A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail
All the References from African Swallows to Zoot
By (author) Darl Larsen
Publication date:
06 March 2015Length of book:
632 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442245532
Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired from 1969 until 1974, but the conclusion of the series did not mark the end of the troupe’s creative output. Even before the final original episodes were recorded and broadcast, the six members began work on their first feature-length enterprise of new material. Rather than string together a series of silly skits, they conceived a full-length story line with references to the real and imagined worlds of the mythical King Arthur, the lives of medieval peasants, and the gloomy climate of 1970s Britain. Released in 1975, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was a modest success but has since been hailed as a modern classic.
In A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail:All the References from African Swallows to Zoot, Darl Larsen identifies and examines the cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the movie. In this entertaining resource, virtually every reference that appears in a scene—whether stated by a character, depicted in the mise-en-scène, or mentioned in the print companion—is identified and explained. Beyond the Arthurian legend, entries cover literary metaphors, symbols, names, peoples, and places—as well as the myriad social, cultural, and historical elements that populate the film.
This book employs the film as a window to both reveal and examine “Arthurian” life and literature, the historical Middle Ages, and a Great Britain of labor unrest, power shortages, and the common man. Introducing the reader to dozens of medievalist histories and authors and connecting the film concretely to the “modern” British Empire, A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail will appeal to fans of the troupe as well as medieval scholars and academics who can laugh at themselves and their work.
In A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail:All the References from African Swallows to Zoot, Darl Larsen identifies and examines the cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the movie. In this entertaining resource, virtually every reference that appears in a scene—whether stated by a character, depicted in the mise-en-scène, or mentioned in the print companion—is identified and explained. Beyond the Arthurian legend, entries cover literary metaphors, symbols, names, peoples, and places—as well as the myriad social, cultural, and historical elements that populate the film.
This book employs the film as a window to both reveal and examine “Arthurian” life and literature, the historical Middle Ages, and a Great Britain of labor unrest, power shortages, and the common man. Introducing the reader to dozens of medievalist histories and authors and connecting the film concretely to the “modern” British Empire, A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail will appeal to fans of the troupe as well as medieval scholars and academics who can laugh at themselves and their work.
Monty Python scholars—yes, there are such animals—will love this close reading of the British comedy troupe’s 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Larsen, author of two previous books about Python, provides a highly detailed analysis of the film’s inspirations and historical accuracy, as well as its reflections of contemporary British life. The character of Dennis, the peasant who engages King Arthur in a lively (if mostly one-sided) debate about dictatorships and anarcho-syndicalist communes, is an amalgam of British politician Tony Benn and union leader Arthur Scargill. The Rude Frenchman’s pronunciation of the word 'knights' ('k . . . niggits') is actually very close to the actual Old English pronunciation. A throwaway line about a 'large wooden badger' is a reference to the ludicrous Badgers Act of 1973. The famed 'Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch' is a reference to the early-1970s religious violence in Ireland and other places. There’s a three-and-a-half-page analysis of King Arthur’s four-word line 'King of all Britons,' and a lengthy discourse on the structure of the film’s title (which is a mere six words long, two of them being 'and the'). Larsen also traces many of the film’s most playful elements, its word games and non sequiturs, back to The Goon Show, a wildly popular radio comedy program in the 1960s, which was one of Python’s key comedic influences. Truly, this is a magnificent book, adding multiple layers to a Python fan’s enjoyment of a classic film.