Monty Python's The Meaning of Life: Difference between revisions

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* [[Animated Credits Opening]]

* [[Audience Participation]]: We are invited to "Find the Fish" at The Middle of the Film.

* [[Badass Grandpa]]: The entire "crew" of the Crimson Permanent Assurance.

* [[Bad Liar]] / [[Blatant Lies]]: [[Sarcasm Mode|Oddly enough]], the two men dressed as a tiger have difficulty convincing anyone of their various stories about a) why they're dressed as a tiger and b) why they definitely ''didn't'' steal an officer's leg and run away with it.

'''Major:''' ... '''''Search the thickets'''''. }}

* [[Bolt of Divine Retribution]]:

* [[Brick Joke]]: The "Crimson Permanent Assurance" short, as noted above.

* [[Cow Tools]]: The "machine that goes 'Ping.'" It supposedly tells whether the baby, during labour, is still alive, albeit without being connected to the mother. The hospital administrator and staff are very proud of it.

* [[Funny Foreigner]]

** [[Fake American|American]]: [[Eagle Land|The exaggeratedly]] broad-accented couple eating dinner and their waiter in the "The Middle Age" sketch, the business executives discussing the meaning of life. Also, Howard Katzenberg, the loud, brash, [[Armchair Psychology|pop-psychology]]-obsessed dinner party guest in the "Grim Reaper" sequence:

'''Grim Reaper:''' Shut up! Shut up, you American. [[Lampshade Hanging|You always talk, you Americans.]] You talk and you talk and say "let me tell you something" and "I just wanna say this". Well, you're dead now, so shut up! }}

** French: The comically-accented maître d' and waiter in the "Mr. Creosote" sketch and its aftermath.

* [[Greek Chorus]]: The fish in the tank.

* [[The Grim Reaper]]

* [[Hostile Show Takeover]]: The Crimson Permanent Assurance attempts to do this towards the end of the "Live Organ Transplants" chapter.

* [[Humans Are Morons]]: As if the last line of "The Galaxy Song" doesn't make it clear enough,

* [[Hurricane of Euphemisms]]: The Noel Cowardesque "Penis Song".

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Graham Chapman's character is chased off a cliff by a group of topless women for sexism in a motion picture.

* [[Jabba Table Manners]]: Mr. Creosote

* [[Major Injury Underreaction]]: A British army officer has a rather blasé attitude about waking up with a leg missing: "Stings a bit." So does the doctor examining him:

* [[Meatgrinder Surgery]]: Two "surgeons" forcibly harvest organs from a man just because he's got an organ donor card. Mostly offscreen but obviously [[Meatgrinder Surgery]].

* [[Misplaced Wildlife]]: Subverted. "A tiger? In Africa?" No, it's really two guys in a costume.

* [[No Intelligent Life Here]]: "Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space 'cause it's bugger all down here on earth!"

* [[Oh Crap]]:

* [[Only Sane Man]]: The Grim Reaper. It takes him several minutes to impress upon the hosts and guests of a dinner party that he's not there to trim the hedge, doesn't want wine and won't discuss philosophy with them. When they finally die and follow him to the great beyond, they decide to take their cars (their ''ghost'' cars, which, like them, leave behind the original forms), causing the Reaper to do a hilarious double-take before shrugging it off and beckoning them on.

* [[The Oner]]: The scene with Gaston the waiter.

** The Noel Cowardesque "Penis Song".

** And last but certainly not least, Mr. Creosote. "Better get the bucket..."

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: An Englishman's attempt to upbraid the Grim Reaper for his poor manners is met with this response:

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: The "Galaxy Song", a cheery, happy-go-lucky tune, with vaguely upbeat lyrics about the wondrous vastness of the universe, that ends on a big downer about the [[Humans Are Morons|lack of intelligent life]] on Earth. It's sung right after a scene wherein a man has his liver harvested while he's still alive. Immediately after the song finishes, his wife agrees to undergo the process herself.

* [[Stupid Boss]]: The hospital administrator in "The Miracle of Birth".

'''Administrator:''' Wonderful what we can do nowadays! }}

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: The man in the front end of the tiger costume:

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: Although several theories as to the "meaning of life" are given throughout the film, when the "true" answer is finally revealed at the end it's [[Anticlimax|not very life-changing.]] And this is only a segue into a totally unrelated and tangential joke.

* [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]]: The Mr. Creosote scene.

* [[The X of Y]]

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{{spoiler|"[[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|Add more tropes"...?]]}} }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Anthology Film]]

[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]

[[Category:Film]]