Margo McKenna
March 23, 2003
“The Meaning of Life: A Humorous and Serious Look at the Monty Python Movie”
At the time I chose to speak about both the humorous and serious aspects of the meaning of life, as presented in the Monty Python movie, “The Meaning of Life,” I did not know we would be a nation at war. In light of that fact, I believe it is even more important that we take time to look at the meaning of life, both within the universal context, as well as in our individual lives.
Throughout history, humanity has sought answers to questions such as: How is it we came to exist, are we the result of a Divine Creator or are we the result of evolution? What does our existence mean? And, how our existence might impact the future? Even the earliest of humans, whose life expectancy was very short, and who spent all their waking hours seeking either food or shelter, took the time to wrestle with the questions of meaning in existence. We know this from cave paintings, and archeological excavations, that date to our earliest human ancestors. Today, archeologists and paleontologists believe that cave paintings, and artifacts recovered from ancient sites, point to rituals surrounding birth and death, the earth, animals, plant life, as well as spirits, which our ancestors appear to have honored in their desire to answer questions of their existence.
Later human history is been filled with religious answers to this question; and unfortunately, some of these answers have contributed to our history being filled with violence and war, carried out to prove that one belief regarding human existence is more accurate than any other. Even later philosophical and scientific theories, which have tried to be more open to diversity of meanings for our existence, have battled among themselves as to which group best answers these questions.
So, today as our nation is at war, we once again ask the questions, “what is the meaning of our existence,” and “what is the meaning of death?”
Unitarian and Universalist beliefs arose within the Christian context of trying to answer these questions. What moved us out of mainstream Christianity, was our openness to many different ways of answering these questions. Rather than a traditional Christian interpretation of life and death, we believe that the Christian meaning is only one among many in which humans may find meaning for their lives, and make peace with their deaths. UUism has sought to allow individuals, and their religious communities, the right to find meaning for oneself, as well as to honor the many different meanings that others find within the very same community.
This was one of the main reasons I became a UU, and why I have chosen to serve as a UU minister. It has been within this liberal religious movement I have been allowed to search for, and find, meaning in rather unorthodox ways and places. I am allowed as a minister, to support and nurture the journey to find meaning of every member and friend in Chalice, in whatever orthodox, or unorthodox, manner each of you chooses. Most people who become associated with UUism, are people who ask the difficult questions about the meaning of life, and who may have struggled to accept, but cannot, the “traditional” answers given in our society. Each has come to find the meaning of life for themselves, and to search for that meaning within a nurturing and safe environment. I am stretched, and yet thrilled, to be part of a liberal religious movement that has nurtured the search for meaning in life through many different belief systems, each of which offers different answers to the difficult questions of human existence. We are made up of Atheists, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Humanists, Pagans, etc., and many that are a little bit of some or all of these traditions. In fact, is in these individually, or these collectively, or even these eclectically, that UUs have found meaning in their existence.
Now, some of you may be wondering when I am going to talk about Monty Python’s Movie, “The Meaning of Life. I also know some of you are anxious to see what I could possibly draw from this movie. It is a rather weird movie, it is also a rather vulgar movie, and for those who have seen it, you may wonder what I could say about this movie that might have any depth.
Let me start by telling those of you who may not know me, that I have a part of me that is a little bit rebellious, and another little part of me that likes to provoke people. Some of this is just my temperament, and some of it is a reaction to a very strict religious upbringing. I am fortunate that UUism has been open and supportive enough to allow me the freedom to rebel, and to search for meaning in my new life, within the safety of a liberal religious community.
It is out of some of the unorthodox messages and experiences, which have been part of my search for meaning in life since leaving fundamentalist Christianity, that I came across the Monty Python movie, “The Meaning of Life.” As this movie was a turning point in my own search for meaning in life, I decided to be provocative, and share some of the profound questions, which are tucked into this obscene movie.
Let me start by saying that I do find this film violent, blatantly sexual, and it pushes the boundaries of what many consider “decent.” It was interesting for me to find out that the violence, the blatant sexuality, and the pushing of social norms, which occurs not just in this film, but in all Monty Python work, is done deliberately by people who considered themselves not only spiritual, but religious. In an interview done during the late 1980’s, with 4 members of the cast from Monty Python, several of the men shared their strong religious beliefs, both Catholic and Protestant. They felt that only as men of strong religious convictions could they speak most honestly about the issues facing people of faith, as well as the larger issues, which are facing all humans. Only 2 members of the original Monty Python Troupe considered themselves atheist or agnostic. I found this amazing…I believed they had all left whatever religious convictions they had in their past. But, they stated that their unorthodox and provocative work was done from a place of deep faith; a faith that was so deep, they felt it could withstand questioning, humor, obscenity, and even the sacrilegious - if that is what it took to make people think, ask questions about life choices, and recognize how those choices are what provides meaning for humanity.
The movie starts with a short introductory clip on the subject of corporate raiders. This is a spoof in which the Monty Python team dreams of the ability of a “small company” to overpower the “colossal corporations.” As this was filmed in 1983, it might have seemed out of date and look like wishful thinking, even at the time it was produced. This movie was made during the rise of corporate globalization, when it was believed mega-corporations were the future of all business. The entire business world was predicting high productivity, large profits, and the transformation of business practice. Yet, this film clip is even more powerful when viewed in light of recent corporate scandals, and the bankruptcy of many mega-corporations.
From here the feature portion of the film begins and is broken down into 7 sections. It covers birth, growth and learning, fighting each other, middle age, live organ transplantation, the autumn years, and death.
