#10
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1975
Directed by: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
Written by and starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Pahlin.
Of course I had to put Monty Python and the Holy Grail on my list. The story follows the quest of mythical English King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table on their quest to seek the holy grail in the name of God. It's one of the funniest movies of all time. Every scene is a gem and can be quoted at length by one hundred percent of the British population, sixty percent of the Canadian population and thirty percent of the American population. Monty Python have a knack for absurd dialogue and situations.
One of the things that makes them so unique and ahead of their time is their self-reflexive style. They're masters of breaking the fourth wall, which is when the audience is addressed directly or something else happens on stage which intentionally breaks the viewer's suspension of disbelief and makes them realize they are only watching something fictional. This can be done in a serious way to make the viewer question why he is watching something for their entertainment but it can also lead to great laughs and it's used for this latter purpose several times in the movie. The next scene is a great example of this:
There were funding issues during the production of the movie and so they could not afford to hire horses for some of the scenes. All for the better though as it creates one of best gags of the movie! I love how it's embellished so much in this scene, stressing how cheap the production really was.
Their absurdest style is also put to use perfectly to satirize the legend of King Arthur. Taking on and deconstructing one of the most treasured myths in the English psyche is, in a way, also an assault on national myths in general. These myths are central to the founding of national communities and help unite people and trick them into believing that they share more common traits with other members of their community than they do with those outside of it. The King Arthur myth creates an 'imagined community', in the words of Benedict Anderson. Arguably, these myths most often lead to feelings of nationalism and into conflict with other nations.
If religion is the opiate of the masses, then nationalism can be thought of as the stimulant of the masses. People can be riled up to do anything if they are tricked into believing its for the national good. Hence we see people march off to war after being lied to and told their way of life is in danger. Hence we see people accept deteriorating living conditions and social services because supposedly their country's economic health equals their nation's power and it can only come from sacrificing those at the bottom of the social-economic ladder. Hence we do not see the common international bonds that unite us due to an intense patriotic blindness. It is difficult to argue however that a woman making minimum wage and feeding her kids through social assistance shares a common bond with some guy from the highest income bracket. This is idea is brought up cleverly and hilariously in one of my favourite scenes from the movie:
"Who are the Britons?" the old woman asks. "We all are, we are all Britons and I am your king," replies King Arthur. Some people no how to play the nationalist card to their advantage and that has been a major block to humankind's progress. What I love about Monty Python though is how they can address serious issues like this without getting bogged down in the serious implications of the discussion. What they do instead as point out the utter absurdity of the way things tend to be. This in turn causes us to think harder about it. The members of Monty Python are brilliant and enjoy making references to philosophers to stress (and possibly to show off) their level of education. I'll finish this post with this next scene, which is another great one from the movie and a great epistemological study.
One of the things that makes them so unique and ahead of their time is their self-reflexive style. They're masters of breaking the fourth wall, which is when the audience is addressed directly or something else happens on stage which intentionally breaks the viewer's suspension of disbelief and makes them realize they are only watching something fictional. This can be done in a serious way to make the viewer question why he is watching something for their entertainment but it can also lead to great laughs and it's used for this latter purpose several times in the movie. The next scene is a great example of this:
There were funding issues during the production of the movie and so they could not afford to hire horses for some of the scenes. All for the better though as it creates one of best gags of the movie! I love how it's embellished so much in this scene, stressing how cheap the production really was.
Their absurdest style is also put to use perfectly to satirize the legend of King Arthur. Taking on and deconstructing one of the most treasured myths in the English psyche is, in a way, also an assault on national myths in general. These myths are central to the founding of national communities and help unite people and trick them into believing that they share more common traits with other members of their community than they do with those outside of it. The King Arthur myth creates an 'imagined community', in the words of Benedict Anderson. Arguably, these myths most often lead to feelings of nationalism and into conflict with other nations.
If religion is the opiate of the masses, then nationalism can be thought of as the stimulant of the masses. People can be riled up to do anything if they are tricked into believing its for the national good. Hence we see people march off to war after being lied to and told their way of life is in danger. Hence we see people accept deteriorating living conditions and social services because supposedly their country's economic health equals their nation's power and it can only come from sacrificing those at the bottom of the social-economic ladder. Hence we do not see the common international bonds that unite us due to an intense patriotic blindness. It is difficult to argue however that a woman making minimum wage and feeding her kids through social assistance shares a common bond with some guy from the highest income bracket. This is idea is brought up cleverly and hilariously in one of my favourite scenes from the movie:
"Who are the Britons?" the old woman asks. "We all are, we are all Britons and I am your king," replies King Arthur. Some people no how to play the nationalist card to their advantage and that has been a major block to humankind's progress. What I love about Monty Python though is how they can address serious issues like this without getting bogged down in the serious implications of the discussion. What they do instead as point out the utter absurdity of the way things tend to be. This in turn causes us to think harder about it. The members of Monty Python are brilliant and enjoy making references to philosophers to stress (and possibly to show off) their level of education. I'll finish this post with this next scene, which is another great one from the movie and a great epistemological study.
For being one of most absurd movies ever made, and also one of the funniest, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is in my opinion the 10th greatest movie of the 1970s.
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