My favorite comedy I have seen recently would have to be "The Quest for the Holy Grail" from the  Monty Python series. I believe that many of the different theories of comedy are portrayed in the film. For example, the Incongruity theory is exemplified in the scene involving the anarchist workers that verbally taunted King Author. Historically, the Middle Ages(the context of the movie) is so far detached from any 19th century Russian style anarchism that the connection of the two ideas completely unexpected, i.e. Incongruous. It is hilarious to see King Author bewildered by this group completely rejecting his Kingship and, in fact, any concept of kingship in an age when the idea of kingship was not even questioned. At the end of the scene it escalated so much that King Author was yelling "Shut up!" to a peasant who was screaming "Help, help I am being repressed by the system!" In addition to this, one can see quit Herbert Spencer's interpretation of the Incongruity Theory, i.e. as "Descending Incongruity." For example, at the beginning of the witch trial scene, we see a procession of monks walking single file through the town. They are chanting a sacred hymn of some sort in Latin, and this creates the expectation of a somber mood. However, they suddenly bang their heads with their book, and then, every time they get through a certain part of the chant, they bang their head with their books again. So one can see the "Descending Incongruity" in the unexpected association of something sacred(the chant) with something bizarre and idiotic(the head banging.) In addition to these, other theories, such as Freud's version of the "Relief Theory," can be observed in other scenes. For example, in King Author's battle with the Black Knight, we see violence represented in a hilarious manner. King Author hacks off the Knights arm, then his other arm, then the leg, and then the other leg. After each blow, the knight does not scream in pain as would be expected, but rather, keeps taunting King Author and demanding to keep the fight going. So in Freud's theory, we have something typically repressed by society, i.e. violence, being expressed in  a funny way. This, under Freud's interpretation, creates a relief from the stifling effect of needing to repress violent thoughts in everyday life. So, in my opinion, the different theories, which are not mutually opposed are very helpful in understanding my favorite comedy.

Comments

  1. Shane HerronAugust 31, 2019 at 7:54 AM

    I love this movie and the political discussion is one of my favorite scenes. There is also a similar scene in "The Life of Brian." I think much of the political comedy of Python comes from their experience dealing with the political radicalism of the 60s (they met doing student comedy).

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