I never considered applying sexuality to a Monty Python production before this class - but now that I have, I understand that you can apply a study of sex to literally anything. The Holy Grail is my absolute favorite, and my $12.99 digital copy proves it. When I considered how I might dissect a piece of this movie, I immediately thought of the scene in which Sir Galahad the Chaste is nearly seduced by a convent of “but eight score young blondes and brunettes, all between 16 and 19 and a half.”
Here is (most of) the scene for you to enjoy and reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0A5vzGMQr8
And here is the script for anybody who needs to read anything over: http://www.montypython.net/scripts/HG-castle-anthrax.php
The focus of the scene, and where it gets its hilarity, is on Galahad’s vow of chastity, and the flagrant desire the women of Castle Anthrax have for him, the first man they have seen in a very long time. One of the great boons that this scene bestows is that the women are written as sexual beings. Obviously not staying true to the historical era of the film’s setting, the depiction of women as having sexual needs could not be clearer - after a considerable time of not having a point of physical attraction, these women have grown lusty. I think one of the comical aspects of this scene is that the insatiability of this convent seems role-reversing by today’s standards and norms; one might accuse these women of thinking with their ovaries, so to speak.
However, their presentation does raise the question of whether or not these women, numbering between 150 and 160, have any desire to gratify one another over the course of their isolation. There is no textual hint of female-to-female attraction among these women. Being a movie written and directed by white British men in the 70s, it’s unlikely that it occurred to the production of the film that the women did not have to be heterosexual (although, of course, it does serve the joke to a degree that they are). This kind of heteronormativity is pretty replete throughout the scene (consider Launcelot’s defensive response to Galahad’s childish, accusatory “Bet you’re gay!”). I think it’s difficult to consider the boy-craziness of the women of Castle Anthrax as not stemming from a heteronormative place.
One aspect of the presentation of the ladies of Castle Anthrax that bothers me is that their sexuality is presented wholly as in service to Sir Galahad. It seems almost as though they only seek to gratify him, as they frequently cite “hospitality” and the accommodation of Galahad as their motives. This necessarily deprives them of some level of dignity and autonomy, as they leave up to Galahad what he might do with them when Dingo insists he may deal with them “as [he likes].”
I think that this theme of female lack of autonomy is shared with the heteronormative representation of the women. It seems as though, considering these two examples hand in hand, the women are presented as lacking the authority to initiate sexual encounters among themselves. They require, as they are shown, the active male to direct them in sexual encounters. This ideation does not fall onto the medieval setting of the film, but instead on the heteronormative culture that created this film in the 70s. And certainly we, today, share some of the same ideas that are present in this movie, and they may make themselves apparent in any of the media of our own contemporary culture.
While mainstream media can and sometimes does represent a lack of female autonomy in heteronormative culture, there are movies dedicated to lesbian relationships that counteract the idea that women do not have autonomy. One example of this is the movie But I’m a Cheerleader. Throughout the movie, the main character is pressured into a heteronormative lifestyle, but she breaks away from that by choosing to pursue a relationship that isn’t approved.
ReplyDeleteThe main character, Megan, is sent to a gay conversion camp after her parents suspect she might be a lesbian. Her complaints of not holding any lesbian stereotype are unheard as she is shipped off to the camp. The camp director tells the teenagers gathered that they can overcome their homosexuality by admitting their “wrong” feelings, doing gender normative chores (boys mow the lawn, girls clean the house, etc.), finding the traumatic root cause of their homosexuality, and simulating heterosexual sex. Throughout the movie, the directors are pressuring the teenagers at the camp to perform and act a certain way, even if they secretly don’t act that way themselves. They can even get kicked out of the camp if they are caught in a same sex relationship. Despite the rules set by the camp directors, many of the teenagers find themselves seeking out same sex relationships with the other campers.
Another aspect the movie looks at is the binary system of gender. The boys wear shades of blue, while the girls wear pink, the girls do the housework and accept the passive role in the relationship while the boys play football, do yardwork, and practice being dominant. These are heteronormative and stereotypical roles for both men and women. While the goal of the camp is for the teenagers to fit into the gender normative molds laid out for them, the goal of the movie is to prove that people don’t have to fit into those gender normative molds.
While the movie tackles issues surrounding gay conversion camps and gender normative structures, an underlying theme is that Megan had the ability to decide what relationships she wanted to pursue. She did not have to fit into the gender normative mold set out for her by the camp. She could be dominant in the fact that she could choose which relationships she wanted. Megan had autonomy over her choices by the end of the movie.
But I’m a Cheerleader is the exception to the rule when it comes to how female autonomy can be embodied in mainstream media. However, it doesn’t really represent female autonomy in a heteronormative setting. While heteronormative ideas and culture are still very present in our contemporary culture, there are other opposing ideas that bleed into the mainstream media, helping shape the culture and society around us.