life of brian, Zach Pedroncelli

The life of brain played off  religious stories and the story of jesus. The characters man time did not follow through to the entirety of the movie besides Brian, his mother played by a man, and the girl he falls for. The story begins with a group of wise men greating brian’s mother claiming that they had been led by the stars to find and bring gifts to the sacred child which get re called once given in a humorus fashion. This scene sets a parody to jesus’s birth and shows the real chosen child in a glowing light. The story proceeds to show brian in an adult stage with his mother in a large crowd listening to a preacher also know as jesus. Brain remains in the back unable to listen to the message being given and also being mis interpreted by the quariling group in the back of the mass listening to the speech. Once at the quariling ends brian and his mother move on to the stoning that is taking place in an idiotic fashion which results in the prosecutors stoning of him self. Towards the later part of the movie brain is misinterpreted as the mesiah and is followed home by a mob where he final gets to be with the woman he was chasing around previously. Many of the scenes have exagerated stupidity like in the case of the roman guard correcting brians spelling of the insult and requiring him to write it 100 times and other scene that did not make much sense to me was the old man in jail kept talking as if anything was better than where he was or had to do. The mob also increases the sense of exageration when chanting all the senseless claims at brian when he opens his rooms window not expecting anybody while he is naked.  Then is shortly after caught by his mother with the naked girl which surprised me because even in todays movies its is seen as inappropriate to have nudity to that extent non the less for the time being but it added to the humorous aspect of the movie. One scene that I found laugh out loud funny was when brain was in the market and the seller refused to give him the goard and wig without bargaining and ended up charging him more than the origional price because of what he was claiming as their worth. Overall this story had an exagerated humor and pieced together plot that made for a good movie.

Give a Whistle

The Life of Brian was a very interesting movie. I’ve never seen it before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. After hearing about the controversy this movie apparently incited, I was actually kind of disappointed. To me, this movie wasn’t very controversial, even from a religious point of view. I actually found the jokes and themes of this movie funnier for having known the bible and the culture it made fun of. Obviously the humor of this movie is more directed at the people who are familiar with the themes addressed, therein.

            The main joke this movie makes at the religious community, I think, is blind faith. This movie really makes a point to show how ignorant people can be, under the excuse of religion. As shown in the movie, people don’t even try to think for themselves, even when told to do so. They will always think what’s being “preached” applies to other people or to those around them, but it doesn’t apply to them. In the scene where Brian addresses the “multitude” from his bedroom window, I saw a theme of groupthink. This process started after Brian fell out of the window of the official headquarters for the people’s front of Judea. Brian’s ramblings started with the people taking everything he said with a grain of salt, and ended with people gobbling every tiny thing he did up. When Brian shouts at the people from his bedroom window that they need to think as individuals, they reply as a hoard. This illustrates the idea of groupthink pretty well, and under this circumstance, people don’t think as individuals and just blindly go along with whatever the others around them are doing.

            Another theme I found really funny, was the rebellion and the different groups of Jewish people who were trying to overthrow the Roman rule. With all these different factions that war more amongst themselves than against the common enemy, and war for something that isn’t really explained, in the movie, at least, was another theme I found to be very interesting. When the PFJ is making plans to kidnap Pontius’s wife, and the head of the faction says “what have the romans ever done for us”, he is met with discourse of all the advancements and improvements to their civilization, the romans did bring. This brings up the notion that the Jewish populace might actually be biting the hand that feeds them, and shows the cost of what their rebellion would bring about. In this movie, the Jews start reflecting on the things they have and although it’s not stated, things they will more than likely lose.

Something I personally found extremely funny was when Brian was painting “romans go home” in Latin on the walls of Caesar’s palace. Having studied Latin, it was really funny watching the roman guard correct Brian’s misuse of the different classes of nouns and grammar he was using. This just reinforces some of what the rebellion brought up at their meeting, that they might be biting the hand that feeds them. This brings up the human condition that is tied to such dramatic acts that will upset the way people live. People can continue to go on in their lives where they have some nice things, but are probably being mistreated, or they could try to turn things on its head and possibly lose what they do have. This movie brings that to light with this meeting, even though they do (seemingly) go through with their rebellion, there is doubt.

