Watching The Dude Abide: 'The Big Lebowski', Lebowski Fest and a Case Study of the Creation of the 'First Cult Film of the Internet Age,' 1998-2009

Since its release in 1998, the Coen brothers' movie The Big Lebowski went from mediocre reviews and box office receipts to being hailed as the first cult film of the Internet age. Since its inception in 2002, Lebowski Fest has grown from a one-night, one-off local event in a Louisville, Kentucky, Baptist bowling alley to nationwide two-day events celebrating all things related to The Big Lebowski, including a fourteen-stop nationwide tour in 2009. This case study examines the cult phenomenon as it unfolded between 1998 to 2009 in three areas: the film text itself, the fans' perspectives on the film, and the media coverage of the film and the fans. The film was studied to see how its structure helped to enable it to break free of contextual bounds, allowing it to be viewed and used in ways that pushed it to cult status. Attendees of the Lebowski Fest Speed of Sound Tour discussed their affinity for the film, their beliefs on why the film has achieved cult status, and their interactions with other fans both in person and online to help build a community of understanding related to the film. The traditional media covered the rise of both the film and the festival to their esteemed status, following similar paths of coverage for each, in order to help interpret the phenomenon to the public at large. By examining these three viewpoints, the research attempts to discuss how a paratext can not only reflect back on the central text, but how a paratext can achieve central text status itself. The research also discusses how the media, over time, helps shape the cultural knowledge of an event and how that influence can mirror both the central text and paratext. The research also examines the central role digital technologies played in the dissemination of the fandom surrounding the film. Using multiple methods of examination, including close readings, textual analyses, and in-depth interviews, the research offers an examination of a singular phenomenon from multiple points of view.