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A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian: All the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli
As a follow-up to their first true feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the comic troupe next decided to tackle a “shadow” version of the Christ story. Shot in the Middle East and produced during Margaret Thatcher’s ascendant years, the film satirized—among other matters—authoritarianism and religious zealotry. Upon its release, Monty Python’s Life of Brian was both a critical and commercial success, and has been since hailed as one of the greatest comedies of all time. But the film also faced backlash from religious groups for its blasphemy, perceived or otherwise.
In A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of All of the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli, Darl Larsen identifies and examines the plethora of cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the film. In this resource, Larsen delineates virtually every allusion and reference that appears in the film—from first-century Jerusalem through 1970s Great Britain. Organized chronologically by scene, the entries in this cultural history cover literary and metaphoric allusions, symbolisms, names, peoples, and places, as well as the many social, cultural, and historical elements that populate this film.
By closely examining each scene, this book explores the Pythons’ comparisons of the Roman and British Empires and of Pilate and Margaret Thatcher. In addition, Larsen helps to situate Life of Brian in the “Jesus” re-examination of the postwar period, while also taking a close look at the terror groups of first-century Judea and the modern world. A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian will appeal to scholars of history, film, British culture, and pop culture, as well as to the many fans of this iconic group.
In A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of All of the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli, Darl Larsen identifies and examines the plethora of cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the film. In this resource, Larsen delineates virtually every allusion and reference that appears in the film—from first-century Jerusalem through 1970s Great Britain. Organized chronologically by scene, the entries in this cultural history cover literary and metaphoric allusions, symbolisms, names, peoples, and places, as well as the many social, cultural, and historical elements that populate this film.
By closely examining each scene, this book explores the Pythons’ comparisons of the Roman and British Empires and of Pilate and Margaret Thatcher. In addition, Larsen helps to situate Life of Brian in the “Jesus” re-examination of the postwar period, while also taking a close look at the terror groups of first-century Judea and the modern world. A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian will appeal to scholars of history, film, British culture, and pop culture, as well as to the many fans of this iconic group.
- GenresFilm
496 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2018
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About the author
Darl Larsen
9 books3 followersDarl Larsen is program director and professor of film and animation studies at Brigham Young University, Media Arts Department, and affiliated with the Center for Animation at BYU.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 13, 2022
There is validity in undertaking a serious study of Monty Python's body of work, applying historiographic and literary criticism in an effort to develop a more nuanced and fulsome understanding of what Palin, Ckeese, Jones, Idle, Gilliam and Chapman accomplished. In fact all popular cultural artefacts deserve some degree of analysis beyond the shallow levels of the fan or the collector. However, as seen in Larsen's text 'A Book abouth the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian' critics can go way too far, disappearing up their intellectual fundament in an exercise that is more about showing off how clever they think they are than what is achieved by the creators of their subject.
This book goes way over the top in exploring what anyone with a modicum of understanding of Python and of the film should know already. 'Life of Brian' is first and foremost a comedy film that uses the context of a fictional 'Biblical' Judea to poke fun at what was in the late 1970s contemporary society. This includes anything the Pythons thought they could make a joke out of, including a group of Jewish conspirators trying, union-style, to subvert the Roman empire, the cliches and tropes of epic cinema such as 'Ben Hur', public school Latin lessons or cults and evangelicals. '...Brian' wasn't satire, nor was it a mindless 'Carry On...' style film (though it did have some elements. Yes, it had a plurality of ideas and themes, and it was also widely (wilfully) misunderstood and misrepresented by conservative, bible-thumping critics, yet it wasn't as complicated nor as densely constructed as Larsen would have one believe.
What Larsen effectively does is turn what should've been an interesting and engaging uni thesis or monograph into a rather boring, repetitive and redundant text that takes away a lot of the pleasure one would hope for. Yes, he has compiled a seriously detailed and deeply research set of arguments. yes, he provides plausible contextual notes and supporting theses as to how one might 'read' the movie. Yet the overlong and pendantic devotion to minutiae and arguably irrelevant history negates so much of what the author set out to do.
If Larsen had stuck to a few broad themes, such as '...Brian' as a parody of the Hollywood biblical epic with references to contemporary British or global problems such as terrorism, unionism and Christian sectarianism, plus a few nods to past British comedy (uncluding Spike Milligan, pantomimes, 'I'm All Right Jack' and the 'Carry On' films) then all would've been fine. He could've accomplished this task in 200 pages or even less and retained the interest of the reader. Instead Larsen drags one through over 490 pages that are at times dull, obscure and irrelevant. How many times does one need to read about the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the histories of Josephus or the political problems of Britain under James Callaghan etc? It's simply way too much.