            I found this movie, as well as most Monty python films, to be about human nature and the times when we act just plain stupid. On every level, in every class, people can be ridiculous. From the entire view of power, or in this case, the Romans, the half-baked rebellious factions and the incorrigible nature to blindly follow things, people can act quite dumb. And this movie serves to showcase that, bring to light some of the things we do that are ridiculous and make light of it in a well done, comical way. 

The Questionable Life of Brian...?

“Monty Python’s The Life of Brian,” a movie full of laughter caused by satire and quirky acting is one that will not be easily forgotten by those who watch it.  Even though it was a movie that was released in 1979, it is a movie that still gets publicity today.  The reason for this publicity or as some would say “notoriety” is because the movie was banned in a number of countries when it first came out because the Catholic Church had deemed the movie inappropriate and ridiculed the contents of the New Testament of the Bible and the beliefs of the Catholic Church.  

The movie takes place during the time of Christ, in fact, Brian was born on the same night, and town as that of Jesus.  For this the Three Wise Men mistakenly believed Brian to be the Messiah.  They soon realized their mistake, but from then on in Brian’s life, he was often mistaken for being the Messiah.  The reasons for this false believe was because the entire town had become Messiah-seeking drones that after having heard the presence of a Messiah were looking anywhere to find him. Brian being from a town where many false profits began popping up literally right next to each other and Brian finds himself falling in with the lot of them.   

The movie takes on a typical Monty Python theme and style of having the same seven or eight actors playing all the different parts of the movie.  This also includes satirical humor and poking fun at issues such as Roman Culture, religious issues that were controversial at the time, as well as political process and rebellions.  It has been raved as one of the best of Monty Python’s films, but in my opinion, I still think The Holy Grail is better.  This is probably because it was the first one of the Monty Python Movies that I had seen and so it seemed more original in the idea of film to me and it is simply a very easy movie to quote and it makes it very memorable, however, Life of Brian has a certain theme to it that makes it memorable and I can see why so many would enjoy it more.  This theme being that it is based on the unknown story following just alongside that of Jesus.  Many that either do not believe or are skeptical might find this funny simply because it is consistently making fun of how eager people can be to believe in something and follow something that is simply a mistaken identity or coincidence.  For instance there was a scene in which people were claiming that Brian was the Messiah and no matter what Brian said, they would bend his words into a manner that would make him fit into their believes because they were just so naive and would believe in anything.  

You can now see why the Catholic church would be so keen to ban this type of movie.  However, this banning of the movie simply brought it more publicity and if nothing else made it more desirable for more and more people to want to go and see it.   The extra publicity boosted its’ popularity and helped in its own advertising.  They had posters such as ones that said “SO Funny it was banned in Norway!”  Movies like this that are meant to just poke fun and make people laugh can often be over exaggerated by many and become even more of a novelty but to understand it, you really just need to watch it for yourself!! I highly recommend it, it is hilarious! 

Monty Python's Life of Chri.. Brian

Life of Brian. This one was a doozy. It was a good watch for anyone who likes the Monty Python series, or just has an interest in the sort of humor that such films portray. I did not particularly enjoy the film, but I was not watching it in the hopes to be entertained. Instead, my eyes were focused on rhetorical strategies used by the film makers, as I have been like with every movie we have watched thus far. There were ALL KINDS of criticisms in Life of Brian.

First off, there is a crazy separation of genders. This is mainly demonstrated in the discussion between the members of the PJF... I think. One man says it is his right to have babies. Of course this is obserd, but the other members, after some "logical" discussion, agree that yes, it IS his right to have babies. Not once do the members of the group talk about the rights of women. I'm just sayin. Also, Brian's mother was played by a man. This could possibly be a representation of the idea that women were unable to play leading roles, but I tend to doubt that because of Judith. I think that this was just something funny that the cast wanted to put in.

