Monty Python Vs Jára (Da) Cimrman

Monty Python Vs Jára (Da) Cimrman

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Tereza Janáčková Monty Python vs Jára (da) Cimrman (A Study of some aspects of the British and Czech Humour from the late 1960s onwards) Bachelor Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D. 2007 2 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 3 Iwouldlike tothank thankmy supervisorStephenPaul Hardy,Phd. for providingmewith useful commentsonmy workandvaluableadvice.Iwouldalsoliketothanktofriendsof minewhohelpedme formthisthesistoits final shape. 4 Listofabbreviations : CSR....................................................................................................CzechoslovakRepublic GB.......................................................................................................................GreatBritain JC……………………………………………………………..………….Jára(da)Cimrman JCT……………………………………………………..……….Jára(da)CimrmanTheatre MP……………………………………………………...…………………….MontyPython MPFC.......................................................................................MontyPythonsFlyingCircus 5 Table of Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 2 2 The60sandearly70s ................................................................................................... 5 2.1 TheBritishSwingingSixties ...................................................................................... 6 2.2 TheCzechoslovakianGoldenDecade ........................................................................ 7 3 IT΄S... ............................................................................................................................. 9 3.1 Getonwithit ............................................................................................................ 10 3.1.1 Nobodyexpects theSpanishinquisition .......................................................... 12 3.1.2 TheDeadParrot ............................................................................................... 13 3.1.3 ErictheHalfaBee ........................................................................................... 14 3.1.4 Cartoons ........................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Themovies ............................................................................................................... 15 4 WhoisJára(da)Cimrman ........................................................................................ 17 4.1 Thehero .................................................................................................................... 17 4.1.1 Cimrman’sPhilosophyofExternism ............................................................... 18 4.2 Themonarchy ........................................................................................................... 19 5 TheJáraCimrmanTheatre ...................................................................................... 21 5.1 Seminars/ lectures .................................................................................................... 22 5.2 The plays .................................................................................................................. 22 5.3 Themovies ............................................................................................................... 24 6 Comparison ................................................................................................................. 26 6.1 Universitybackground ............................................................................................. 26 6.2 Audience ................................................................................................................... 28 6.3 Code ......................................................................................................................... 30 6.4 Media ........................................................................................................................ 32 6.5 Academics ................................................................................................................ 33 6.6 Society ...................................................................................................................... 35 6.6.1 Pathological phenomena insociety .................................................................. 37 6.7 Women ..................................................................................................................... 38 6.7.1 Womanasanobject ......................................................................................... 39 6.7.2 Womenascaricatures ....................................................................................... 40 6.7.3 Actingwomen .................................................................................................. 41 6.8 Authorities ................................................................................................................ 41 6.9 Death ........................................................................................................................ 43 6.10 Political scene ........................................................................................................... 44 6.11 Religion .................................................................................................................... 45 6.12 Nationalmyths ......................................................................................................... 46 6.13 Vulgarity ................................................................................................................... 48 6.14 Interludes .................................................................................................................. 48 7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 50 8 Workscited ................................................................................................................. 52 8.1 Primarysources ........................................................................................................ 52 8.2 Secondarysources .................................................................................................... 53 9 Appendices .................................................................................................................. 55 9.1 Whoisthe“thief”? ................................................................................................... 55 9.1.1 Cimrman’sallegedgrandsonvsDeep-SeaInsuranceagent ............................ 55 9.2 ListofMPsketches .................................................................................................. 60 9.3 ListofJCTPlays ...................................................................................................... 73 6 9.4 DVD ......................................................................................................................... 76 1 Introduction Thereisnoothersuchphenomenon thatconveyssuchdirect relevancetoourdailylives, social interactions,andour nature as humour does.People simplyneedhumour as anessential part of their lives.For centuries it was not onlythe satisfaction of basic needs that enabled mankindtosurvive, but alsothe abilitytoperceive the hardships of life from the less serious point of view.What is humour? It seems tobe one of the special qualities that differentiates humans from animals.One of the most influential philosophers Henri Bergsonstatedinhis essay called Laughter 1 that “the comic does not exist outside the pale of what is strictly human.” Humour is one of the universally comprehensible means of communication. As well as language it has different means of expressing anythinga personwishes tosayrangingfrom gentle humorous remarks tobitter satire.Just as it is classifiedintovarious genres,various kinds of influence by humour can be observed in our daily lives: not only personal communicationor comic situations that everydayhas for us instore,but alsointhe form of more or less mass culture with its comedy theatres, humorous journals, comic radio broadcasts,or TV entertainment programmes.Suchproducts of the “entertainment industry” may have their minute of glory and then fade away, some other make people laugh for generations andgainthestatusofa“cult” entertainment. I decidedto concentrate ontwophenomena includedinthe latter categorythat arose in the 1960s: MontyPython(hereafter MP) andJára (da) Cimrman (hereafter JC).I deliberately left the titles inthe form that indicates personal names because,as well as humans,bothwere 1 Bergson, Henri: Laughter http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/laemc10.txt , Chapter 1.1 7 shapedbythe era theywere “born” in.It is therefore possible touse humour as a chronicle depictingsignificant events anddevelopments invarious decades.The twoconcerned“cults”, however,donot bear a direct reference onlytothe thenstate of societyandongoingevents buttheydepicttheelementaryissuescommonforeveryhumanbeing.Asthereisnoscholarly workanalysingMP andJC,I wouldlike tooffer a general introductionandcomparisonof the two. My intention is not to present deep analysis of their production but to compare and contrast the twophenomena inas manyaspects as possible andsuggest potential explanations for boththe

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