Blasphemy and Laughing in the Face of Adversity

I’ve just returned from India clowning in orphanages, destitute women’s shelters, deaf children, HIV children, leprosy communities, mentally disturbed patients, hospitals, bonded labour homes and schools amongst many other disadvantaged groups. Our goal, as a group of clowns, was to bring love and laughter to people suffering and isolated. For myself, I only saw their light and felt intense love for them. I saw them as equal to myself. What I learned is that the world is my family and my desire is to live and create a world that is loving and peacefull, that is why I am a fool for peace. I choose to ‘be the change I wish to see in the world’. I love all people whether they are peaceful, violent or placed in any other category. I have come to understand what the love vibration is, it is love under all circumstances. If I feel negative I look into my own negativity and take full responsibility. To understand more about this go to Byron Katie www.thework.com.

On my return to Australia a few days ago I heard that there was controversy around the World regarding a film called ‘the Innocence of Muslims’. My first thought was what I was taught as a child ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’. As children we are taught to not pay attention to the negative things that others say in order to stir us up, they are only words. Yet if we take them seriously then perhaps sticks and stones may be used to hurt others, as we are hurting. “An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind”, comes into my mind (Gandhi’s words). My next thought was remembering the controversial film called ‘The Life of Brian’. I recalled the outrage of the catholic church and other christian groups and the protests and cries for the ban of the film around the World. It is now 30 years since the film was shown and it is still playing. The furore has died down and I sense Christians have generally forgiven what they perceived as a insult to their religion and moved on.

The basis of most religions is the notion that ‘god is love’. I feel these moments of great anger, distress and insult are tests for people. The very core of their religious beliefs are being tested by life. People are put in a position of choice – do they forgive? do they feel compassion for those who have persecuted them? do they find mercy in their hearts for those who divide others? do they reach deep inside and find unconditional love. I myself have practiced this when I have felt offended and when I have experienced abuse from another. I have chosen to reach for the highest love to show the mirror to another. When I had my own test I knew I was a peacemaker and I practiced love and truth. For my truth was my speaking the truth without violence and being open to the other, love for me was loving the other no matter what they said or did. I chose to see the light in them. I asked god to guide me and to help me to speak to the other in the highest light for the highest good of both of us, not to be right but to be truthful. It was the greatest test of my life and through my own pain showed me if I truly believed in god’s love. Today, I can say I definitely found the innocence of god in my own loving actions in the face of adversity. I also found humour in myself to not take myself so seriously and not demonise the other. I encourage all Muslims, indeed all religious groups to live the virtues that have been taught in religion to the highest levels. Be a guiding light to humanity to find god in forgiveness.

Here is an overview of the Life of Brian and the controversy in respect of the insult felt regarding the christian faith. May moderate religious/spiritual people be the guiding light to humanity to show the power of true peace. May peace be upon all in this world of confusion.

I will first add the trailor of the Life of Brian and then the article about the film and the controversy it caused.

Sending love and light from a peacefull clown.

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/6679546/What-did-Life-of-Brian-ever-do-for-us.html

What did ‘Life of Brian’ ever do for us?

Monty Python’s 1979 film, ‘Life of Brian’, is rightly considered a comedy classic. But, thirty years on, it wouldn’t be made today, argues Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Monty Python's Life of Brian, 30 years on

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Monty Python’s Life of Brian, 30 years on Photo: RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE
 
 

By Sanjeev Bhaskar

7:00AM GMT 29 Nov 2009

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It is 30 years since Monty Python gave us Life of Brian. For those few who are unaware of it (perhaps too young, or recently emerged from a coma), this is the story of an ordinary chap called Brian Cohen who is constantly mistaken for being the long-awaited Messiah. His misfortune is that he is born at the same time as – and in the next stable to – Jesus Christ.

Although the Pythons intended the film to be a satire on blind faith and organised religion, they could not have imagined the extent of the furore it would cause on its release. A campaign condemning the film on the grounds of blasphemy – led by Mary Whitehouse and the Christian values organisation, The Festival of Light – resulted in the film being banned in parts of Britain and the whole of Ireland and Norway. In the US, meanwhile, protesters gathered outside cinemas.

However, 30 years on, that same film is regularly touted as the funniest British comedy of all time, and is now quoted by everyone from politicians (Tony Blair in his 2004 Labour party conference speech referenced the “What have the Romans ever done for us?” scene) to the bishop who told me he is always reciting lines from the film to his friends.

