Shortly after the film was released, Cleese and Palin engaged in a what would become an infamous debate on the BBC2 discussion programme Friday Night, Saturday Morning, in which Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the Bishop of Southwark, put the case against the film. Muggeridge and the Bishop had arrived 15 minutes late to see a screening of the picture prior to the debate, missing the establishing scenes which demonstrated that Brian and Jesus were two different characters, and hence contended that it was a send-up of Christ himself.
Both Pythons later felt that there had been a strange role reversal in the manner of the debate, with two young upstart comedians attempting to make serious, well-researched points, while the establishment figures engaged in cheap jibes and point scoring.
- via
Wikipedia
19 Comments
OrnthoronWhat a lemon-sour face on that guy in the ugly blazer...
seagoonWhat a humorless bore Malcolm Muggeridge was.
honkeytonk73You have offended my imaginary friends!
MixasterGod Bless Monty Python.
spoco2We have a lot to thank Python for. Not just great humour, but things like this which really challenged the scared and staid church and puritans.
The Life of Brian is such a wonderful movie, so full of fantastic humour, so NOT in any way attacking any faith at all, that it did such a great thing of showing all these humourless, dour individuals how wrong they were. That is to say, because there was no ill intent in it, in the long run and in the face of mass agreement from the populous as to it being a fine piece of work, those who saw it as any way blasphemous were demonstrated to just be scared individuals who lash out at anything they see that could possibly be saying anything against their precious little messiah.
kymbosAny details on the full documentary? What's it called?
YogiThe Life of Brian: Immaculate Edition was released in 2007 and one of the extras is "The Secret Life of Brian" a documentary of the film and the controversy that followed it. You can also find it on Blu-ray, it's Pythons first Blu-ray release.
Part 1 on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDCAJTrF1gg
NuminarThey are just a pair of very naughty boys!
Zifnab*british
siftbotAdding video to channels (British) - requested by Zifnab.
MaxWilder"Work it out for yourself. You are all individuals. Don't let anyone tell you what to do!"
That is attacking faith in the most direct and effective manner that I've ever seen, and I say kudos!
YogiI thought about this further, and I honestly think that people like Dawkins and Hitchens have it wrong and Python had it right. You don't engage ridiculous men trying to act serious in a serious manner. You make whatever observations you want to, humorously, while ignoring people that want to engage seriously. Don't bother, once you start playing on their field you've already lost.
chilaxe^That's surely one strategy that's effective (like Maher)... but people like Dawkins and Hitchens tend to win their debates against supernaturalists because their opponents are generally inexperienced in the modern intellectual world.
YogiMaher had a great comment about Al Franken to the guy he was running against. It was like "You have to be careful because comedians wield comedy like a knife," put it in pretty good perspective.
spoco2>> ^MaxWilder:
"Work it out for yourself. You are all individuals. Don't let anyone tell you what to do!"
That is attacking faith in the most direct and effective manner that I've ever seen, and I say kudos!
It's not attacking 'faith', they aren't saying don't have some faith that there is a higher power etc. It's saying don't blindly follow some book. Look into it yourself, think about it, study, come to your own conclusions. If you end up then believing that there is a God, yeay for you. But to base your life on someone just telling you something is that way without questioning... That's what they're attacking, and it's very, very worth attacking.
ReverendTed>> ^spoco2:
The Life of Brian is such a wonderful movie, so full of fantastic humour, so NOT in any way attacking any faith at all, that it did such a great thing of showing all these humourless, dour individuals how wrong they were.
Not attacking faith? Brian's throng of followers are basically a direct attack on the fallacy of blind faith. The stoning of the blasphemer is a direct attack on the dangers of overzealous faith.
The movie is as much a send-up of religion as "Every Sperm is Sacred".
Don't let my username fool you, though, I went out and bought Life of Brian on DVD to replace my VHS copy when I tossed out my VCR, and I've got the Monty Python box set, etc, etc.
Grand piece of film. I'm particularly fond of the non-sequitur segment with the aliens and the "Romans go home" bit.
MaxWilder>> ^MaxWilder:
"Work it out for yourself. You are all individuals. Don't let anyone tell you what to do!"
That is attacking faith in the most direct and effective manner that I've ever seen, and I say kudos!
>> ^spoco2:
It's not attacking 'faith', they aren't saying don't have some faith that there is a higher power etc. It's saying don't blindly follow some book. Look into it yourself, think about it, study, come to your own conclusions. If you end up then believing that there is a God, yeay for you. But to base your life on someone just telling you something is that way without questioning... That's what they're attacking, and it's very, very worth attacking.
You seem to misunderstand the word "faith". In the context of religion, it is believing in something without evidence. It is believing something because somebody in a position of authority told you something is true, and you fail to question it. If you work it out for yourself, you will see right through "faith" and see that right behind it is "lie".
sanderbossays...Christianity got its revenge though:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Not-the-Nine-OClock-News-General-Synods-Life-of-Christ
Don_Juansays...Every sperm is sacred
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