Monty Python and its Relevance Today
With the upcoming release of Deadpool 2, satirical and fourth wall breaking humour in films is at its peak, but where did it all start?
It all started with the 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You’re probably wondering, “How could a low-budget film from 1975 still be relevant?” If you watch this film you would think it came out recently. I re-watched a few days ago and could not stop laughing, even though I knew everything that was going to happen, as well as that it has one of the most iconic, anti-climactic and funniest movie endings ever.
It also has a lot of subtle and dark humour, for example, the scene with the Black Knight. (Just for context, King Arthur was with his servant Pansy in search for people to join the roundtable.) They stumbled upon the Black Knight, a knight dressed in black armour, who said that if they wanted to pass through the forest Arthur would have to defeat him in battle. After a hilarious battle the black knight ended up with no limbs and as King Arthur was walking off, the Black Knight started shouting after him that he was a coward and they will count the fight as a draw. Another piece of dark humour is how many main characters die. By the end of it, no one gets a happy ending, six people die, and the remaining three get arrested for killing a historian (who also dies in a funny way.) A servant dies from a giant wooden rabbit, another from a cow, the rest of the servants from a killer bunny (where they must throw “thy holy hand-grenade,”) and two Knights of the Round Table answering a question wrong.
The fourth wall breaks are amazing as well, this is a quote taken directly from the film; “Look! It’s the old man from scene 24!” As well as the famous killing of the black beast where the animator dies of a heart attack so the monster just stops and they are safe.
So now onto the big question, why is it still relevant? It showed how a low budget film made in the mid-1970s can still get a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. A movie which used coconuts instead of horses because of the low budget still inspired hundreds of more historical based and modern high-budget films across the globe. That is the beauty of all of the Monty Python films and skits.