Monty Python and the Holy Grail, directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (1975), is a clever film that uses a variety of techniques to satirise King Arthur and his Knights of the Round table. Three techniques the film uses are breaking the dramatic illusion, 2-D animation and anachronisms. This is what puts them apart from other films in their time. First I’m going to talk about breaking the dramatic illusion.
Many times in the film Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones use a technique called breaking the dramatic illusion. It is a technique when the filmmaker mentally pokes you in the ribs to give you a reminder that you really are watching a movie while other films do the opposite and try to pull you into the story.
My first example is the scene
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ARTHUR: There it is! The Bridge of Death! ROBIN: Oh, great. KNIGHT: Look! ARTHUR: There's the old man from Scene 24! BEDEMIR: What is he doing here?
With this technique the filmmakers can belittle the famous story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table by making this story look trivial. They also use this technique as a tool to put more jokes into the film.
Now I’m going to talk about anachronisms. An anachronism is when two or more things come from different time periods, like a power tool in a story set in the middle of the 14th century.
My first example of an anachronism is when the french soldiers in the castle talk about the airspeed velocity of a european and african swallow. This is clearly modern science not 932 AD science.
GUARD #1: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound coconut. ARTHUR: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here. GUARD #1: Listen, in order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings 43 times every second,
This film mocked many things like characteristics of a noble quest and how knights are supposed to behave role of religion and other themes that are taken seriously in the Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the green knight. The film Monty Python and the Holy Grail made everything a joke but still followed the way the events happened in the other stories. While King Arthur leads his knights to find the Holy Grail they are faced with many obstacles along the way that are made to be funny situations. Throughout the movie King Arthur's knights are continually foiled by how they try to stick to the principles of Chivalry.
The directors chosen camera technique, a simple two composition that progresses the scene a steady pace, forces the audience to feel a part of the awkward exchange; obviously, a quality of film that could not be as profoundly achieved through the narrative in the novel.
Professor’s comment: This student uses a feminist approach to shift our value judgment of two works in a surprisingly thought-provoking way. After showing how female seduction in Malory’s story of King Arthur is crucial to the story as a whole, the student follows with an equally serious analysis of Monty Python’s parody of the female seduction motif in what may be the most memorable and hilarious episode of the film.
Arthur cringed. “If I wasn’t so desperate for advice, we’d be back in the castle already.” The king couldn’t meet Gwaine’s eye, but he told his story.
Another scene was of King Arthur approaching a few of his "subjects". When he explained his position as king, the peasants quickly correct Arthur on the proper ways of electing a public official. The comedic affect was delivered from the peasant's knowledge of political systems and their
It’s interesting to note that in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, religious believer’s ideas of punishment for sinning are engaging and can be shown in a comic light. In Arthurian time, many believers thought that for a person to be forgiven, they had to have retribution. Sinners would have to earn their salvation by either fasting, going on a pilgrimage, or donating money to that person’s church to help the needy, (Crossref.itinfo). In Monty Python and the Holy Grail they take it to the extreme by showing men in black robes walking down the street chanting “Pie jesu domine, dona eis requiem”, which is Latin for, “Our lord Jesus, let them rest,” (Mccaul). Then afterword hitting themselves in the head with a wooden paddle-like structure with
"Explore how time and place are used in the prescribed speeches to shape the audience's understanding of how knowledge of the past sheds light on the present" - HSC 2013
England in the Medieval times was a monarchy, meaning there's a king who's in power and he was sworn in through family or through war. There is a scene where King Arthur talks to the “Political Peasants” about how they vote and such in a monarchy, while little do they know it doesn't matter. The satire used in Monty Python and The Holy Grail is cleverly used and hidden in humor that everyone can understand. To call back to the Black Knight anyone can laugh at an immortal knight who gets cut up and made fun of but, the common viewer watching for entertainment would not know he is a reference to not only the green knight but, the black plague. The entire theme of chastity is parodied in the castle of anthrax in which sir galahad the chaste is tempted by an entire castle of women to “spank” them.
Kennedy Vocabulary: Time and Space Words Tutorial: Greek and Latin Roots Memory Game: Vocabulary Practice Friday, 5/4/2012 Into the Future Quiz, 33 points Begin Unit: Time, Section D, Reading Longer Fiction Section Warm-Up: A Lady Named Bright Sci-Fi Reading 6: The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells Writing: Creative Writing 100 points The Time Machine Quiz, 40 points Time Unit Exam, 98 points Begin Unit: Justice and Injustice, Section A, Lady Justice Friday, 5/11/2012 Section Warm-Up: Images of Lady Justice
Charlie Chaplin directed and starred in his legendary film, City Lights. This film was released in 1931, three years after the release of the first film that included audible dialogue, however, the lack of dialogue did not get in Chaplin's way as he produced one of the most well known American comedies. A little over four decades later, another great comedy was produced by the famous comedy group Monty Pythons, which consisted of five British men, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, and one American animator, Terry Gilliam. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released in 1975 and has forever left its mark on comedy. When comparing the comedic aspects of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights to Monty Python and the Holy Grail three overarching comedic concepts that differ and evolve as time passes
How does Burton use film technique to present the ‘Wonderland’ as a magical, mystical and nonsense universe? [i.e. computer generated characters, film exposure, colour, music, etc.]
Monty Python and the Holy Grail satirizes courtly love and chivalry as portrayed in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the film First Knight in many diverse ways. Satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule; it can be shown in an amusing tone or in a way that provokes a darker kind of laughter. The literary technique known as satire was used in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail when making fun of easily identified common medieval themes such as chivalry and courtly love.Monty Python and the Holy Grail is intended to be more of a sarcastic piece, which is why it pokes fun at the more earnest works that feature King Arthur. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and First Knight, Sir Gawain and Lancelot both display what can be consid-ered faultless examples of courtly love and chivalry.
There are countless versions of the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Most English versions are based on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, but where did these tales originate, and what different interpretations are there today? This essay seeks to examine the roots and different renditions of the various legends circulating today. The first section deals with the origins of the legend. The second section speculates on who the "real" King Arthur could have been. A comparison of several different versions, and suggestions of why they differ are given in the third section, and the conclusion presents an analysis on the ambiguity of the legend.
The story of King Arthur is widely known, either his beginnings told in The Sword in the Stone or how he led the Knights of the Round Table. While there are many version of his story T. H. White’s written version and Disney’s animated version of The Sword in the Stone are two of the most recognized versions. Most movies have the ability to embody the original intent of the book they were based upon. Disney’s movie version of T. H. White’s rendition of The Sword in the Stone, however, while portraying the correct story, does not truly convey enough elements of White’s version to be effective in telling the original story. The characterization and Merlyn’s ‘lessons’ within the movie inhibit the film from being an effective portrayal of the
This affects modern society because now we have authors who aren’t afraid to use certain language pertaining to the time of their book, which will hopefully help us avoid ignorance.