- Obituary: The Monty Python Terry Jones, director of Brian's Life, dies "after a long battle against dementia"
Terry Jones died and I can't help thinking that it is either a mistake that he has died or it is a mistake that others are still alive . I think about what would have been of comedy and humor if Terry Jones had never existed and I know that much of the humor we know today would not exist or, at least, it would not be as we know it today.
But the universe of Monty Python, and Terry Jones, is so extensive that I prefer to focus here on one of his films: Brian's life , directed by him, by Terry Jones.
Now that the debate about the limits of humor has become a joke by repetition, we forget that everything we discussed today on this subject was already discussed 40 years ago with Brian's life : the film was banned in several countries and generated controversies on several continents at once, there were demonstrations against him and gave content to a good number of radio and television gatherings.
Although the debate between freedom of expression and offense - or of the freedom to offend as an expression and social function of comedy - already gave way to speak in the time of the Greeks - it is celebrated the anger of the demagogue Cleón with the comediologist Aristophanes -, the Terry Jones's film achieved an unparalleled milestone: literally pissing off the world.
While comic heresy had already been practiced in ancient times, Brian's life gave it a global character that anticipated the current times of social networks and global communication, making heresy a pop artifact so enduring that the film remains today as cult as popular in various parts of the planet.
The film begins with an error, the Magi bring gifts to the newborn Brian believing that it is the son of God but, realizing the error, they return and take away everything they had given him. I can't think of a better metaphor for comedy , life, matter and the universe: an error that both gives you and takes away from you, pure gratuitousness.
It was a mistake that Terry Jones existed and it is a mistake that is no longer there.
We can only toast for the error, because behind the short circuit present, in every error the very mechanism of laughter is hidden .
Darío Adanti is co-director of the magazine 'Mongolia'.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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