Repetition

The other day I watched middling, fate-based, romantic comedy, Sliding Doors (1998). In it, the romantic lead (played by John Hannah) regularly quotes Monty Python in a way that makes the movie feel even more dated. I think the first time he does it works quite well. A dejected Gwyneth Paltrow (of Goop fame!) has had an almost absurdly bad day when Hannah suggests she remember what the Monty Python boys always say. Paltrow reasonably guesses he means "Always look on the bright side of life", but he instead responds "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition". The joke works because it is genuinely unexpected as a response and as a bit of helpful advice. As the movie goes on, we discover this quote is sort of a mantra of his and quoting The Monty Python boys is a regular habit of his. Charitably, Hannah's character has had a rough time of things himself, and it is a way of establishing a character finding humour in the disasters one can not plan form. I don't think the film does enough to sell that and it really just comes off as an affectation.

There's a sort memory 90s online (and sometimes offline) nerd culture consisting of just quoting Monty Python and it is maybe uncharitable but it isn't exactly wrong. As much as we might bristle at it in the particular, all culture can probably be summed up as nodding at or directly quoting a shared context. The sin is just in doing it so blatantly, broadly, and consistently to render any meaning or humour in the original lost.

All of this is to say that if I compare people endlessly quoting Monty Python to people endlessly referencing internet memes, I'm kind of left thinking at least some of the Python lines might have been well-written or funny when they were first said.