there is a armchair theory that divides men into one of two camps: those that love "rushmore" and those that love "lebowski". surprisingly, i have found it more often than not holds true. personally, i think there is a far amount of projecting which the two character archetypes. they are both kind of "man-child" but anderson's is rooted in adolescence. max wants to be an adult in many ways but can't bring himself to grow up entirely. the dude, by contrast, doesn't seem to really want to be a true adult with responsibilities and the baggage that comes with adulthood. like i said, it's just a theory and not a terribly deep one but it's kind of fun to take it out for a spin every now and then...