I first tried to watch the film on a pirated VHS at a friend’s house in late 1979; it turned out to be quite a bizarre experience. The picture and sound quality were terrible, and the diabetic friend had a sudden drop in blood sugar and kicked us all out after about 20 minutes. But I’d seen enough to know that I wanted to see the rest. So I borrowed a copy from someone else, and became hooked. I remain utterly hooked to this day.

The origin of Life of Brian was typically Python. After the success of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the group were inundated by questions about their next project. On a promotional trip to Paris, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam got legless, and Idle said the title for their next film should be “Jesus Christ – Lust for Glory”. This tickled the collective Python funny bone and they started looking into a potential comedy about Christ.

“I was originally against doing a biblical film because I thought the costumes would be so boring,” says Terry Jones. But the group recognised the kernel of something interesting and started researching the subject. However, as Jones points out, they all realised that “Christ was a very good bloke, saying a lot of very good things that we all agreed with. Humour wasn’t in Christ at all.”

The team flew to Barbados for a working holiday. They kept office hours, enjoyed the sun and entertained guests including Keith Moon, Mick Jagger and, er, Des O’Connor, who popped round to play charades. After two weeks, they had a draft screenplay.

Mindful of the potentially incendiary content, they sent the script to a canon at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. He agreed that the script was not blasphemous and said that it was “extracting the maximum comedy out of false religion and religious illusions”. He even suggested adding the now-celebrated scene in which someone is stoned to death for being blasphemous.

EMI was to finance the film, but days before production was due to start, the CEO, Lord Delfont, finally read the script and got cold feet. The script was then rejected by every major movie studio before Idle and producer John Goldstone turned to former Beatle George Harrison, who quickly secured the required $4 million.

With a solid script and the parts cast (Graham Chapman took the title role, after the others talked Cleese out of playing it), production finally began in Tunisia, with Jones as director. It was, by all accounts, a happy shoot, although there were classic Pythonesque moments. Jones recalls directing a scene while dressed as a hermit when Michael Palin said: “Do you realise that you’re stark naked?” Indeed, all Jones had to cover his modesty was a long beard.

It was decided that the controversial final scene in which Brian is crucified should end with a song, for which Idle wrote the now classic Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

But was the scene fun to shoot? Idle laughs: “Being Python, there were about 30 people being crucified but only three ladders. So, if anyone wanted to relieve himself between takes, you got, ‘Over here quickly, please – I’ve got to get down!’”

The film premiered in America in August 1979 and immediately caused a brouhaha. The Rabbinical Alliance declared the film “foul, disgusting and blasphemous”. The Lutheran Council described it as “profane parody”. Not to be outdone, the Catholic Film Monitoring Office made it a sin even to see the film. Audiences, however, loved it, making Brian the most successful British movie in North America that year.

To counter the mounting protests in Britain, an ingenious advertising campaign was launched featuring the mothers of John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. Muriel Cleese said that if the film didn’t do well, and as her son was on a percentage, she may very well be evicted from her nice retirement home – and that the move might kill her. She won an award for the ad.

Mary Whitehouse failed to prove that the film was blasphemous, particularly since Christ and Brian are distinctly shown as different people. Nevertheless, a number of local councils banned it – including some that didn’t even have a cinema. The result was coach parties being organised in places such as Cornwall (where it was banned) to cinemas in Exeter (where it wasn’t). The Swedish marketed the film as “so funny it was banned in Norway”.

Time can be rather harsh on comedies, but Life of Brian holds up very well after 30 years, and still has the power to shock. However, current tastes and sensitivities make it highly unlikely that a comedy group would even attempt making a film like Brian today.

That said, the film’s view of blind faith seems as apposite as ever, and the closing song has come to represent a sort of British resilience – laughing in the face of adversity. It has been appropriated by football fans, chosen as the final song at funerals, and, movingly, during the Falklands War, the sailors on the damaged HMS Sheffield sang it while awaiting rescue. Like many others, I chose it as one of my Desert Island Discs.

One of my favourite off-screen anecdotes is related by Eric Idle about the cameo appearance by Spike Milligan, who happened to be holidaying in the area where Brian was being shot. After improvising his lines, they realised that Spike had disappeared – still in costume. Much later, on the way back to the hotel, they spotted Spike, who had been pulled over by the police. One of the actors leapt from the bus to exclaim: “It’s all right – he’s with us.” The only problem was the actor was still dressed as a centurion.

* Sanjeev Bhaskar presents He’s Not the Messiah, He’s a Very Naughty Boy on Radio 2 at 10.30pm on Tuesday

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Mohandas Gandhi

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