Three Elements Of Comedy In Monty Python And The Holy Grail

Films, comedians and other forms of media are able to use various comedic elements in order to make their production funny, and typically entertaining, to the audience. These elements include using the unexpected or the familiar, playing with delivery and timing, double entendre, flawed plan and many others. Monty Python and the Holy Grail effectively utilizes several components of comedy to poke fun at the history and culture of the time at which the stories take place. The film looks at several stories that build onto each other as the quest for the Holy Grail. Three major elements of comedy that the film uses are using the familiar, playing with tradition and authority, and utilizing flawed plans. These three components effectively allow …show more content…
This story essentially is when, during the Trojan War, the Greeks supposedly built a wooden horse large enough to fit several of their soldiers inside. They tricked the city of Troy into believing that the horse was a gift so that the hidden soldiers were able to enter the city of Troy and attack. In the film, there is a Trojan Bunny which King Arthur and his men intend use to do the same thing as the Greeks did in history as they attempt to enter a castle. The familiarity of the story allows the audience to understand the humor in the plan that the men have. Another scene is when one of King Arthur’s knights, Galahad, enters Anthrax and encounters 150 virgins there who all quite intensely crave him. This scene depicts the women in an almost-pornographic way which is a familiar concept to many people. The 150 virgins make sexual comments towards Galahad and drape themselves around him in a sexual manner. The scene is therefore comedic to the audience because they understand the way the women are acting towards Galahad and can connect it to the way women act in pornographic material. The final scene that utilizes familiarity as …show more content…
In history, King Arthur was a figure that was commonly characterized as being honorable, honest, loyal, chivalrous, and valiant. He was known to be a powerful leader whom his knights looked up to. Throughout several scenes in the movie, the knights are making fun of King Arthur and continually mocking him. Poking fun at the known authority of King Arthur is one way that the film is able to be comedic. The audience expects the knights to respect and look up to the power of King Arthur, but they certainly do not. King Arthur is also not depicted as being a powerful and strong king. One example that shows this is in the very opening of the movie when it seems as though he is about to ride in on a horse, when he appears from over a mountain skipping towards the camera as the man who is with him bangs coconuts together to make the sounds of a horse trotting. This shows the lack of authority and royalty that King Arthur possesses in this movie. Looking again at the scene of Galahad and the women of Anthrax, the film also uses this scene to mock tradition. Sir Galahad, in history, is known for being a knight of purity. This essentially means that he did not partake in any sexual relationships with women as he was known to respect them. To reiterate, this scene in the film shows Galahad with 150 virgins who want nothing more but to be with him. He does not shut them