The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers

by Cathleen Falsani

Whether you’ve seen only a couple or every single one of their fourteen films enough times to quote them by heart, you know Joel and Ethan Coen make movies like no one else in cinema. The Oscar-winning Coen brothers’ quirky and enduring films are rich with meaning―much of it hidden just beneath the surface, gems of spiritual and existential insight waiting to be excavated. Join award-winning religion columnist Cathleen Falsani as she explores the deeper truths found in these engrossing movies. Falsani examines each of the Coen brothers’ films, from their debut, Blood Simple, to their latest, A Serious Man. Ranging from iconoclastic comedies such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski to an unblinking treatise on the nature of evil in No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers have created moral universes in which some of life’s essential questions are asked―if not always answered. These queries run the gamut from the meaning of life and enlightenment, to the fundamental nature of truth and love. There is seemingly no question the Coen brothers are afraid to tackle, either with a wink and a smile or brutal honesty (and sometimes both). As Falsani examines the soul of the movies, she weaves her own experiences, impressions, and cultural and spiritual analysis with a journalist’s keen eye for investigation and a film lover’s passion for the cultural medium. By turns thought-provoking and entertaining, you’ll come away with a new admiration for these sometimes bizarre, always clever, and unmistakably virtuoso filmmakers and their films.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Christianity, Religion, Media Tie In, Theology, Spirituality

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2009

Reviews

[Marvin · Rating 1 out of 5]

In Cathleen Falsani's introduction, she states...

"It would be dishonest to try to wrestle the Coen Brothers' films into a God-shaped box --or woodchipper, for that matter --and that is not my intention."

...and then she proceeds to do exactly that.

The Dude Abides attempts to put a theological spin on the films of The Coen Brothers. I'm not sure exactly what philosophy or religion the Coen Brothers embrace but I suspect the one in this book is not it. Falsani uses 90% of the book to simply describe in detail the plot of each film. This is boring to the ones who know the film and one huge spoiler to those who haven't seen the film and had the misfortune to pick up this book. The other ten percent gives the author's not-so-insightful thoughts on these film. For instance, Falsani's moral to Blood Simple is 'actions have consequences'. Well, dud! Not only does she pick out this gem but connects it to the Bible as if this is some unique Christian insight. This is repeated throughout the book. The maddening thing is often she is right and understands the basic theme of the film. Yet her insistence on pigeon-holing it to a particular religious theology is just insulting to the reader. Other times, she goes into a tangential ramble that I am sure has the Coen Brother wondering if she was watching the same movie.

I read this in a couple hours and it was a waste of a couple hours. The good news is that it was a free book on the Kindle so i didn't waste any of my hard earned cash. I wonder what Ms. Falsani would say the moral of that is?

One other note: The Dude Abides became the first book I actually removed from my Kindle. Thank god for delete buttons!

[Josh Dubois · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible.

I knew it would be bad after looking at it for a minute in the bookstore. I still couldn't help myself. Morbid curiosity.

Most of it is simple plot summary. It reads like a series of movie reviews by a fourth grader.

Every film has a tidy "Moral of the story" section, never more than a single page long. She says Barton Fink is a Zen movie at heart. ??? Really? Hard to stomach, for me at least.

The Coen's seem to be criticized for making movies with too much style and too little soul, and I generally disagree. Seems to me they've got a fair bit to say about the human condition. Ms. Falsani didn't have much to say of interest at all, though. Sigh.

[Michael Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers by Award-winning Chicago Times Religion Writer Cathleen Falsani. I love reading books that look at the theological ramifications of movies and TV shows. And this book looked like another good one. The cover of the book would make an awesome Poster for a room or Dorm room. I thought it was an interesting idea to look at the Gospel through the films of the Coen Brothers. That being said…

The book started off with such promise – it really did. But after the first two movies she tackles – Blood Simple and Raising Arizona – you see a trend beginning a sad trend at that – A half to a page of introduction to the movie, then about 5-10 pages of plot and movie summary, and then another half to a page of “The Moral of the Story…” It continues like this movie after movie page after page. “The Moral of the Story” is nothing really that deep – mainly platitudes – simplistic ramblings of a possible spiritual message. Which means the book is about 9-10% non storyline/plotline rehashing which equals out to about 20-24 pages of actual discussion on the Coen Brothers and the “Gospel” of their films.

