flowers.

Worthless to you maybe. Maybe this dude just likes to chill out and cut some grass. Maybe that's what makes him happy and he doesn't give a fuck about curing cancer

I'm pretty sick of this idea that intelligent people have an obligation to cure diseases and keep everybody living a little longer. Give me a reason why I should create medicine and stave off death for a few years for some people instead of doing something that makes me happy? Have I resigned my right to enjoy life simply because I was born intelligent?

To live is to suffer m8. Inner peace is based on how you deal with the world. A landscape artist realises this and lets go of all worldly desires and wants.

God forbid you try and make money off it. Just look at how (((they))) treated Tesla

>wasting his life
[citation needed]

...

Yes. The Dude is better than just happy. He is content. Happy birthday, Jeff!

The Coen bros. adore idiot protagonists. Most of their movies have idiot characters. Character that are naive, simple minded, uneducated and so on. The Dude is no exception, he is an idiot too. A cool smart one but still, a full fledged idiot. Real idiots are mostly very happy. Ignorance is bliss sort of thing.

When the Dude gets an opportunity to make some cash he just grabs it, he's not a simpleton after all, but he has a naive moral code. That's why he's so stunned that there never was any money in the bag. It never crossed his idiotic mind that he was being played to begin with, and he needed a super moron like Walter to realize that. All he wanted was his rug back.

Lebowski doesn't strike me as a character with many regrets if any at all. He is very content with who he is, he fully embrace his lifestyle too. He dreams about bowling and is scared of nihilists. This isn't an anxious guy, this isn't a neurotic guy either. This is a dude who loves to get high and just wanted his rug back. Simple things for a simple guy.

I think he's a man who's really just content with his life. Naive? Maybe, but an idiot?

>why are super smart people usually burn outs and under achievers?

They aren't. Smart people are usually happier because they can get better and less exhausting jobs.

>early 90's LA setting where a lot of burnt out jaded old hippies would have ended up
That sounds like a super cozy scene. Listening to SoundGardener and drinking PBR. Asian girlfriend.

I would say more of a fool than idiot

>Le wasted life meme

If you could just smoke and drink russians everyday and dont give a shit you would do it

makes sense. must be tough when you're a wunderkind with burden of expectation. sounds pretty alienating

As long as his rug wasn't being pissed on, yes.

Great voice

but Sisyphus was being punished by the gods, he didnt choose to roll a boulder up a slope.

Sisyphus' rolling of the boulder wasn't pointless IF you imagine Sisyphus happy, i.e. if Sisyphus was able to give his endless task meaning, then there was a point to it.

How you face the absurd determines your outlook.

Nigga thinks real life is a John Carpenter movie lmao at the retard

Why should he be obligated to do those things because of his intelligence?

>Does it cure cancer? Does it stop aging? Does it allow for brain transplant? Does it grow eatable meat from nothing?
dude like lets end hunger and death itself like in sci fi right? 40 bilion people in the planet who cares

He was great in the little prince.

yes, yes....but he didn't ACHIEVE, sir
ah, are you employed?

Are we being punished? Do you choose to work everyday from 9-5 towards a blurry undefined and mediocre goal.

Ten best Jeff Bridges roles:

1. The Last Picture Show
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Fisher King
4. Fearless
5. Starman
6. The Fabulous Baker Boys
7. True Grit
8. Thunderbold and Lightfoot
9. Hell or High Water
10. TRON

It's a nuance I guess. I don't think he's perfectly content with his life, I think he stopped caring about his personal achievements a very long time ago and just goes with the flow. The Dude is playing jazz IRL if you will. He really doesn't follow any rules but his own.

In the after sex bed scene with Maude he even impresses her with some of his early achievements. But he doesn't even care really. He's so past that sort of things. He knows he's better than that, and that's actually pretty smart and sexy. He doesn't try to impress, he's just who he is.

He's a mirror, like the old zen masters, that's why he keeps repeating other's shit, he's just enjoying the ride.

