The Inherent Vice of Big Lebowski

in defence of the alone and stoned

To write coherently from a stoner’s perspective (what I like to call stoner-telling), you internalize your perception of the world when you’re high, and express it coherently when you’re sober.

Both The Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski (1998) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice (2014) are masterworks of stoner-telling. The two cult classics feature imperturbable characters chasing ridiculous MacGuffins to untangle nonsensical mysteries while tackling absurd antagonists — not any different from the rat races we run.