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BY: Tanishka D
Monty Python is a British comedy classic. I was introduced to it by my biology teacher, who showed us a clip from monty python and the holy grail on halloween as one of my friends had dressed up as the black guard who has his arms chopped off. While watching the afforementioned movie a few months ago, I became intrigued with the way the movie has used linguistc features such as syntax and language jokes. This article will discuss how linguistc features enhance the comedic nature of the movie and its influence on the modern british comedy landscape. so let's a go!
We interrupt this programme... for context!
We interrupt this programme... for context!
Monty python is a surrealist comedy troupe comprising of members Graham Chapman, John cleese, Terry gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry jones and Michael Pallin. They stared out in sketch comedy in a show called monty python's flying circus and after that they branched into films such as the holy grail.
Monty Python and the holy grail was created in between the third and fourth season ( or as they call it in the UK, series) of the show and is based on the legend of king Arthur,who according to the legends and the movie is the king of the britons. It was later adapted into the musical spamalot.
Roll the credits- not those ones!
Roll the credits- not those ones!
The opening credits of the movie are quite intriguing. The story goes that the group ran out of money for the opening credits but still wanted to make something funny and memorable. The opening credits pay homage to the filmmaking of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman by the usage of fake subtitles about moose. Of course, people who know a bit of Swedish would tell you that the letter "Ø" does not exist in Swedish, thus making the gag more Norwegian or Danish in nature. As with the case of Borat, The general audience of the movie probably cannot tell the difference between the languages and it adds to the foreginess of the intrusion, which creates a comedic effect as nobody is expecting it.
Ni! Ni! Ni!
Ni! Ni! Ni!
To more effecively contextualize how the troupe elevates the humour prevalent in the film, we will be closely looking at the sece wherin king Arthur and his buddies encounter the knights who say "Ni". I personally found this scene to be hillarious and i am going to break down why. The scene is as seen below👇
The first thing we can observe here is the knights who say "ni"say if very often, and the repition of this somewhat inocuous phrase adds to he humour, especially since the audience does not know what it means. According to Patric Morga's post on medium, the joke is abut the difficulty of prouuncing the sounds heard in middle english- which was the form of english spoken between the years c.1150 to c.1470- and how the great vowel shoft contributed greatly to the way english is spoken today. This is quite fitting given the medival setting of the film.
Furthermore, the knights who say Ni demanding a shrubbery from Arthur and his chums is really absurd and the way the tension builds up to that moment in the scene makes the audience believe the main characters are going to face some grave fate.
The last straw is the fact that the knights who say ni, who changed their name to Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ptang. Zoom-Boing. Z'nourrwringmm , cannot tolerate the word "it". This seems very harmless to the audience as we use the word quite a lot in our daily lives and the strangeness of the event makes it even more hillarious.
Impact on modern British comedy
Impact on modern British comedy
The troupe has inspired numerous comedic projects such as Saturday night live and encouraged more comics to push the envelope when it comes to presenting more societal and politically challenging ideas. The show and its subsequent movies were a perfect blend of crass and old timey sophistcated british humour.
Thank you for reading this article. If you have any suggestion of media I should cover please do leave a suggestion in the suggestion box. hope you have a great day ahead.
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