The most prevalent criticism throughout the movie was that of religion. Everything that happened in the film had something to do with a correlation to the Bible or the life of Jesus Christ. The biggest example was the mistaking of Brian as the Messiah. I felt as though this made it seem like people who were searching for religion (or who are today) will follow anything. Once they felt that Brian was some sort of prophet, they were right behind him in everything he did, promising to do what he says. This is oddly familiar to Tyler Durdan's society in "Fight Club" (which is one of the greatest films of all time, and if you haven't seen it, YOU SHOULD). They never really do obey him though. They are so busy trying to "interperate" Brain's "sermons" that they don't ever truly listen to him. When Brian tells them to leave him alone, they bombard him with questions of instruction like, "how do we leave you alone?" In a way, it sort of feels like Monty Python is suggesting that religion oriented people are kinda crazy, and in the very least, quite annoying.

Another subject that can be deemed edgy is the film's frequent use of crucifixion. The movie suggests that the Romans crucified EVERYTHING. In a way, this is partly true, in that crucifixion was a "popular" form of execution back in that time. But hundreds of crucifixions a day is very exaggerated. However, crucifixion takes the hardest hit in the final scene of the movie, when Brian meets his fate. He is very distraught that no one comes to his rescue, and feels that all hope is lost. That is, until someone starts singing a silly song to cheer everyone up. Suddenly, everything is peachy. Nothing is wrong. This definitely takes the severity of crucifixion away, which is the basis of nearly all Christian beliefs. That is that Christ truly suffered for our sins, instead of sang a song about how good life is.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't watch this movie with my parents.

David Duneman

Expository Writing

Joe Serio

2/3/13

Especially Religious Fanatics

“The Life of Brian” is a smart, comedic satire on the time period of Jesus’ life. The Monty Python series has a certain style to them that seems to inspire laughter. The Life of Brian plays on social cultures that are portrayed in movies like “Jesus of Nazareth” and The Bible. The beliefs of The Christian Bible are criticized quite a bit but I feel they satirize more, with a hint of criticize and they do it well at that. The most harsh criticism I thought was where the followers start tailing Brian and praising him as their messiah. The followers of Brian are portrayed as non-intellectual people that are capable of believing anything. For example, in one scene Brian is trying to explain to them that he is not a messiah, and one woman says “only a messiah would deny being a messiah” and then Brian says “Okay, I am the messiah”, so then the crowd starts chanting “He’s the messiah, he’s the messiah”. In this instance there was no way Brian was going to come out not as the messiah. These followers are also a metaphor for the believers in the Christian religion. The followers will believe just about anything that’s written in the Bible. Another good example of satire was the three groups that all hated the Romans; there’s the Judean Peoples’ Front, The Judean Popular Peoples’ Front, and The Peoples’ Front of Judea. This is also another metaphor about the fallacies in religion. These names are saying exactly the same thing, but in different ways, and that’s what most religions do as well. There’s this one scene where two of the groups of “Judean People” are both on a mission to take something from the Romans (I forget what, but that’s not the point), they don’t know each other are one the same mission until they clash into each other, and instead of joining sides for the same cause they fight each other until they don’t get anything done. This is a metaphorical hint that religious fanatics will always being fighting against the non-believers without getting anything done. There is also another instance where the “Judean People’s Front” doesn’t get anything done. The scene where they’re discussing making a plan and then acting on it, well they just go in a circle saying that they need to stop talking and take action already but then they never actually take action. The highest of the Roman authorities were highly criticized as well. There wasn’t a scene with Pontius Pilate where everyone in the scene wasn’t laughing at him. He has the Elmer Fudd complex, where he’s always saying w’s instead of r’s. This is how Brian escaped being captive of Pilate. The guards are too busy laughing at Pilate so Brian gets his chance and runs away. Lastly, being crucified is talked about as not a big deal to the Judean people. In one scene, there’s a line of people waiting to be crucified and there passing through the line as if it’s a line to get your lunch. There’s this one character that always, jokingly, has a chance to get out of being crucified but always says something to get back to being crucified. This movie is very funny and I’d recommend to anyone (especially religious fanatics).