She then ends with a two conclusion and “The 14 Commandments” and some group discussion questions – which also are not that deep.

So in hind sight I give the cover 5 stars and the book 1.5 stars. I really can’t recommend this book unless you really want a cool looking cover.

[Adrienne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book could have been good if less time had been spent summarizing the plot of each film and more time had been spent analyzing them. As it stands, It reads like an essay written by a lazy high school student, 90% filler and 10% exposition. I actually stopped reading it after a few chapters. I have seen the film's, this offers little if anything more than quotes and summary.

[Jake · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the chapters are devoted to rehashing the plot which, if you're a Coen brothers fan, you already know by heart. The last half-page is devoted to some semi-Judeo/Christian religious analysis. Not for me, personally.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was a terrible book. It consisted mainly of summaries of all the Coens' film with some "Here's how its kind of like the Bible" analysis. Any educated person can do such analysis on their own.

[Matt Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book hoping for a rebuttal to the view that the Coen brothers are nihilists at heart and that there is no meaning to their films beyond the cold form of their unfeeling art. By summarizing and briefly reflecting on the moral mechanisms of 14 of their films, Cathleen Falsani pleasantly makes a case that there is more than meets the eye, and that while the Coens leave us with more questions than answers, the questions and journey represented by the stories are worth examining and taking.

[Rachel]

I'm not a disciple of Dudeism, or a huge fan of The Big Lebowski, so I didn't hate this as much as reviewers that already know a lot about the Coen brothers' films.

I thought Falsani made some interesting comparisons to other well-established religions and lesser-known tales from those religions.
Those details have encouraged me to rewatch some of their movies while paying more attention to the nuances.

[Brett T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mark Pinsky has a lot to answer for.

Back in 2001, the religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel published an interesting little book called The Gospel According to the Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family. Pinsky noticed that a number of episodes of the yellow-skinned bug-eyed residents of Springfield seemed to feature spiritual themes. He got together with a pastor friend and even produced a Bible study that developed the ideas in his book, using different Simpsons episodes.

But the success of Pinsky's book didn't go unnoticed by publishers, who subsequently bought and churned out approximately six million "The Gospel According to..." titles, ranging from Chris Seay's The Gospel According to Tony Soprano (Render unto Caesar...or else) to Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero (Warner Bros. won't let us say "Superman" on the cover). Some writers have made a specialty out of this kind of faith/pop culture intersection work, notably Seay. He's also got The Gospel According to Lost and The Gospel Reloaded to his credit.

Most of these books are as shallow as the printed page itself. They have a magazine article or short essay's worth of thought air-puffed into book length with lots of repeated examples, lots of white space and, when necessary, pull-quotes that eat up line after line of type.

The books that offer some meat usually take meaty subject matter as their starting points, like Tolkien. Which is one of the reasons that Cathleen Falsani's The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers is so disappointing. Several of Joel and Ethan Coen's films have been deep, thought-provoking explorations and meditations on life and the various folks who live it. Falsani was an award-winning religion writer at the Chicago Sun-Times. In The Dude Abides, taken from what Jeff Bridges' character in The Big Lebowski says about himself, Falsani makes out as if to offer some serious study of the spiritual content of the Coens' movies.

Instead, she offers two different synopses of each film (one long and one short) and then a drive-by reflection that's little more than a sermon illustration. Part of the problem is that she decided to explore each Coen film so far released, meaning she has to waste a chapter looking for spiritual meaning in the dismissable Burn After Reading instead of digging deeper into Fargo or No Country for Old Men. Each of those, in addition to O Brother Where Art Thou or even Blood Simple, might be worth a book's length of investigation in themselves, and they're sure worth the pages wasted on Burn or Barton Fink.

Another problem comes from Falsani's habit of breezy, surface-oriented writing. There are plenty of places where modern popular culture can interact with question of faith, but Falsani's explorations here and elsewhere tend to skate across the top rather than dig into anything. Most newspaper features only offer enough space to touch on some subjects and then move on, and Falsani hasn't been able to rid herself of the habit.

Watching some Coen movies and thinking about spiritual issues they may raise is a worthwhile exercise for people who want to think about those kinds of things. Falsani's book doesn't offer much help in that area, and it would probably be more productive to just start watching the movies and seeing what questions they might raise. The Dude may yet abide, but The Dude Abides isn't likely to abet anyone in figuring out why.

Original available here.

