Monty Python's "The Holy Grail" Blog


Black Knight with no arms left after a battle: "It's just a flesh wound." 
This scene was probably one of my favorites out of the entire movie. It was terrifyingly gruesome and violent, but so hilarious and ridiculous. Like, I'm watching someone have all of his limbs chopped off and laughing hysterically (on the inside, because no one else in class was busting out laughing, so I had to hold it all in.) If this was a "horror" movie I would not have been able to watch it, but because it's British comedy, I'm fine with it. Somehow, the British accents also soften the blow....I don't know, it makes it that much funnier. So, I did a little research in regard to the "Black Knight? and this is what I found. "The black knight is a literary stock character, often contrasted with the knight-errant; also see white knight. The character famously appeared in Arthurian literature and has been adapted and adopted by various authors, in cinema and popular culture. The character is sometimes associated with death." Thank you Wikipedia. The knight never gives up, even when he is just a torso. When the Knight is hopping around on his torso, he still tries to fight King Arthur. He says, "I'll bite your knee caps off."  As with the the characters in the rest of the movie, they were all adapted from characters from that era. So, I guess the whole movie would be a satire. Right? Yeah. The movie spoofs the real tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The movie spoofs movies, too. The opening credits, for example. The entire movie is an exaggeration/hyperbole for the sake of comedy. They didn't have to do much, though, as the world is a ridiculous place, not far from Monty Python's version.