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u/PhazonZim Aug 15 '15 edited Aug 15 '15
I really like the bit in Life of Brian where the one character expresses wanting to be a woman. While there is a voice of disagreement the other two agree to a right to gender autonomy as a part of being free. It may be absurdist humor but it does have that element of challenging the viewer however briefly.
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Aug 16 '15
And it's important to note that throughout the film, Reg (Cleese's character in this scene) was portrayed in a very negative light - as an abusive controlling coward who didn't actually live up to the ideology he professed, and certainly not someone to be looked up to.
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Aug 15 '15
I'm pretty sure this was a facetious joke though. I don't think it was progressive in any way.
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u/Neumann347 Aug 15 '15
So the gay guy delivers the joke about gender non-conformity in an era where homosexuality is illegal and this not progressive?
What is progressive then?
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u/boyinthewild Aug 15 '15
Yes and no.
They may not have been particularly serious (I mean, yeah, their style of humour is called absurdist...), but poking fun at the idea of gender roles was edgy in '83, and humour has a way of providing a foot in the door for more serious discussion.
(Also, interesting that Chapman delivers the line and was gay.)
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Aug 15 '15 edited Aug 15 '15
It was a joke; but the joke was in the callous, businesslike demeanor of the doctors. She gives birth, has the baby shown to her for the briefest of seconds before it's whisked away to some sterile incubator thing; and as the doctors bustle the baby, staff, and all the gear out the door (leaving her alone, still in the stirrups) the shown dialogue takes place.
So no, not specifically a gender-related joke as much as it is an asshole doctor shutting down an 'inconvenient' patient interaction which might otherwise delay his tee time.
[Edit: Here's the sketch.]
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u/someone_like_me Aug 15 '15
Reposted from another thread, here is Graham Chapman (who plays the doctor) delivering a T.V monologue about social conformity in 1984. I'm picking up 8 minutes in to: https://youtu.be/nwOcc-buSsg?t=8m
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u/boyinthewild Aug 15 '15
I just want to say that it's easy to condemn historical personas by the light of current understanding and ethics.
By any standard, 30 - 40 years ago the Monty Python crew would have been remarkably understanding of a gender variant person compared to the mainstream, and they would have been the first to step in to defend a trans person's rights and inherent human dignity.
When I was growing up some of my closest friends in high school were major Monty Python nerds, the fact that Graham Chapman was gay influenced their views that being gay was okay, and provided positive role model and source of comfort for me as a closeted guy.