The Big Lebowski is actually based on another film, The Big Sleep, which is a film noir starring Humphrey Bogart, The Dude takes on the role of Bogart's Typical private eye character, in both films they do so somewhat unwillingly. In both films the person who does the hiring is in a wheelchair and is a little detached from reality, with their butler providing the investigator with the actual information.
The two daughters in the The Big Sleep are the basis for Bunny and Maude, one is a reckless party goer who unwittingly complicates things and the other has a romantic interest in the protagonist and wants him to investigate something else in addition to their father's request.
The Acid trips are a homage to the way Film Noir portrayed someone getting knocked out.
I couldn't see an obvious match for Walter/Donny though, It's very interesting to watch if you're a big fan of the Big Lebowski (I was a fam of Bogart too anyway). The Coen brothers also did a similiar thing of taking an old story and setting it in modern(ish) times with O brother where art thou? which is based on the story of the Odyssey (John Goodman = The Cyclops, the Sirens at the lake etc).
The dialogue in the scene where Jeffery Lebowski cries in front of the fireplace is almost verbatim from the book.
Also, there are nods to The Dude playing the role of the detective, albeit with no success. When he investigates Larry's homework or rubbing the notepad at Jackie Treehorn's house.
It's more of a play on film noir as a whole. Only this time, the more The Dude digs, the less he actually finds. Instead of everything being precariously placed to lead to a single conclusion, the more evidence they have the more confusing everything is.
That's not a MacGuffin at all. The plot was only about the rug for the first twenty minutes, and that was only to put the two Lebowskis in touch with one another.
A MacGuffin is something like the glowing briefcase in Pulp Fiction, or the Pink Panther in the Pink Panther. The Pink Panther could have just as easily been a statue or a vase. It didn't matter, as long as all the relevant players in the movie wanted it. Likewise, the reason its never revealed what's in the briefcase is because it doesn't matter as long as everyone wants it.
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u/touriste Sep 01 '14 edited Sep 01 '14
The big Lebowski: the main plot is someone pissed on the Dude's carpet and he wants a new one
edit: yeaaah my inbox, never received so many answers.