Also, and this is one thing that really annoyed me, when an author cites his own previous academic work as some kind of authoritative statement then I'm sorry, you've lost me. There is an ego at hand here that frankly doesn't sit well with me. That Larsen also uses secondary sources for his references to the ancient authors and history is also highly problematic. Oh, and as for those who have written about the Pythons in earlier and arguably more popular resources, such as books written by Roger Wilmut or the Pythons themselves, he is rather chary in his use of them.
There are some saving graces; not all is lost. It's fair to say that Larsen does raise some interesting ideas about how the Pythons focus on miscommunication as part of their humour. This is a very pertinent observation and one that can be readily seen throughout all their work. I would argue that frustration is just as key and it would've been interesting to see what Larsen might've made of that as a theme to explore.
The numerous references to the film 'I'm All Right Jack' are also worthy of consideration. Larsen argues quite reasonably that 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' owes much of its humour, particularly when focused on the scenes involving the People's Front of Judea, to this 1950s Ealing comedy. To counter this I don't think Larsen does enough to highlight the more obvious 'Carry On' film links. Superior it may be to those British sex farces of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, it still has plenty of nods to the more vulgar franchise than Larsen points out.
So, who will read this? Monty Python fans of course. My suspicion is that like me many will be turned off or at least left underwhelmed by Lartsen's work. He has created a tottering edifice that looks grandiloquent from a distance, however upon closer scruitiny it is rather roccoco and redundant. Methinks this will be the last time I read any of his analyses of the Python's corpus.
This book goes way over the top in exploring what anyone with a modicum of understanding of Python and of the film should know already. 'Life of Brian' is first and foremost a comedy film that uses the context of a fictional 'Biblical' Judea to poke fun at what was in the late 1970s contemporary society. This includes anything the Pythons thought they could make a joke out of, including a group of Jewish conspirators trying, union-style, to subvert the Roman empire, the cliches and tropes of epic cinema such as 'Ben Hur', public school Latin lessons or cults and evangelicals. '...Brian' wasn't satire, nor was it a mindless 'Carry On...' style film (though it did have some elements. Yes, it had a plurality of ideas and themes, and it was also widely (wilfully) misunderstood and misrepresented by conservative, bible-thumping critics, yet it wasn't as complicated nor as densely constructed as Larsen would have one believe.
What Larsen effectively does is turn what should've been an interesting and engaging uni thesis or monograph into a rather boring, repetitive and redundant text that takes away a lot of the pleasure one would hope for. Yes, he has compiled a seriously detailed and deeply research set of arguments. yes, he provides plausible contextual notes and supporting theses as to how one might 'read' the movie. Yet the overlong and pendantic devotion to minutiae and arguably irrelevant history negates so much of what the author set out to do.
If Larsen had stuck to a few broad themes, such as '...Brian' as a parody of the Hollywood biblical epic with references to contemporary British or global problems such as terrorism, unionism and Christian sectarianism, plus a few nods to past British comedy (uncluding Spike Milligan, pantomimes, 'I'm All Right Jack' and the 'Carry On' films) then all would've been fine. He could've accomplished this task in 200 pages or even less and retained the interest of the reader. Instead Larsen drags one through over 490 pages that are at times dull, obscure and irrelevant. How many times does one need to read about the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the histories of Josephus or the political problems of Britain under James Callaghan etc? It's simply way too much.
Also, and this is one thing that really annoyed me, when an author cites his own previous academic work as some kind of authoritative statement then I'm sorry, you've lost me. There is an ego at hand here that frankly doesn't sit well with me. That Larsen also uses secondary sources for his references to the ancient authors and history is also highly problematic. Oh, and as for those who have written about the Pythons in earlier and arguably more popular resources, such as books written by Roger Wilmut or the Pythons themselves, he is rather chary in his use of them.
There are some saving graces; not all is lost. It's fair to say that Larsen does raise some interesting ideas about how the Pythons focus on miscommunication as part of their humour. This is a very pertinent observation and one that can be readily seen throughout all their work. I would argue that frustration is just as key and it would've been interesting to see what Larsen might've made of that as a theme to explore.
The numerous references to the film 'I'm All Right Jack' are also worthy of consideration. Larsen argues quite reasonably that 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' owes much of its humour, particularly when focused on the scenes involving the People's Front of Judea, to this 1950s Ealing comedy. To counter this I don't think Larsen does enough to highlight the more obvious 'Carry On' film links. Superior it may be to those British sex farces of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, it still has plenty of nods to the more vulgar franchise than Larsen points out.
So, who will read this? Monty Python fans of course. My suspicion is that like me many will be turned off or at least left underwhelmed by Lartsen's work. He has created a tottering edifice that looks grandiloquent from a distance, however upon closer scruitiny it is rather roccoco and redundant. Methinks this will be the last time I read any of his analyses of the Python's corpus.
Displaying 1 of 1 review