Page "The Big Lebowski" Paragraph 31

The film's overall structure was influenced by the detective fiction of Raymond Chandler.

Ethan said, " We wanted something that would generate a certain narrative feeling – like a modern Raymond Chandler story, and that's why it had to be set in Los Angeles ... We wanted to have a narrative flow, a story that moves like a Chandler book through different parts of town and different social classes ".

The use of the Stranger's voiceover also came from Chandler as Joel remarked, " He is a little bit of an audience substitute.

In the movie adaptation of Chandler it's the main character that speaks off-screen, but we didn't want to reproduce that though it obviously has echoes.

It's as if someone was commenting on the plot from an all-seeing point of view.

And at the same time rediscovering the old earthiness of a Mark Twain.