One of the things I love about The Big Lebowksi is that Walter's outrage is 100% performative. He turns it on and off on a dime.
-
-
3/ This is excellent writing. Bad writing has flat characters with no affect. Good writing has characters with attributes and traits. Excellent writing shows characters as real people who ARE x but PERFORM y.
Show this thread -
4/ Walter is a calm soul who performs outrage. Dude is an easily upset soul who performs calmness. The Big Lebowski is a scared small man who performs importance. The Nihilists are nobodies performing bad-assness. Only Donnie ("true neutral") is himself.
Show this thread -
Show this thread
-
6/ Also, since I'm doing a film (mini) thread, I noticed a nano-trope. How do you should a tough guy being a good friend / sensitive / observant without showing him being a wuss? Have him notice that a STILL LARGE friend or colleague has lost weight.
Show this thread -
7/ Edward Norton's character did this in American History X. He sees one of his neo-Nazi pals who's probably clocking in at 500 lbs and says "hey, you've lost weight?", and indeed, the guy says he has. John Wick does this toohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8goQyjvcjdo …
Show this thread -
8/ Back to Lebowski: https://twitter.com/FreedomViking/status/1123205974544793601 …
This Tweet is unavailable.Show this thread -
9/ Now, here's another interesting thing about Walter: He's presented as a joke. He's got no wife, he's got a random crappy job, he's always ranting about Nam. But Walter isn't a joke. He's just a man in the wrong place. He had a place: 'Nam In 'Nam, his personality worked
Show this thread -
10/ Walter is built for decisive action. The tragedy is that he has a life (bowling in LA) that doesn't call for decisive action or conflict. ...so he creates it (poorly, stupidly). He pulls a gun on Smokey.
Show this thread -
11/ But when an ACTUAL situation arises on its own (the Nihilists attack them), for about 10 seconds Walter is in his element, responds appropriately, and wins.
Show this thread -
12/ He uses improvised weapons to defeat multiple opponents armed with a sword. He has full situational awareness: he knows that Donnie wasn't shot, because - despite being involved in a melee - he was listening to everything, heard everything, knows no shots were fired.
Show this thread -
13/ The combat over, Walter IMMEDIATELY surveys the situation and calls for medical help for Donnie. It's too late, but that's no reflection on Walter. He went from calm to combat to calm to helping the wounded in 20 seconds. His performative outrage is a SKILL !
Show this thread -
14/ His ability to turn it on and off on a dime is a SKILL. The tragedy of The Big Lebowski is that everyone is in the wrong place. The Dude belongs back on a college campus in 1968. Walter belongs back in 'Nam in the same year. The movie is about living too long.
Show this thread -
-
16/ if you like my tweets about movies and writing, you'll also enjoy my wife's threads on similar topics e.g. https://twitter.com/LibertyFarmNH/status/1123242250769715200 …
This Tweet is unavailable.Show this thread -
This Tweet is unavailable.Show this thread
- End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.