Monty Python has always been such a great movie to me. It was one of the first "inapropriate" movies I was able to watch back in 5th grade, so it has been a favorite for a while. I think it does have a satirical critique of chivalry and what it means to be a knight. The best example that comes to mind is the duel with the black knight. Despite the removal of all 4 limbs, the black knight brushes off his "scratches" and tries to continue fighting for his purpose. It is reminiscent of jousting in a way, the way they charge up to fight one another. We see chivalry and the female role being called into play in Castle Anthrax. Chivalry was tested here because Galahad was tempted by all the women around him. We also see the women play this role of temptress with the spanking scene. It is interesting that this movie was from the 1970s. I think the shows and entertainment during that time was so light and airy, that Monty Python came in and satirized it all, somewhat fitting the theme of the era. I also think it takes past works that follow a medieval theme. For example, A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It is not something we have talked about, but it takes the idea of King Arthur and brings it to the "modern era" (the era it was written in). Overall, between pulling from past works, Monty Python was able to set a new standard for Medieval works.
I think it is interesting how you said the film was able to set a new standard for medieval works because I also agree that in being released in 1975 was cool since that time period seemed to be so relaxed and stepping away from taking ourselves and history so serious.
I think, in terms of women's roles in the movie, it kind of says something interesting in that it has this whole world that is primarily populated by dumb men with only sparse female presence. Even so, perhaps the most intelligent character, the "witch", is obviously female. In that scene, she's surrounded by these kind of posturing men who have these convoluted and ill-conceived ideas about her and the world around them, and, even though she's the only one making the slightest amount of sense, they won't listen to her. There might be some commentary on the idea that, in the male-dominated world of both fantasy and modern day, it's more convincing to be a wrong man than a right woman, but I'm not certain to what extent that this is a robust evaluation of what they intended.
Sam--I think this is really interesting. Since this is the sole scene it's really hard to judge, but I feel like you're on to something. The witch is one of the VERY few sensible characters (perhaps as you point out the most intelligent). I'm really going to have to think about this and watch again...
I'm really interested by your point about bringing the medieval into the modern era. What's so interesting about the Twain is that by bringing the medieval to the modern, Twain was able to critique both medieval chivalry as well as 19th century "southern chivalry." Your comment made me think then too--was Monty Python building on work like Twain to critique modern fascination with the romance of knights?