[Amber Moore]

I'm not far into this book but i am not finishing it. Very sad and i am not usually that way but it is now where what it is cracked up to be. You read about movies you watched in th 80's to have some one come with the spiritual oppion on them. Sorry I believe in god but i don't need someone dictateing my movies in to the word of the gospell. Glad this book was free on my kindle because had i paid i would have asked for my money back.

[Marshall V. King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drawing meaning from that which entertains

Cathleen Falsani breaks down 14 of the Coen Brothers movies, drawing parallels and looking for meaning. She does it well. She uses movie quotes, the currency of conversation for lovers of these films, and she draws out and distills what’s most important.

[Devi Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the mixed reviews given by other readers, I found this book to be enjoyable on several fronts. First, the synopsis given of the different Coen Brother films provided me with good entertainment value as it gave me a sense of re-watching them again, and viewing the ones that I have not yet seen and will now make it a point to watch them. I have always sensed an underlying spiritual message in the Coen films and reading the stories interpreted in the viewpoint of a schooled Theologian caused me to relive those stories from a fresh perspective that will no doubt provide new revelations as I watch these movies again.
In addition to being brilliant story writers and directors, this book gives testimonial to the claim of Joel and Ethan Coen as being as described in this book as "secular theologians".

[Justin Barbaree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great idea. I read the well-crafted foreword (a three page short essay by Rabbi Allen Secher) in a used bookstore and was intrigued. I thought that at worst this would be fun, light summer reading that dives into the Coen oeuvre through a theological lens. Even this modest hope was dashed by the laziest writing I have encountered in a long time (and I teach freshmen composition classes :) ). Falsani feels content to summarize every film for five to six pages, and then spend maybe a paragraph or two to come up with some very weak "morals of the story" that she thinks the film supplies, like, "what goes around comes around", or "don't get lost in self-aggrandizement".

The positive that came from the book: I went back and watched every Coen Brothers movie again (and some for the first time).

[Ben Thurley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Deeply and powerfully disappointing.

In other hands, this could have been an interesting exploration of spiritual and theological themes and the distinctive vision and style of the Coen brothers' movies. Sadly, it is not that.

Instead, it is a laborious series of by-the-numbers plot summaries of the first 14 of the Coen's movies with each chapter rounded out – if that is not too generous a term – by a half page "analysis" of the "moral of the story". If that subtitle gives you the shivers, it ought to. Falsani draws no great insight from the Coen's stories, their characters, cinematography, directorial or editorial choices. Her "analysis" never rises above the platitudinous and superficial.

[Connie Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this having seen zero Coen Brothers movies. I was about to encounter "True Grit." I don't believe I can fairly judge the book given that both my reading & my viewing occurred a year ago, but at the time I didn't find the book particularly insightful with the paper I had to write on "True Grit" for a course in Theology and the Arts. I imagine it would be more meaningful to true Coen Brothers aficionados. (I did love "True Grit.")

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually found this to be a helpful guide to the Coen brothers because there are a bunch of films that I haven't watched and a few that I LOVE (Big Lebowski, Oh Brother, Fargo). I was glad to read a summary of the really violent, dark ones and get a feel for them without having to watch all the gore them myself (Blood Simple, No Country for Old Men). For those that have seen all the movies, the basic summaries won't tell you anything you don't already know.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book dealing with the films of a famous writer/director team.

[Gene Gosewehr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stopped without finishing. Just not enough to hold me. Nearly all chapters described the plot points of their respective movie with little analysis, only to come to 2-4 paragraphs of it at the end.

[Charles Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally I purchased this as a birthday/gag-gift for a friend of mine who is a big fan of the Lebowski movie, I ended up reading it for myself (and keeping it). I've always enjoyed the films produced by the Coen brothers and this book helped me enjoy them more. It also educated me as to other films of theirs that I'd not seen. In fact, I ended up watching some new movies and re-reading certain chapters.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Falsani had a great idea for a book--tracing the "Gospel according to the Coen brothers as revealed by their movies--and put half of the book (detailed plot synopses of the movies) on paper. But she left the better half of the book out! Going through each movie in the Coen filmography in order of release (including the latest "A Serious Man"), after the plot synopses is "The Moral of the Story . . ." for each movie--but never more than two or three paragraphs or about a half a page!