The Life of Brian

I thought that Life of Brian was moderately funny and I’m glad I watched it, but I think that it is the least funny of the three Monty Python movies.  Life of Brian did address a serious problem facing the United States today. In the movie Brian is mistakenly recognized as the messiah and towns people begin to follow him and refuse to believe that he is not the messiah. Following someone that blindly is a trait that both those towns people and the modern populace of America share.  The movie also shows the conflict between (monotheistic) religions and tells us to look on the bright side.

Brian, while trying to flee from roman guards falls on to a pedestal where he attracts the attention of many of the towns people he then began to spout of nonsense. The towns people questioned him at first and soon after began to follow him has he fled pelting him with questions. Very soon after, as the crowd began to grow the towns people started to claim that he was the messiah despite the fact that he had said nothing spiritual, influential, or noteworthy.

This is extremely similar to the modern American populace. Most Americans follow a religion, political figure, or “general fact” blindly. Meaning that they may know a few details but they claim that they are a follower, that a person represents them completely, or that they “know the facts”, when in fact most Americans are so completely ignorant claiming this untruthful. This is a huge problem. Americans should make educated decisions rather than just saying that they support something without knowing a single thing about it.

As a larger crowd begins to follow Brian, they begin to disagree amongst themselves about what he said. I compare this to the ongoing conflict between the, as I call them, “Big Three” monotheistic religions. All three, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are all essentially the same, but their followers fight claiming that they are not the same or similar. As a metaphor, they are Brian’s followers, fighting amongst themselves until they realize that they are following the same person and same ideals.

Finally Life of Brian reminds us to always look at the positives in life rather than the negatives. As Brian is being crucified one of the other prisoners bursts into song, singing “Always look on the bright side of life!” I think this should be taken into account because of the increasing negativity in the world. My mother has always told me that you reflect the side, positive or negative, that you feed the most. Perhaps this is why Americans are so overly negative in todays world. Most of American’s medium for information is the news. This medium only ever gives us negative news almost never positive. Maybe if the news was more positive Americans would be happier and more willing to get along with others.

Monty Pythons Life of Brian addresses many serious issues facing the world and especially America in modern times. But if we look on the bright side we may be able to overcome those problems.

Monty Python's Life of Brian

This movie was quite funny to say the least, not to mention also hit some very touchy subjects using satire and humor.  One of my favorite parts, probably a lot of peoples favorite part, was when the Roman soldier was giving Brian grammar lessons when he was painting the walls of the ROMAN temple.  This film completely mocked the beliefs and teachings of Jesus Christ.  I knew what this movie was referencing the entire time because I grew up in a Catholic family.  I didn't take any of these jokes to hear, don't worry.  I have seen plenty of Monty Python movies in the past, and I know his type of humor.  One of the parts I didn't understand was when they were breaking into the Roman fortress and they were in the sewer and called it "Caesar's Memorial Sewer."  I'm not sure what this theme was.  My best guess is "over-bureaucratization" the Romans thought they were superior towards everyone else, an the most superior men in the world.  I think this was referring to an over-bureaucratization nation we lived in, and still live in.  Bureaus and institutions think they are so superior in this life.  That is just my guess on that part of the movie though.  One of my other favorite parts was when the man on the rock was preaching what is called the Beatitudes and the people all the way in the back couldn't really hear and were just guessing what he was saying.  They misheard and thought he said, "blessed are the cheese makers..."  I got a chuckle out of that.

Life of Brian wasn't my favorite Monty Python movie but I still enjoyed watching it.  Yes, this took a stab at my religion, but like I said previously its all in good fun and jokes. I do recommend it to people who want a good laugh and to see satire being used in religion.  

