Hero #090: Monty Python … (03/05/16)
Monty Python was a British comedy troupe primarily composed of six men — Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. — who conceived, wrote, and performed the sketch comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Their skits uniquely combined brilliant comedic timing, insightful wit, audacious storytelling, and scathing social commentary – a combination which allowed “The Python Phenomenon” to branch out into more diverse venues, including touring stage shows, films, albums, books, and musicals. Indeed, the Pythons’ influence on comedy was so far ranging and so profound that many have compared the same to the Beatles’ influence on music …
Their second film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail – a spoof of the legend of King Arthur, was a raging success, and yet it was their third movie, The Life of Brian – a parody on the life of Jesus Christ, that proved to be their most impressive work. The brilliance of the comedy in the latter aside, there are several reasons why it proved to be a monumental achievement. First and foremost, The Life of Brian had the courage and the resolve to challenge the religious cultural norms of its day – norms that were still incredibly conservative at the time; norms which led 39 local authorities in Great Britain to either directly or indirectly ban its showing (Ireland & Norway banned it altogether, though the filmmakers used such close-mindedness to their advantage, with posters in Sweden reading “So funny, it was banned in Norway!”) … In addition, despite the Monty Python crew all sharing a patent distrust of organized religion, they respectfully decided not to mock Jesus or any of his teachings in the film. (In all fairness, they frankly admitted afterwards that they could not think of anything legitimate to make fun of about him in the first place). Finally, they then went on to insightfully write & film a biting satire about the incredulity and hypocrisy of the followers of someone who had been mistaken for the “Messiah” (much like Jesus of Nazareth as portrayed in the Bible, ironically – see Mark 10:18, John 6:15 et al), but who actually had no desire to be followed as such.
“Too many people confuse being serious with being solemn … He who laughs most, learns best.” ~ John Cleese
“I think that the real religion is about the understanding that if we can only still our egos for a few seconds, we might have a chance of experiencing something that is divine in nature. But in order to do that, we have to slice away at our egos and try to get them down to a manageable size … So real religion is about reducing our egos, whereas all the churches are interested in is egotistical activities, like getting as many members and raising as much money and becoming as important and high-profile and influential as possible. All of which are egotistical attitudes. So how can you have an egotistical organization trying to teach a non-egotistical ideal? It makes no sense, unless you regard religion as crowd control, which I think most organized religion is — crowd control.” ~ John Cleese
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