Sure there is. Compare the crucifixion scene from "Life of Brian" to "Passion of the Christ".

Yes, Life of Brian is just The Passion with a laugh track.

"The Life Of Brian" wasn't about Christ.

of course it was. What's the central message of the film?

I'd never heard of "Pearls Before Swine" before. That has to be the funniest new comic I've seen in years. Those collections are going on my Amazon wish list right now.

Life of Brian could have been written by Trey Stone and Matt Parker. The cowardly Judean terrorists, stonings as entertainment, "but what have the Romans ever done for us?", Biggus Dickus. It's all proto-South Park.

The real Jesus is giving his sermon on the mount and the people in the back can't hear it quite clearly. "What was that? Blessed are the cheesemakers?" "Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products." Python wasn't making fun of Jesus; they were making fun of people who misinterpreted his message.

"...if you're a secular materialist there's nothing funny about death." This doesn't make sense to me. I'm guessing the assumption is that "secular materialists" are supposed to be too afraid of death to laugh?

OJ:

The central message of the film is the tendency of people to slavishly follow a messiah.

Review the scene where Brian is talking to the crowd from his bedroom window as just one of many for instances.

pkd:

I have come to agree with OJ that most humor is conservative (although the logic tends to circularity--Harry Shearer's "Le Show" is both liberal and funny, but OJ would say it is conservative because the humor techniques are). However, this particular assertion is silly.

Jeff:

Nope. It's the opposite.

Jeff:

Nope. It's the opposite. Where are the Brianists?

i always took the film as a historical comedy, ala Holy Grail, or Jabberwocky. if it were meant to be about Christ wouldn't they have included many more such scenes ? they make fun of jews and romans, there not being any christians at that point in history. the pythons were not into deep topics.

cjm:

Christ was a Jewish citizen of Rome.

The argument itself is silly. As with any of OJ's linear pronouncements, he can bend any evidence to the contrary to support his point of view. Humor is neither conservative or liberal, it just is. If you really want to draw a parallel between comedy and a political viewpoint, you would have to say that comedy is a moderate. It turns self-importance on its head. Self importance exists at either pole of the political spectrum, there is much fodder for ridicule among serious right-wingers and left-wingers.

oj: just as an aside, is there any writings about Christ going to Rome itself; i.e. did he ever travel outside of Israel ?

rd: small-c conservatives, and small-l liberals are the true moderates. you have to have extreme behavior for humor or drama, just to draw a contrast with the droning of everyday life.

Robert:

Self-importance is secular and materialist.

cjm:

There's apocryphal evidence of Him going to India even, but none of it would have anything to do with His being Roman.

OJ:

You must not have seen the film, in which there were "Brianists."

Out of the entire movie, two scenes involved Jesus, and the humor in neither scene involved Christianity.

But it did rather beat up on humanity's tendency to fanatical religiosity--so it is only about Christianity to the extent Christians are prone to baseless, fanatical, religious belief.

Actually, since virtually all non-ribald humor is anti-authority, then humor is actually libertarian. The techniques themselves, though, have to be "conservative" since they only work with respect to human nature.

As for the assertion that secular humanists find nothing funny about death, then you haven't seen Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

And as for assuming all humor is conservative, then you haven't heard the song "Every Sperm is Sacred" from the same movie.

Wrong. Self importance is human. Just admitting you're fallen doesn't stop you from acting fallen.

No, if you're secular the self is all important. Only if you're religious is it not. Because we're Fallen we all act is if it were.

Jeff:

Yes, where are the Brianists now?

Like I said, it's because we're human. I'm glad you agree.

OJ:

Everytime you see a fanatical religious zealot, of whatever stripe, you are looking at a Brianist.

Jeff:

Bingo! Christianity is the dominant force in human affairs. There is no Brianism. The Truth, no matter how hilarious, prevails.

Robert:

Yes, that's the human condition. But only the religious recognize such selfishness as disorder.

How do you defend such a catalog of generalities without daily being bombarded with contrary evidence which will blow them away? Is that why you never leave the basement?

That's the beauty of being a conservative--everything confirms your philosophy. The newspaper is one long "told you so."

Well, as long as you get your information from newspapers, I guess you're on solid ground. Carry on.

"Every Sperm is Sacred" is actually in Meaning of Life .

Whoops, sorry.

OJ:

You need to work on your reading comprehension.

To repeat: The movie satirizes, among other things, fanatical religious zealots. The particular religion is irrelevant--a fanatical Catholic is just as ridiculous as a fanatical Muslim, Buddhist, etc.

Fanatical religiosity is a very unfortunate concimitiant of human nature, and is what makes organized religion a pox on humanity.

Your continued insistence the movie is, even peripherally, about Christianity rather belies an unfortunate sense of self-importance.

Jeff, stop that. Self-importance is a particular scourge of this century just past; fanaticism extends to all creeds; and he reads perfectly well.

Jeff:

Yes, but only true fanaticism survives. It's very Darwinian. There are 2 billion Christians and more every day. There are fewer and fewer seculars. There are no Brianists. Only the true fanaticisms survive. That's the sublime point of the movie.

'Stiff' by Mary Roach. Secular materialist corpse humor.

OJ:

Really?

So you are saying that every Christian is so spiritually impressionable they will fanatically follow anyone even giving the appearance of proclaiming to be a savior?

Further, your presumed point reveals a true lack of understanding the point of much of Monty Python's humor. They were anti-authority, and, consistent with that, anti-organized religion.

In other words, their humor was libertarian, not conservative.

Joe:

Presuming self importance is a particular fault of areligionists doesn't bear up very well under examination.

Religions have always been self important; by extension, religionists gain self importance through their religion.

That's why the terms "religious" and "hatred" are joined at the dipthong.

Jeff:

Everyone follows someone. A few of the people men have followed turn out to have revealed truth--Moses, Jesus, Mohammed--many lies--Marx, Darwin, Freud, Brian, etc..

That the Pythons are also a butt of their own joke merely reinforces the point that all humor is conservative.