We are afraid of thinking as individuals

We Are Afraid of Thinking as Individuals 

I appreciate what Life of Brian says about religion. I think that organized religions often use their central figures rather than follow them. It seems that people hear what they want to hear, follow the teachings they like, and use religious teachings to justify their actions. The film suggests that Jesus (aka Brian) did not want to be followed, and that those who claimed to follow him actually twisted his words, misinterpreted his statements, and forced him to be the prophet they wanted rather than the man he was. The only thing Brian really says is that people are individuals and should follow their own thoughts and develop their own values, but this point is totally ignored. Perhaps, it is easier to follow than to innovate.

Historically, it is clear that all religions are based on interpretation, but the film plays with the idea that Christianity was fabricated by humans for their own desires, that Jesus was just a pawn used by some for political reasons and by others to give direction when they did not want to think for themselves. In my own experience I see seen the manipulation of the Bible in a similar way. Though the Bible describes the earth as the creation of God, christians all over the world continue to destroy it and claim they are devoted to God.

In the end, the film really looks at human nature. It shows people hearing what they want to hear, doing what they want to do, and believing what they want to believe. Pontius Pilate never wakes up to the fact that everyone laughing at him. The People's Front of Judea can't get anything done because they spend all of their time either fighting with other movements or discussing policies. They don't listen when someone tries to convince them to actually do something. Brain's followers don't really listen to what he is saying,. In the end even Judith and his mother remain stuck in their own views of Brian and what is happening to him. Basically, those with an agenda see everything through the lens of that agenda, and those like Brian who just want peace and quiet get caught in the middle of the problems.

The film makes all of these points through humor. If a drama or a documentary was making the same point, many people would not listen or would feel offended. The film is able to criticize and mock religion and human nature without being too offensive because it incorporates silliness and humor that everyone can relate to. A lot of us know what it is like to be nagged by our mother, or to be told in an annoying way to look on the bright side. We can all laugh at a crazy naked man running around, or an oblivious leader with a speech impediment saying “Biggus Dickus.” Humor helps us deal with difficult topics in a way that feels safe. It changes anger, frustration, and cynicism into something positive. Monty Python's use of humor allows us to look at ourselves and the world, see the problems and faults, and laugh at it all.  

Banned in Norway

Starting with a contemporary and bombastic song, Monty Python's Life of Brian portrays society in Judea under Roman rule with a modern interpretation that is both funny and accessible to current-day audiences. Many critics of the film accused the makers of blasphemy; as if the inherent message of the story was to prove the Christian God does not exist and that writings about God are misinterpreted. While there are many tongue in cheek jokes about the potential sources of supernatural power, the overall message of the film is that individuals should not allow the beliefs of others to be their only guide in life to the exclusion of their own thoughts and ideas.

Released in 1979 the film was being seen when the Boomtown Rats released the song "I Hate Mondays"; a song written about a girl who shot 13 people, killing 2,  and wounding 9. The problems of today are echoes of yesterday's and those reverberations cross millennia. While the senseless song about a senseless act was topping the charts, Life of Brian was illustrating the dangers of blindly following others and how everyone projects their own meaning onto the thoughts, actions and desires of everyone else around them.

Brian starts life being slapped by his mother and the story quickly moves to 33 years later, showing Brian still living with his mother, getting badgered away from a barely heard speech by Jesus and off to a stoning. Once there, the film makes a quick point about the nature of blasphemy; that just saying a word, such as Jehovah and by extension any word, shouldn't be blasphemy.

It was a Roger Ebert review that helped open up another aspect of the film that I thought was brilliant writing.  Most of the people throwing stones are male actors, dressed in drag to portray women, dressed as men to overcome the limitation of no women being allowed at the stoning. The flattening of the gender roles helps illustrate a general pattern to human behavior as being cruel, quick to judge, and sentencing without sound evidence.

The film overall is not so much blasphemy as it is heresy, as the start of Brian's late career as an unintentional religious leader begins with an actual miracle. An alien space ship catches him as he falls, running from the Romans, and he then survives a space battle and consequent crash landing.  The episode is never mentioned again in the movie and it's easy to forget it even happened by the end titles.

