Uli Doesn't Care About Anything 2
He is expert
The second entry in our three-part series on Uli Kunkel, the napping nihilist from The Big Lebowski.
I am very defensive over the idea of napping being viewed as laziness. There’s nothing wrong with laziness, and TND is committed to supporting any reason one has to engage in the lost art of napping. Yet it is best utilized as a rejuvenation and reset that enhances the body and spirit on the path to an active and fruitful life.
Consider this. The Dude is the embodiment of laziness. He can do anything he wants with his day, with no time commitments other than his bowling league and Marty’s dance quintet. Yet the closest we see to him engaging in shut eye is listening to his tapes of bowling while lying on the floor. It’s clear he is awake, and engaged in enjoying the sweet sounds of bowling pins being knocked over. Possibly on his way to a slumber, but not quite at the point where he’s lost consciousness. Of course, Maude’s henchman quickly takes care of that when he knocks the Dude out. But there are no serious or serial attempts at a nap for a man who is supposedly “lazy.”
Conversely, Uli is exhausted. He is working hard both in the real world and even in The Dude’s dreams. Never stopping, never quitting, until he needs that sweet relief that only a nap can provide. He earned that bottle of Jack, and he certainly earned that nap. And, befitting a man of action, post-nap he is right back at it, living the nihilist life to the extreme.
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