Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
A Book about the Film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
All the References from Americans to Zulu Nation
by Darl Larsen
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
This reference identifies and explains the cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the filmMonty Python’s Meaning of Life, the Pythons’ third and final original feature as a complete group. In this resource, virtually every allusion and reference that appears in the film is identified and explained —from Britain’s waning Empire through the Winter of Discontent to Margaret Thatcher’s second-term mandate, from playing fields to battle fields, and from accountant pirates to sacred sperm. Organized chronologically by scene, the entries cover literary and metaphoric allusions, symbolisms, names, peoples, and places; as well as the many social, cultural, and historical elements that populate this film, and the Pythons’ work in general.
About the Author:
Darl Larsen is professor in the Media Arts department and the Center for Animation at Brigham Young University, where he teaches film and animation studies and screenwriting. He is the author of Monty Python, Shakespeare, and English Renaissance Drama (2003), Monty Python’s Flying Circus: An Utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References (2013), A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (2015), and A Book about the Film Monty Python’s Life of Brian (2018).
Press Reviews:
Hard-core Monty Python fans will be thoroughly delighted....
― Publishers Weekly
[Larsen] meticulously dissects the film scene by scene (and often line by line), delving into what topics, including boarding schools or tinned salmon, would have meant to the Pythons and also how they would have been received by 1980s film audiences. A sketch on the Zulu War, for example, would have called to mind the twilight of the British Empire, the previous year’s Falklands War, and recent earnest films about the war. Larsen isn’t seeking to amplify the film’s humor; instead he’s edifying the reader. Beyond capturing the zeitgeist through the use of contemporary references, he uses scenes from the film as entry points to limn British history. He admits the Pythons may not have always intended allegory, but Larsen can use their material to discuss the austerity of postwar Britain, the rise of Margaret Thatcher, or the coal mining industry.
― Library Journal
See the publisher website: Rowman & Littlefield
See The Meaning of Life (1983) on IMDB ...
> On a related topic:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (2000)
The Illustrated Screenplay
Subject: One Film > The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
A Critical Companion to Terry Gilliam (2022)
Dir. Sabine Planka, Philip van der Merwe and Ian Bekker
Subject: Director > Terry Gilliam
The Cinema of Terry Gilliam (2013)
It's a Mad World
Dir. Jeff Birkenstein, Anna Froula and Karen Randell
Subject: Director > Terry Gilliam
Masters of the Grotesque (2012)
The Cinema of Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Coen Brothers and David Lynch
Subject: Director > Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Coen Brothers, David Lynch
Terry Gilliam (2004)
Interviews
Dir. David Sterritt and Lucille Rhodes
Subject: Director > Terry Gilliam
Back