By taking Brian into an incomprehensible dimension of space travel, the movie shows the audience something that is already a familiar popular tale and interpretable as not God-like intervention, but happenstance and being pulled into a much larger narrative of a clash between alien civilizations. The Voyager spacecraft made their closest approaches to Jupiter in 1979, Star Wars had been released in 1977, astronauts had landed on the moon in 1969, and War of the Worlds in the 1930's with dozens of space films released between. The audience might be surprised by the turn of events and laugh at the non-sequitor, but to the character Brian, it should be a sign that he might have a supernatural presence on Earth. He continues on without believing this and is oblivious to anything but Romans chasing him and a girl he would like to get to know.

Brian's babbling at the wall of prophets attracts the notice of passersby, who then proceed to follow Brian, and create, debate and codify an entire self-conflicting narrative and religious structure during the  chase, without Brian's help. One of my favorite scenes involves Brian stumbling into a hermit's hole. The hermit singing out now that he can talk freely and stopping after spotting the crowd still trailing Brian.

The remainder of the film continues a relentless series of scenes where mobs and others behave without displaying an ounce of sound critical thinking and projecting their own desires and views onto Brian's circumstances.

After being caught up in the desires of the mob, his peers, recently acquired girlfriend, and his mother; each project their own feelings about his circumstance, Brian is stuck responding to them while being held securely in place on a cross. The movie's signature song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" helps close out the story and the narrative that it is up to us as individuals to respond to our situation, hopefully with some sound reasoning.

Life of Brian

The whole movie takes place during 33 AD and opens with what appears to be Jesus in a manger. We soon discover that it is not Jesus, but a boy named Brian.  It will appear from the very beginning that Brian will live in the shadow of Jesus his whole life.

Within the first twenty minutes, the movie pokes fun at some very touchy subjects for a lot of people, including rape.  Whether rape should ever be used in a joking manner is a very controversial subject topic.  However, in the life of Brian the placement and the timing of the joke is used in such a way that it does not describe the horrific event, but instead implies that the victim eventually gives consent and reminisces that she enjoyed the experience.  Is this in bad taste? Well, looking at the entire movie as a whole, the movie does not hold anything back and pulls no punches on plenty of other controversial topics. This movie is not intended to be watched by the feint of heart, but everything that is experienced in this movie should be taken with a grain of salt.

One of the most comedic moments in the movie is when the roman soldier gives Brian a grammar lesson on the graffiti.  The roman guard is about to kill him for what he is writing, not because of the meaning of what he is writing, but because he is not using the correct conjugation of the words he is writing on the walls. After a short, but forceful grammar lesson, the soldier does not kill Brian for what he has written on the walls, but instead tells him to write it one hundred times so that Brian can correctly learn to use the proper grammar.  Immediately after that scene is a showcase of irony at its finest.  They intend to give Pilot demands that he cannot possibly fill.  They threaten to kill his wife if he does not meet their demands, which include that they will not submit to blackmail. They are doing to Pilot exactly what they just expressed that they did not want to happen to them. This is a perfect example of the play on words that occurs throughout the entire movie.

Probably my favorite scene in the whole movie was the bit about the two factions there to kidnap Pilot’s wife at the same time.  I found this incredibly hilarious because they want the same things, but refuse to work together and instead of accomplishing their joint goals against a common enemy, they kill each other and end up dying for nothing.  

The entire movie is based off of the hilarity of stupid decisions on everyone’s part through out.  From stupid decisions to stupid remarks and gestures, the movie brings a different kind of humor than we have yet to see from any of the previous movies discussed on the blog.  Whether it is in bad taste or not, “Life of Brian” brings a completely different aspect of humor than seen in “Modern Times” or “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”.

Life of who!....