In the first section of the movie, entitled “birth,” the filmmakers spoof both Catholic views on birth control and Protestant difficulties with sexual repression. The tone is sacrilegious, yet, if you get offended by the tone, you miss the point to which the movie is speaking - the difficult issue of controlling world population in light of strong religious convictions against doing so…You might also miss the point that many who come out of the Protestant tradition still struggle with the concept that sexuality is an appropriate behavior for humans to express.
The second section in the movie presents issues surrounding growth and learning. They poke fun at the kind of schooling that considers rote memorization and repetition as learning, and they also spoof en masse education, which provides no time for individual needs, or room for individual expression. The film plays with the way that educators speak, which can be confusing to students, and shows the exasperation of the educator when the students do not understand what seems to be perfectly clear. It offers a scenario of graphic sex education, but also highlights the western puritan attitudes that have guided sex education so ineffectively in the past. Parents and educators could debate the questions raised by this particular scene for a long time. This section of the movie also speaks to bullying and cheating, in this case by the teachers, and is so clearly cruel that anyone who watches this scene cannot help but catch the point.
The third section in the movie is a spoof about war, with an opening scene portraying the ludicrous interaction between a commander and his men. In this scene, the men want to thank the commander for his leadership with clocks and a cake, all the while being picked off by enemy fire. This war scene is followed by a short, but very profound, statement by a British officer, who says, “The meaning of life is to be found in multiple viewpoints about life; and the need for an army is to keep more aggressive and narrow viewpoints from running over the multiple viewpoints.” There is an entire sermon about war and peace in this statement alone! During this section of the movie they also spoof the democracy of an army – with wonderful irony, and they point to the historical power of the British military being the result of “the calm leadership of the Officer Class.” This scene addresses the issue of class with a great deal of satire, but it leaves you aware of the class conflict that continues to this day, not just in Britain, but in the U.S.
The fourth scene is short and introduces a couple, which enter a restaurant where “dialogue” is on the menu. They choose the topic of philosophy, but then realize the topic is not right for them because they have never questioned the reason for their existence, and are not interested in doing so now. The point is made that many of us live without asking the difficult questions, and that we remain without
depth if our lives are simply filled with daily busyness. Another little gem tucked in here is when the waiter offers this couple an explanation of philosophy: “It is to construct a viable hypothesis to explain the meaning of life.” This is one of the most concise definitions of philosophy I have ever heard – and it comes from this weird and wonderful film.
The fifth scene is the one in which I first came to love this film. Though it has a very gory section in which a man who carries an organ donor card has his liver removed while he is still living – as the men removing the liver remind him that his liver is going to save lives – the scene concludes with a song by Eric Idle. In it he takes the wife of the man who has had his liver removed on a walk through the galaxy while singing about our place in the universe. It was this song that absolutely transformed me 10 years ago, at a time in my life when I was searching to find meaning, as I had found my Christian beliefs irrelevant when faced with enormous loss and illness. The words of the song are: “We are standing on a planet, fed by the sun, within a galaxy of 100 billion stars or more, and our galaxy is only 1 among millions of billions, within this amazing and expanding universe…So, when you’re feeling small and insecure, just remember how amazingly unlikely is your birth, and hope that there is intelligent life out there, as there is only bugger down here on the earth.” Ironically, I found this song enormously hopeful; I realized that I can look up at the stars, consider the universe, wonder at the amazing fact that I exist, and I came to feel that I can face death comforted by the fact that I have had a place in this cosmic marvel, and that I will always be part of this universe, which will continue long after I cease to exist.
The sixth scene is one that is difficult for me to watch, as I do not do well when people throw up. This section starts with an extremely obese man entering a restaurant, and after being seated, begins to lose his food. He orders everything on the menu in a bucket, continuing to throw up even as he eats. In the end, he cannot resist a little wafer given to him by the waiter, and he promptly expands and explodes. I found this to be a strongly subversive statement on human greed; the kind of greed that is always hungry, even when we have more than we can hold. The scene ends with a walk to the waiters’ home, and this scene is placed in contrast to the man who cannot get enough to eat, where the waiter shares his definition on the meaning of life. He says: “Love everyone, and try to bring happiness, peace, and contentment, to those around you.”
The final section is about death. There are a couple of introductory clips about death, but the one that is most thoughtful, is where death visits a home in which there are 6 people having a dinner party. When death tells them who he is and why he has come, the responses of the people are: offense, asking trick questions, waxing philosophical about the concept of death, trying to debate with death, and refusing to accept death. Of course, in the end, they all die and follow death to heaven. In heaven they are seated at dinner tables with all of those who have died during the film, and then a dinner show takes place with the theme of “It’s Christmas in Heaven.” But, the bit of profundity I found in this particular scene, is in the way each person at the table chose to respond when facing death. Monty Python has every human reaction to death acted out very well, along with the reminder that we cannot ultimately avoid death when it comes. None of those at that dinner party made peace with death before being taken…This is so often the manner in which humanity chooses to die, and the movie left me wondering how I, as a minister, can nurture, educate, and simply be present, in order to allow people to face death with grace and peace.
The conclusion of the film is like an Oscar presentation, in which the envelope reads: “The meaning of life is to try to be nice to people, avoid eating too much fat, read a good book, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds, and nations.” It is in this simple summary, that I have found the greatest meaning in living. Many others have also found this simple message to bring them meaning in their lives. And it is this simple summary upon which the UU Principles are based. So, if you have a little bit of the rebel in you, you enjoy subversive humor, you are searching for meaning in your life, and have not seen this film, I would recommend you take the time to view it. If none of the above applies to you, just take my word that there are nuggets of meaning in this silly film, and keep living your life in whatever manner brings the greatest meaning.