• DOI:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2006.00641.x
• Corpus ID: 141887692

No Literal Connection: Images of Mass Commodification, US Militarism, and the Oil Industry, in The Big Lebowski

@article{MartinJones2006NoLC,
  title={No Literal Connection: Images of Mass Commodification, US Militarism, and the Oil Industry, in The Big Lebowski},
  author={David Martin-Jones},
  journal={The Sociological Review},
  year={2006},
  volume={54},
  pages={133 - 149}
}

• David Martin-Jones
• Published 18 September 2006
• Art
• The Sociological Review

This chapter examines the political subtext of The Big Lebowski. This subtext critiques the growth of car culture in twentieth century America, and the nation’s resultant involvement in overseas wars for oil. The chapter explores the various formal and narrative elements which are used to construct the subtext, piecing it together from its often oblique references to the changing face of postwar
America, its urban geography, its economy, and its ideology. In particular it focuses on the way that US foreign policy is determined by Fordism, the automobile,
and the need for oil, as it is represented in the film. Thus the film is examined as a work of national cinema that engages with the reasons behind the first Persian Gulf War. With the rapid developments that have taken place in the Persian Gulf since 9/11, this subtext has become much easier to spot than it was previously. This fact however, does not diminish the importance of understanding
its construction.