Editing Monty Python's Life of Brian (section)

==== Belief and dogmatism ====

The intended subject of the satire was not Jesus and his teachings but religious [[dogmatism]], according to film theorists and statements from Monty Python.<ref name=SinMPP>Shilbrack in ''Monty Python and Philosophy''. pp. 14–21.</ref><ref>cf. Tatum, pp.151–162</ref> This is made clear in the beginning of the film during the Sermon on the Mount. Not only do the poor acoustics make it more difficult to hear what Jesus says, but the audience fails to interpret what was said correctly and sensibly. When Jesus said, "blessed are the peacemakers", the audience understands the phonetically similar word "Cheesemakers" and in turn interpret it as a metaphor and [[beatification]] of those who produce dairy products.<ref>Chapter 3 on ''Immaculate Edition DVD''</ref>

''Life of Brian'' satirises, in the words of [[David Hume]], the "strong propensity of mankind to [believe in] the extraordinary and the marvellous".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hume |first1=David |title=An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding : Englisch/Deutsch (Reclams Universal-Bibliothek) |date=9 November 2016 |publisher=Reclam Verlag |isbn=9783159611884}}</ref> When Brian cuts his sermon short and turns away from the crowd, they mistake his behaviour as not wanting to share the secret to eternal life and follow him everywhere.<ref name="SinMPP"/> In their need to submit to an authority, the crowd declares him first a prophet and eventually a messiah. Even when Brian explicitly denies he is the Messiah, they still follow him, rationalizing that only the true Messiah would have the humility to deny his own divine status. The faithful gather beneath Brian's window en masse to receive God's blessing. This is when Brian utters the main message of the film "you don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves!" Monty Python saw this central message of the satire confirmed with the protests of practising Christians after the film was released.<ref name="Morgan">{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=David |title=Monty Python speaks! |year=1999 |isbn=0380804794 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/montypythonspeak00morg/page/247 247-249] |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://archive.org/details/montypythonspeak00morg/page/247 }}</ref><ref name="Johnson">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Kim "Howard" |title=The first 200 years of Monty Python |date=1990 |publisher=Plexus Publishing Limited |location=London |isbn=0-85965-107-X |pages=205–213}}</ref>

According to Terry Jones, ''Life of Brian'' "is not [[blasphemy]] but [[heresy]]",<ref>{{cite book |author=Chapman, Graham |display-authors=4 |author2=Cleese, John |author3=Gilliam, Terry |author4=Idle, Eric |author5=Jones, Terry |author6=Palin, Michael |author7=with McCabe, Bob |date=2003 |title=The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons |location= London |publisher=Orion Publishing Group |isbn=0-7528-5293-0 |pages=272–307}}</ref> because Brian contested the authority of the Church whereas the belief in God remained untouched. He goes on to mention that "Christ [is] saying all of these wonderful things about people living together in peace and love, and then for the next two thousand years people are putting each other to death in His name because they can't agree on how He said it, or in what order He said it."<ref name="Morgan" />  The dispute among the followers about the correct interpretation of a sandal, which Brian lost, is in the words of Terry Jones the "history of the Church in three minutes".<ref name="Morgan" /> Kevin Shilbrack shares the view that you can enjoy the movie and still be religious.<ref name="SinMPP" />
For the most part, lost in the religious controversy was the film's mockery of factional dogmatism among [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] parties. According to John Cleese, an almost unmanageable number of left-wing organisations and parties was formed back then in the United Kingdom. He said that it had been so important to each of them to have one pure doctrine that they would rather fight each other than their political opponent.<ref>John Cleese, Chapter 7 on ''Immaculate Edition DVD''</ref> In the film, rather than presenting a [[common front]] as their organisational names should imply, the leader of the People's Front of Judea makes it clear that their hate for the Judean Peoples's Front is greater than their hate for the Romans. They are so caught up in constant debates that the "rather looney bunch of revolutionaries"<ref>cf. Tatum, p.154</ref> indirectly accept the occupying forces as well as their execution methods as a fate they all have to endure. So, in the end, even though they have ample opportunity to rescue Brian, they instead leave Brian on the cross, thanking him for his sacrifice.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwebel |first1=Florian |title=Den Blumen eine Chance |journal=Schnitt-Das Filmmagazin |date=March 2007 |issue=47 |pages=27–28}}</ref>
 
There is also a sideswipe at the [[women's movement]], which started to draw a lot of attention in the 1970s. In accordance with the language of political activists, resistance fighter Stan wants to exercise "his right as a man" to be a woman. The group accepts him from that moment on as Loretta, because the right to give birth was not theirs to take. Also as a result from that, the term sibling replaces the terms brother or sister.<ref>cf. Tatum, pp.151-162</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Inalienable Rights scene from "Monty Python's Life of Brian" |url=https://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/ayshames/Python/LORETTA.PYTHON |access-date=25 August 2019 |work=MIT |archive-date=7 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190907114254/http://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/ayshames/Python/LORETTA.PYTHON |url-status=dead }}</ref>