Seminar: The Big Lebowski

DigBoston film critic Jake Mulligan leads an investigation into The Big Lebowski’s hazy smokescreen of historical and pop cultural signposts by unpacking its connections to screwball comedies, detective stories, stoner movies, and more!

What is The Big Lebowski, you say? Well, if you have to ask... not only is it one of the biggest and best cult movies of our time, but more importantly, this Coen Brothers classic is an outrageously insane comedy of bowling, confused identities, naked performance art, nihilistic ferret owners, and some unforgettable musical dream sequences—oh, and some guy called "The Dude."

You mind if we do a class? Before our annual screening of The Big Lebowski, DigBoston film critic Jake Mulligan leads an investigation into the film’s hazy smokescreen of historical and pop cultural signposts—unpacking Lebowski’s connections to screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s, detective stories of the 40s and 50s, radical politics of the 60s and 70s, stoner comedies of the 70s and 80s, and slacker philosophies of the 90s. It’s a very complicated lecture with a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what-have-yous, and most importantly, a lot of strands direct from ol’ Duder’s head!

About the Speaker

Jake Mulligan is the film section editor and critic at DigBoston, is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, and has taught classes and seminars at the Coolidge before, including “Defining Screwball Comedy” in 2019 and “Roger Corman, Producer” in 2020. His film criticism has also been published in The Boston Globe, The Boston Phoenix, and Filmmaker Magazine.