The sad thing is that these movies, some of the best cinematic storytelling of the last thirty years, are well worthy of theoretical, practical, spiritual, and doctrinal discussion, as proven by repeated viewings and by Falsani's synopses. They can't be recapped or moralizes in two paragraphs!

Take for example "No Country for Old Men", recently named one of the ten best films of the decade by Rolling Stone, and certainly in my top ten movies of all time. Based on Cormac McCarthy's trenchant look at human violence at the nadir of the 1980s drug trade on the front line of the Tex-Mex border war, No Country could carry a semester-long course on its own. The nature of evil, the possibility of salvation in the face of evil, the theological basis for moral behavior (Anton Chigurh is the epitome of evil, yet his actions seem based on a very strict moral code, even though it is not the one the rest of us live by), the role (or even the ability) of God in preventing evil in an evil world--all of these are meaty questions that could have kept Falsani's pen busy for pages, not two paragraphs on half a page. The inclusion of 14 "Coenmandments" at the end provides a bit more analysis, but not enough to leave the reader feeling any less cheated, especially because the next 15 pages are devoted by the publisher to a preview of Falsani's next book "coming August 2010"! Come on, Zondervan and Falsani, finish the book you already sold us before you try to sell us the next one.

The half-a-book that Falsani provides does the valuable service of reminding us how good the Coen brother's movies have been and whets the appetite for those I haven't seen yet (I know I'm updating my NetFlix queue with a few), but will leave most readers less than half-satisfied.

[Benjaminxjackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the kind of book that I would normally read, but I got a copy at the 2009 Chicago Lebowskifest. I am not a religious person and have only seen about half of the Cohen brothers’ movies. If, however, the author gives me an autographed copy of their book, I will at least read the introduction.

It was the introduction that convinced me to read the rest of this book. In it, Cathleen Falsani writes that she hopes the readers will disagree with conclusions that don't seem write and draw their own. In context, this feels sincere and not like a platitude. "That's just, like, your opinion, man," she writes, quoting Jeffrey, the Dude, Lebowski.

The rest of the book is a look at the Cohen brothers' movies, up through and including "A Serious Man." As I read through the chapters, each devoted to a different movie, I had to take her word on the ones I didn't see. For the ones I did see, the book made me think in new ways about some of the films.

Of course, I didn't always agree with her interpretations, but I am glad that I read them. They made me think more deeply about the films and will help me look at them more closely if I do see them. (Fair warning, though, there are spoilers in each chapter.)

One other warning, this is a pop culture kind of book, not a dissertation. So, you need to read it in that spirit and not look for a tone of footnotes, cross references, and pages of deconstruction. Each chapter is about ten pages, so your favorite line or interpretation might not be there. But don't let that stop you from reading the book.

All in all, this was a good book about the possible intersections between religion and pop culture and very readable.

[Willie Krischke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes Falsani has impressive, profound things to say about the Coen brothers' movies. The best essays are the ones on "Fargo," where she shows how Marge Gunderson represents the four cardinal virtues, and "The Big Lebowski," where she introduces the ancient Jewish idea of the Lamed-Vavnick. The essay on "O Brother Where Art Thou" is one of the best as well.

But about half the time, the movies just don't really hold up to intense religious scrutiny. The "moral of the story" that she draws from "Intolerable Cruelty is that love is better than cynicism. Heck, that's the moral of just about every romantic comedy ever made. She also strains terribly to find spiritual meaning in "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "Burn After Reading."

And then sometimes she just misses the boat. Speaking of boats, I was surprised that she didn't catch the clear reference to Gehenna in "The Ladykillers." I really think both "Raising Arizona" and "Barton Fink" are deeper and more profound than she manages to explore. But worst of all, she messes up the plot summary of "No Country for Old Men" (Chigurrh doesn't kill Llewellyn; the Mexicans get there first) and fails to note the significance of making an Old Man the moral good in a parable about good and evil.

So it's hit and miss. A must-read for hardcore Coen fans, but, at the same time, a read most likely unsatisfying, at least in places.

[Jared Millet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I hoped, but the Cute Factor of the concept itself gets the book an extra star. I think the failing of the book is in the basic structure - Falsani wants to give equal treatment to each of the Coen Brothers' films. What this does is force her to spend too much time on the ones that don't contribute to her thesis and too little time on the more overtly spiritual films in the collection (Big Lebowski and O Brother, for example) that are worthy of a deeper analysis than is given.

