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Monty Python: Complete and Utter Theory of the Grotesque
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 16, 2019
This is a most peculiar book insofar as it is both a collation of very serious and obtuse articles of literary theory, and a series of articles from newspapers and magazines about Monty Python. The problem with this structure is that whilst the Python related material is clear and very easy to follow, with some interesting and valuable insights into how the Pythons created and interpret their body of work, the theoretical content is generally far too dense and complicated to read.
Where the editor of this book has made a serious mistake is that he has compiled some very valuable third-party material about the Monty Python team and their work, and then failed to properly integrate the critical theory material to support or interpret the Python-related content. This book would have been far more readable and far more perceptive as a critical analysis of the grotesque in Monty Python if Thompson had taken excerpts or examples from the body of work created by Cleese, Gilliam, Jones, Palin, Chapman and Idle and explicitly referenced them to the literary theory. Or, conversely, he had corroborated the theories of Lacan, Bakhtin etc as cited in the book with specific references to a Python sketch, film, song etc.
It must also be noted that this book is limited due to its publication date. With 'Monty Python's Meaning of Life' arguably being the most grotesque of the team's collective work, its absence due to it being released after this book was published means that Thompson's study is incomplete.
In summary, this is a frustrating book that is only going to appeal to hardened Monty Python fans. Surely there is a better critical analysis of their oeuvre than this one?
Where the editor of this book has made a serious mistake is that he has compiled some very valuable third-party material about the Monty Python team and their work, and then failed to properly integrate the critical theory material to support or interpret the Python-related content. This book would have been far more readable and far more perceptive as a critical analysis of the grotesque in Monty Python if Thompson had taken excerpts or examples from the body of work created by Cleese, Gilliam, Jones, Palin, Chapman and Idle and explicitly referenced them to the literary theory. Or, conversely, he had corroborated the theories of Lacan, Bakhtin etc as cited in the book with specific references to a Python sketch, film, song etc.
It must also be noted that this book is limited due to its publication date. With 'Monty Python's Meaning of Life' arguably being the most grotesque of the team's collective work, its absence due to it being released after this book was published means that Thompson's study is incomplete.
In summary, this is a frustrating book that is only going to appeal to hardened Monty Python fans. Surely there is a better critical analysis of their oeuvre than this one?
November 30, 2012
Bit over my head, this one.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews