"Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
The material may not be serious, but I am. I am a HUGE Python fan. I actually knew the routines before I ever saw them, because my Junior High School friends kept performing them for each other and forced me to learn the parts as well. Probably the only nice thing they ever did for me. Enlightened self-interest, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve been eager to get the Pup into Python because I was sure that she would love it. The trouble is avoiding the "naughty bits". Finally, I came upon this old gem. And now, I shall break it down into the five parts.
"Four, sir!"
Quite right.
Sex
The only part of the movie that even has a reference to sex is the Castle Anthrax bit with Michael Palin and Carol Cleveland. Ahh… Carol Cleveland… Where was I? Anyway, all I did was hit the skip button. The Geek-kid complained, as she always does, and that was it. The DVD was tracked to avoid it altogether. Even if she did see, she wouldn’t have gotten a single joke.
Horror
There is not a single scary moment in the entire film. Done.
Values
Clearly what we see here is the violence and oppression in the system. We function as an autonomous collective who periodically elect an administrator –
"Will you be QUIET!!!"
Sorry…
Violence
Okay. Yes, I let my eleven year-old watch a movie where a guy gets both arms, one leg, and finally the entire lower-half of his body cut off with arterial blood flow and all. Sue me. She could take it because she’s seen violence like that before in action movies. Okay, maybe not with arterial blood-flow. Still she thought that the scene, and the rest of the movie were hilarious and not in the least bit shocking, disturbing, or horrifying. If you don’t want your kids seeing blood flow, skip this scene. It’s Monty Python, it won’t make any difference. Other scenes of potentially shocking blood flow: the Rabbit of Caerbannog and the scene where Lancelot storms the castle. Personally, I’ve always found (and observed) that people can take their violence and gore much more easily because it is in a comedic framework. But if you don’t want your kids seeing that kind of stuff… Well, you hardly needed this article to steer you away.
Conclusion
In general, the violence in Python, while over the top, did not disturb my child in the slightest… more than she already is. What can I say? She’s a bit of a freak. I don’t see myself so much as a "parent", but Earth’s first line of defense against her. And now I must end this article because it’s become entirely too silly.