This will not stand, man

Well i got family to support, so in a way im forced to choose to work, but im not unhappy about that situation.
Sisyphus hubris brought the punishment upon himself by declaring he was craftier than Zeus himself.

wow
you're cunt

blood and soil is more important than personal achievements. you struggle so your kids have to struggle less

I'm fifteen, the post.

most retarded shit I've read in a while, thanks

>blood and soil
you have to go back Sup Forums

I don't remember evidence of The Dude being smart. I thought his was an "ignorance is bliss" type situation?

To be fair, you have to have a really high IQ to be a burnout-underachiever.

I'm not sure, but he abides.

Jobs are slavery. He actually got to live instead of slave away at work.

I have a 136 iq and have a phd, but all i do for a job is technical writing for a pharma company. It's absurdly easy and boring. I turned down a management position a few years ago. I just sit in my cube with my headphones on all day and shitpost here half the day. I smoke tons of weed erryday and just lay around playing vidya when I'm home. Never go out, no friends, no family. Total loser. Aside from having a real job the dude is much more accomplished than i am.

How did the dude live? I can't quite remember how he had the money to afford living.

that would just be like my opinion man

are you implying the dude was super smart? because nothing really indicates that he is

He looks just like the guy that an heroe'd at the Hague tribunal.
Biopic when?

he was related to the guy who invented the Rubiks cube. the Coens got rid of that in the script.

Seems better than being a Home Depot shift manager, which was the upside of the Dude trying hard

So its never explained where he gets his money?

Living the dream.
You should find something you are passionate about, for reals. It can be vidya, or anything. If you have something you really badly want it fills your heart with meaning.

well he seemed like a pretty forward-thinking dude to me

again: he's related to a guy that invented a billion dollar toy fortune.

I mean like, Its never mentioned in the movie then since its cut from the script. I guess it doesn't really matter in the end.

It's been a long time since i've seen it.

They have huge expectations placed on their shoulders by their family and society from a very young age and crumble from the pressure.

He doesn't have money, he's almost completely broke in the movie. Consider the first scene in the supermarket, the dude writes a check of 0.69$ for a single bottle of milk.

youtube.com/watch?v=j1epEtB0lVo

Erno Rubik is 73 and has lived in Hungary his entire life.
Jeff Bridges is 68 btw

The dude could just have some little savings from his day touring in bands.

I mean he doesn't pay rent and writes less than 1 ollar checks

I always assumed he sold pot

He lives on residuals from inventing the Rubik’s cube. He has it made.

I'm not smart, but I'm going through with a computer science degree because that's the only way to get a real job. Honestly all I want is enough money to rent an apartment, feed myself, and be healthy. Did landscaping for a few summers and I really enjoyed the freedom I had, the fact that I could listen to music for 8 hours a day. Currently working on the backend of a hardware store constantly updating/adding items, and my boss is right behind me at all times. Can't listen to music, can't go anywhere besides the backend of the website and Google for images, it fucking sucks

3 minutes into the movie, and already you just know it's going to be something seriously fucking great. This movie deserves it's cult status no question

you mean coitus?

This. Also, the only conflict in the movie is caused by a slip into greediness. After losing his rug, he decides to steal one from Lebowski, and he lets himself get sucked into the kidnapping plot because he was tempted by the promise of money. If he would have just let the rug thing slide, he would have kept on being happy.

Based on the date that speech was given, he's also post-dating that check, which implies he didn't even have the 69 cents (which is another subtle, but genius joke). He's also late with his rent, and it's implied that happens all the time.

The Dude is clearly supposed to be completely broke, but okay with it. I always figured he just figured out a way to get money when he had to. Maybe he did side-work for Walter once in a while, or lived off of whatever bowling winnings he got. The people in his life, including his landlord, all like him and never seem to mind that he's broke, so it wouldn't be hard for him to coast.

He definitely sold pot

My guess is that he sold pot.

by being a fictional character

I bet you also wonder why nobody sneezes or goes to the bathroom