Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an absolutely absurd comedy film which never fails to make me laugh. I always laugh at the same parts, no matter how old I am. After watching this movie for like the tenth time in my life and reading the assigned readings on humor, I am able to discover as to why this movie is so hilarious and timeless.
In Tomas Kulka's essay The Incongruity of Incongruity Theories of Humor, he mentions three theories: the Superiority, the Relief, and the Incongruity theory. Most of Kulka's essay is focused on how the Incongruity theory is the most popular of the three theories at the present "mainly because its rivals are considered discredited" (321). He defines the Incongruity Theory as one that "maintains that the object of amusement consists in some kind of incongruity and that laughter is an expression of our enjoyment of the incongruous" (320-321).
Understanding the word 'incongruity' is essential in analyzing the humor in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Kulka uses the Oxford English Dictionary to provide a better understanding of the assigned meanings of the word 'incongruous'. The three generally assigned meanings of the word 'incongruity' are disagreement in character, absurdity, and want of harmony of parts or elements (323).
Now after watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail and reading Kulka's essay, one can see how the Incongruity Theory is significant to the film's humor. I'll provide two examples, although there are a multitude of examples of incongruous humor throughout the film. The first example is how King Arthur and his 'Knights of the Roundtable' all ride invisible horses. Their servants or slaves clash coconuts behind the Knights as they do their best to simulate a galloping horse. This is an example of 'absurdity'.
Another example would be Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot, whose jester lauds and sings hymns of how brave Sir Robin is. Yet, when Sir Robin and his entourage are faced with a battle he cowardly avoids a confrontation. The is an example of a disagreement in character, since Knights are suppose to be chivalrous and courageous.
We also see in John Morreall's essay Comic Relief how Morreal analyzes how breaking social conventions can generate humor. Morreal provides a historical example of this depicting that in Medieval times at the Franciscan Church in Antibes, that people (in order to make fun of the current social conventions of the time) would hold their prayer books upside-down, wear spectacles from orange peels, and use burned soles of old shoes as incense to mock the religious clergy.This is clearly shown throughout Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A specific example of this would be where the film mocks religious clergy by showing chanting Monks going through a village hitting their heads over and over again with a piece of wood.
Ultimately, the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an absurd film, which is hilarious...And it is hilarious, because it is so absurd.
In Tomas Kulka's essay The Incongruity of Incongruity Theories of Humor, he mentions three theories: the Superiority, the Relief, and the Incongruity theory. Most of Kulka's essay is focused on how the Incongruity theory is the most popular of the three theories at the present "mainly because its rivals are considered discredited" (321). He defines the Incongruity Theory as one that "maintains that the object of amusement consists in some kind of incongruity and that laughter is an expression of our enjoyment of the incongruous" (320-321).
Understanding the word 'incongruity' is essential in analyzing the humor in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Kulka uses the Oxford English Dictionary to provide a better understanding of the assigned meanings of the word 'incongruous'. The three generally assigned meanings of the word 'incongruity' are disagreement in character, absurdity, and want of harmony of parts or elements (323).
Now after watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail and reading Kulka's essay, one can see how the Incongruity Theory is significant to the film's humor. I'll provide two examples, although there are a multitude of examples of incongruous humor throughout the film. The first example is how King Arthur and his 'Knights of the Roundtable' all ride invisible horses. Their servants or slaves clash coconuts behind the Knights as they do their best to simulate a galloping horse. This is an example of 'absurdity'.
Another example would be Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot, whose jester lauds and sings hymns of how brave Sir Robin is. Yet, when Sir Robin and his entourage are faced with a battle he cowardly avoids a confrontation. The is an example of a disagreement in character, since Knights are suppose to be chivalrous and courageous.
We also see in John Morreall's essay Comic Relief how Morreal analyzes how breaking social conventions can generate humor. Morreal provides a historical example of this depicting that in Medieval times at the Franciscan Church in Antibes, that people (in order to make fun of the current social conventions of the time) would hold their prayer books upside-down, wear spectacles from orange peels, and use burned soles of old shoes as incense to mock the religious clergy.This is clearly shown throughout Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A specific example of this would be where the film mocks religious clergy by showing chanting Monks going through a village hitting their heads over and over again with a piece of wood.
Ultimately, the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an absurd film, which is hilarious...And it is hilarious, because it is so absurd.
I love that you used the example from Morreall's essay because it honestly sounds like something that could have been in the movie. It goes to show that satire using absurd humor has been around since longer than we seem to give it credit for. It makes me wonder how those people would have reacted to Monty Python and the Holy Grail if they'd been given a chance to see it...
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