Monty Python held nothing back when making the Life of Brian. Our story first starts off with one of the most well know stories in human history. They go straight after the birth of Jesus Christ. In this they do not make fun of him but they poke fun at the situation. This reminds me of a show called Robot Chicken. This show pokes fun at the stuff in between shots. For example they did a Star Wars special in which they took the scene when Boba Fett took Han Solo frozen back to Jabba the Hut. In the star wars movie it does not show the travel between both of the planets. In the Robot Chicken version it shows the plan ride and it comes out very hysterical. Life of Brian mimics this type of comedy with the birth of Jesus Christ. They did a skit in which the Three Wise Men went to the wrong baby at first and presented it with the gifts. The men realized their mistake and took back what they gave to baby Brian and wen to Jesus.

                Soon after that scene we see Brian grown up into a young man. With him now on his own he encounters some crazy adventures. Some of these adventures include him becoming a messiah or even joining a cult. The cult part of this movie is really eye catching because the cult is held together by some dim witted leaders. At one the leaders make Brian go to the palace and graffiti it. It takes the entire night but Brian somehow covers the entire thing After that entire mess Brian gets in trouble with the law and has to pay for his crimes. He goes to jail at one point and at the end of the movie he is crucified. The interesting thing about the crucifixion is that when all of the criminals are up on the cross they start to sing a song. The song is called always look on the bright side of life. This is a true Monty Python ending, first off leaving you with a dead main character and the second on a light hearted feeling.

I commend Monty Python for directing and putting out this movie when he did. I believe any move that goes after religion is going to get turmoil after the release. I think it takes balls to have created thins movie but the manner in which he mad it was not as funny as it could have been. Jokes tend to drag on in this movie. One scene the people believe that Brian is the messiah and they keep yelling at him asking him what to do. His scene goes on for fifteen minutes. Just back and forth back and forth until brain just sends them away. This long drawn out comedy is not for everyone and can be distracting at some points. All in all I would give this movie 4 out of 10 stars. The jokes can be funny, but when you stretch it out to far you can lose you target audience.  

Too funny!!!!

"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

Monty Python's life of Rhetoric

        First, I would like to address that this movie was good to watch if you have not read or heard anything about it. At least, that is how I prefer to watch movies. I am sure that if I had read reviews, I would not think the same of the movie or expect too much from it. Also, I know this is suppose to be a comedic film but it took me well past half way to start laughing at anything. Most of the time I was just scratching the back of my head because I did not get any of the references or jokes.
The first thing I would like to point out is the gender roles. In the beginning, I did not understand why the mother was played by a man. After watching the film, I realize that it would not have been the same if it was played by a woman. Also on that note, in the movie I guess its woman’s right to want to have babies, which I though was interesting. A male character decided that he wanted to be a woman because he wanted to have babies and that because he was a man it was not a right to have babies. That was a little interesting. A man can have a baby. All he needs to do is find a nice lad and mate with her.
Another thing that stood out in the film was a couple of arguments. The beginning scene in the coliseum, a man was about to die and he said’ “I think I am about to have a cardiac arrest”.  It made me think to myself and say, "WHAT was that ?" I don’t think people knew was cardiac arrest meant back in that time frame. The fact that character said cardiac arrest made that scene funny.  A scene after that, Brian was painting words on a building. The guard came out and first interrogated on what he was writing and then was telling him how to write and conjugate properly. This scene was particularly funny because the people know what the word cardiac arrest but they don’t know something as simple as conjugation. That is just a contradiction and does not make sense.
The last thing that stuck out at me was when Brian was having an argument with the swarm of followers by trying to convince them that they are their own being and they can do whatever they want. The swarm of people are not listening, which makes that scene quite funny because they are trying to use rhetoric against him and pin him in his argument. The mother does this as well and that makes this scene just as funny because a whole swarm of people are answering and responding at the same time to both characters. What are the chances of that happening, which is funny because here the writer uses rhetoric effectively in trying to make is point in the arguments in that particular scene.
Overall, the movie was funny, but I would not put it on my list of movies to watch again. The one thing that I will say is there is a lot of good rhetoric in this film and that is what makes it enjoyable.