Monday, 23 April 2012

‘And now for something completely different’ (Directed by Ian MacNoughtan)

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side, of course. That joke, and Monty Python films share one thing in common. Simplicity. The difference? If you thought that the chicken joke was funny, you may need to go see a psychiatrist. Monty Python is funny, at least to my tastes. Most of the time, anyway. It’s true, their jokes can be rather crude but this scene (titled ‘Self Defence class.’) is harmless. Relatively.
This clip is probably not so much a scene, but rather a comedy sketch from the TV show ‘Monty Python's Flying Circus’, re-filmed and pasted together with a bunch of other completely different scenes to make a movie.
The scene is set in some kind of gym/hall, where an over-exaggerated (and paranoid) instructor is trying to teach a group of unwilling men how to defend themselves against someone armed with fresh fruit.  And if you’re wondering why there was someone who looked like a nun at the beginning of the scene, that was just incorporated to link one scene to the next.
There is very little to say about this clip. It has no symbols, and as far as I can tell no nessages or hidden meaning. It has no depth. Most of the film reeks of a low budget- poor animation, limited camera work, no music.
It’s the dialogue which makes the clip interesting, as well as the exaggerated actions of the cast (John Cleese in particular). The storyline of the clip itself is senseless, and completely ridiculous, with absolutely no morale inclinations. The camera work is simple, only really consisting of group shots of the four mean that are being instructed, and close ups of the instructor as he yells at them. 
It may not have been the best clip to choose to analyse in terms of techniques and messages etc, but Monty Python does what it intends to do. It does not make me think, or cry. It simply makes me laugh.