The film starts with a black background and white title, credits, and subtitles later on, accompanied by grand background music. Because of the music and the title ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’, I initially assumed it would be an epic film (I have no clue about the film at all). Suddenly, the music changes to a humorous style. The credits appear in a non-professional manner, with phrases like ‘Appearing; also appearing; also also appearing,’ and there is a significant difference in the number of words between the subtitles and the credits.
After what seems to be the completion of all the names, the screen goes black, and the music abruptly ends with a distorted sound. Then, a line of text appears: “’We apologize for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.” The screen goes black again, and a similar process (music fades out of tune, apologize) repeats. This bold and obvious approach immediately shifts my expectation from an epic to an unconventional and nonsensical comedy. Firstly, it is unconventional because the filmmakers take 3 and a half minutes to display only the credits without any visuals, which is uncommon in traditional studio films as it can easily bore the audience. In this regard, the filmmakers break with convention and subvert the norm. However, they also play with the music and credits to entertain the viewers. Through this parody of the credits, the filmmakers explicitly expose the medium of film. It is as if they are directly communicating with the audience, breaking the fourth wall. Usually, filmmakers hide their presence to immerse the audience completely in the storytelling. By breaking this convention, and doing so repeatedly, the film establishes a sense of comedic satire. It’s worth noting that the filmmakers are fully aware of their use of these techniques (repeatedly exposing their presence) to achieve the desired effect of comical satire for the audience.
In addition to this, I also learned two things or was prompted with two questions. 1. As a non-native English-speaking audience, during my first viewing, I didn’t pick up on the humor in the credits (didn’t have enough time to read the words). This reminded me that as a visual-audio medium, does film rely on the use of words to convey its effect? Looking back at film history, the comedy effects were entirely conveyed through visuals, without words, and even without sound, during the silent era, like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Therefore, when making unconventional films, should I consider film ontology, which is what is film, before attempting to subvert it? 2. When engaging in satire or parody, to what extent should I go? Sometimes, if I push too hard, it may not create a comedic effect but instead appear foolish, as the analysis by Collative Learning (2020) mentioned, “the dramatic music is now speeding up to the point of being overly exaggerated and silly.”
Collative Learning (27 Nov 2020) ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The anti-movie movie (film analysis)’ , Collative Learning, YouTube website, accessed 27 Jul 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTDALu3f4-g&ab_channel=CollativeLearning