"Life's a laugh and death's a joke"

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The Life of Brian is a humorous film that expresses the philosophy of existentialism, the theory that life is meaningless and that one is responsible for creating meaning.  This was most clearly represented in the lyrics of the song in the final crucifixion scene, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.  The beginning of the third verse of the song says, “For life is quite absurd and death's the final word,” and the first part of the fourth verse says, “Life's a piece of shit when you look at it, life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.”  These phrases express how meaningless life and death is to the characters in the film.  This idea is shown throughout the movie in the death scenes.  In the face of stoning, the blasphemer has no fear of death, the man that Brian meets in prison lusts after death, and those being crucified consider their death a joke and seem carefree when they begin to sing a happy tune.  Everywhere you look in this movie, life is not considered sacred, but rather it is regarded as a common nuisance. 

The second part of the lyrics state, “you must always face the curtain with a bow.  Forget about your sin; give the audience a grin, enjoy it, it's your last chance anyhow,” and, “You'll see it's all a show; keep 'em laughing as you go, just remember that the last laugh is on you.”  These phrases compare life and death to a stage show, alluding to the famous Shakespeare quote, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances.” The purpose of a show is to entertain its audience, so too, according to the song, is the meaning for the lives in the movie.  This is displayed most clearly in the coliseum scene, where the audience is entertained by the battle of two people fighting to the death.  The idea is also referred to when Brian’s mom buys stones to throw at the stoning for her own amusement.  Likewise, Brian is considered a martyr to his friends, which serves them greatly as they are able to justify their beliefs and spend much time entertaining themselves with the idea of it.

The man that cheers Brian up after his friends betray him and while he is dying on a cross tells him, “You know, you come from nothing, you're going back to nothing.  What have you lost? Nothing!”  This statement affirms the movie’s support of the existentialist idea of the meaningless of life.  The Monty Python comedians take advantage of this view as they create meaning for The Life of Brian and, possibly, for their own lives.  They turn everything into a joke, especially the things that give meaning to many people’s lives, such as Christ to the Christians or Jehovah to the Jews.  The purpose of their movie is to “keep 'em laughing”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Wx230gYJw