Like the Napoleon exhibit not long since, Assyria proved not a big draw of the public. A pity, as both exhibits struck me as magnificent, and beautifully laid out by the curator.
It is sorry to see such exhibits neglected (relatively); perhaps the general public here are trending towards forgetfulness that great canvases form only part of a fine museum's holdings, and that there is value both aesthetic and historical in spending a little time gazing directly at the dinner-table furnishings of the Corsican-soldier-turned-Emperor, and at a cuneiform-etched clay “document” from the ninth century before Christ.
On a less sober note, I must confess that this exhibit first made me think of Terry Gilliam’s question, posed to a Sir Robin who little understood his peril, at the Bridge of Death. It may be time, in fact, to consider a little too closely some apparently effortless comedy . . . .
Bridgekeeper: Stop! Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.
Sir Launcelot: Ask me the questions, Bridgekeeper. I am not afraid.
Br.: What is your name?
Sir L.: My name is Sir Launcelot of Camelot.
Br.: What is your quest?
Sir L.: To seek the Holy Grail.
Br.: What is your favorite color?
Sir L.: Blue.
Br,: Right. Off you go.
Sir L.: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.
Sir Robin: That's easy!
Br.: Stop! Who approacheth the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.
Sir R.: Ask me the questions, Bridgekeeper. I'm not afraid.
Br.: What is your name?
Sir R.: Sir Robin of Camelot.
Br.: What is your quest?
Sir R.: To seek the Holy Grail.
Br.: What is the capital of Assyria?
Sir R.: I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh!
Br.: Stop! What is your name?
Sir Galahad: Sir Galahad of Camelot.
Br.: What is your quest?
Sir G.: I seek the Grail.
Br.: What is your favorite color?
Sir G.: Blue. No yel— auuuuuuuugh!
Maybe you’ve seen it once, maybe you’ve seen it twenty times, and it’s funny, so we might leave funny enough alone. But like much of Pythonoid work, it’s funnier than you think, or smarter (and yet, funny in its smarts).
First, of course, is the mythic allusion to the hero needing to solve a riddle to continue his way, and the perils of getting it wrong. Launcelot (the Brave One) gets off easy with the absurd question of his favorite color.
Then, Robin (not at all brave) bellies up to the bar, only to be stumped by the question which nominally ties this skit to my blog post. He plunges to his death; probably doesn’t even have time to soil his armor (again).
Galahad then has it easy, but muffs it . . . he doesn’t get his favorite color right. Now, this is the part that I find particularly funny.
It echoes a sort of “Aesthetics 101” discussion I have from time to time, for the fact is, Gentle Reader, I cannot (or, in principle, I refuse to) settle upon a single favorite book, or composer, or piece of music. (Or color, for the matter of that.) This aspect of the matter makes even the Bridgekeeper’s ‘easy question’ an occasion for a tickle. (That’s all right, I’ve been called strange before now.)
Nor are we done yet, because the responses of the two knights who fielded the color question aptly reflect their characterization through the course of the script. Launcelot is a testosterone-fueled cloth-head who charges in slaughtering wedding-guests right and left in his efforts to rescue, well, Herbert as it turned out. He gives the Bridgekeeper a straight answer “blue” without any thought, and off he goes. Galahad, who after earnest attempts to resist the temptations at Castle Anthrax, at the last finds that he could stay a bit longer . . . he equivocates on the matter of a favorite color, and he’s sprung to his death, too.
But perhaps Galahad had philosophic reservations about lighting on one favorite color. We shall never know.
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