It must be said that I didn't read the entire book, only the chapters that center on the films I've seen. I didn't want to spoil the others and, as the other reviews have pointed out, a lot of time is given to scene-by-scene plot synopses, especially for the films where there's not much to actually analyze from a spiritual standpoint. (I mean, I enjoyed Raising Arizona as much as anyone, but it doesn't lend itself well to religious interpretation, and it shows.)

Recommendation: don't buy it, but get it from your library and skip around through the more interesting bits. The Coens aren't shy about slipping religious themes into their films, but if you've seen their movies then you know which chapters to read already.

[Johnny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was super excited when I found this book at Poor Richard's in Colorado Springs, as I find academic/theory approaches to the Big Lebowski to be wild, tongue-in-cheek fun.

Almost immediately, I could tell this book was going to fall way short. It's not even that Falsani misapplies or misreads anything--it's that she wrote a book that consists of 95% plot summaries (just straight up plot summaries, without any alternative reading or literary lens involved) and then shallow, simplistic, half-page tidbits on how it fits into way simplified biblical readings. A huge disappointment, yes, but more importantly a rip-off. This book should be titled "The Dude Abides: A Summary of the Coen Brother's Films."

Seems as though it was made for brief, surface-level reading assignments in college courses for people who don't have time to watch the films.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a HUGE Lebowski fan. In fact, I have a tattoo on my ankle that reads "abide." I think I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2 because I love the idea that Cathleen Falsani would write this book. I think I like the idea of it better than the book itself. As an English teacher, I kept hearing myself say to Ms. Falsani, "Expand...tell me more...yeah, so?" She spent more time summarizing the movies rather than analyzing them. I wanted more of her analysis because, clearly, she is a smart, insightful woman and the fact that she loves all things Coen makes me love her more. I would have read this no matter what so I wished it had even more words! I wanted her to dig deeper! But...that's, just like, my opinion, man.

[Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

As she’s a ’92 Wheaton grad, I can’t help but think that I know something of her world, Wheaton College being one of the other “good” schools where my high school funneled their little achievers.

And as such, I’m pretty sure that this is not the book she meant to write. Heavy on plot synopsis, too tidy in its lessons-learned conclusions, I get a feeling that the author started off the day with a thousand thoughts, only to have her editors whittle and polish it down to something with careful commercial appeal. Something palatable to the sort of church-going reader who won’t reference an R-rated film without a disclaimer.

Read more: http://blog.gw-1.com/2012/02/06/the-d...

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept...give the summary, then the scene-by-scene, then find theological links. They're there...the Coens love people, and when you love people, you forgive them their idiocy, their pettiness, their meanness and you look to thier goodness...or you try.
Some Coenmandments:
It's better to be kind than to be right...love always wins
Take chances. Don't be paralyzed by doubt or fear.
All moments might be key moments -- act like they are.
No one knows the quality of a person's heart but God.
You don't know what Goad is thinking so quit acting like you do.
Life has more questions than answers.

And most important, The Dude Abides.

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was something different than I anticipated—though I should have expected a spiritual rather than artistic direction after noting Zondervan was the publisher. Though it was not what I expected I’ll say right here at the outset I found it interesting and definitely worth reading.

The author gives a brief summary and then assesses the “spiritual” message inherent in the 14 Coen brothers’ films. Now, as noted previously, these are just her opinion. You may not agree with some (or any), but the reader is certain to find much food for thought. There are places I found myself in total agreement and others where I thought she was really stretching to make the connection.

[Bea Elwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

You'd be better off just reading the Internet Movie Database summaries of the Coen movies, at least then you might still want to watch the movie too. I don't understand what the purpose of the "The Forest" and "The Trees" subheadings in each chapter other than it meant she summarized the movie in a paragraph and then summarized the movie over the next six pages. Redundant doesn't even begin to describe my feelings. Plus I missed any meaningful interpretations of the Coen brother's "gospel", when she did actually make a spiritual parallel I disagreed and where I saw potential to do so she didn't say anything.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept - the author describes each of the Coen Brothers' movies in great detail and then gives a (usually) brief summary of how the storyline relates to religion, specifically Christianity. Falsani obviously likes "The Big Lewbowski," but oddly leaves out all the pot-smoking - could that be why The Dude is so laid back and easygoing rather than some Zen-like love for humanity? Sometimes the relation of the movie to religion seems stretched and contrived, but still an entertaining read.