Uli Doesn't Care About Anything 1
He's a nihilist
We got to talking about The Big Lebowski — one of our favorite movies, in case you couldn’t tell — and the fact that Uli Kunkel, the nihilist and would be extortionist, is the only person we recalled taking what appears to be a nap (albeit a drunken one) in the movie.
So we decided to have a little fun and each write a post somehow related (no guidance beyond that). Here goes mine…
In The Big Lebowski, we see Uli Kunkel (played by Peter Stormare) passed out on a pool float with an empty bottle of Jack Daniels floating beside him. Bunny Lebowski shares that Uli doesn’t care about anything: he’s a nihilist. “Ah, that must be exhausting,” replies the Dude. But just what is nihilism, and is it exhausting?
My thorough research has revealed that some of the primary types of nihilism include:
Existential - life is meaningless
Moral - no ethics
Political - rejection of institutions
Epistemological - knowledge cannot exist
What do Uli’s actions tell us about his nihilism? Here is what Uli does in the movie:
Drunken pool nap
Plays Karl Hungus in Logjammin’, a Jackie Treehorn production (he fixes the cable)
Makes technopop music - if you listen closely, the lyrics are about how they believe in nothing
Threatens the Dude, dropping a marmot into his bathtub
Haunts the Dude’s dreams
Conspires with Bunny to rip off the Big Lebowski
Attacks the Dude crew with a sword outside the bowling alley (Walter bites his ear off)
Those sound to me like the actions of an amoral, apolitical existentialist who believes we know nothing. And that sounds exhausting. With that, I’m going for a flex.
Random fun facts about the nihilists in the movie: Flea (Chili Peppers bass player) plays one of the nihilists, and Aimee Mann (singer/songwriter) plays the tall nihilist’s girlfriend (she gave up her toe!).