The Tales of the Killer Rabbit Cowardice, Violence and Bunnies, from the Middle Ages to modern times

Transcription

1 The Tales of the Killer Rabbit Cowardice, Violence and Bunnies, from the Middle Ages to modern times The Killer Rabit scene, one of the most epic episodes of Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, seems to be directly inspired by medieval occurrences. Among them would be the Allegory of Cowardice sculpture found on the central portal of Notre- Dame of Amiens (c. 1220). In both cases, knights face a fierce and bloodthirsty creature: a rabbit.beyond the apparently direct iconographic link, many other associations arise when confronting this gothic quatrefoil (a four-leaves clover pattern) and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog's cave (Fig. 1 & 2). Before I go any further in my analysis, I would like to explain why I should not have studied that topic. From a purely diplomatic point of view, discussing a film that shows my fellow countrymen as a bunch of uncivilised and vulgar taunters (Fig. 3) in the very temple of French culture in the UK could be seen as pure provocation or even worse, as an attempt to inflict a moral injury to the Entente Cordiale (Fig. 4). More seriously, dealing with the present topic was indeed a hard decision to make. The juxtaposition, resulting from a recollection of university lectures about medieval art and a longstanding enthusiasm for the Pythons, seemed at first to be totally adequate to the description for the submission of papers. It sounded original and ''irreverent'' enough to be worth studying. One quick check on the Internet nearly destroyed that first impression of originality and irreverence. Indeed, the Rabbit of Caerbannog, as described in its Wikipedia article (a more irreverent reference could have been found), is said to be directly inspired by a sculpted medallion from Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris (Fig. 5). ''The idea of the rabbit in the movie was taken from the façade of the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. This illustrates the weakness of cowardice [sic] by showing a knight fleeing from a rabbit'' 1. That terse statement is in many ways disappointing. Because of its apparent validity induced by the scientific aura of the online encyclopaedia, this information is now widely repeated and spread around the web, and as a result, taken for granted. A deeper analysis is therefore necessary in order to go at once beyond that disappointment and beyond this by far too factual and too simple a connection. 1 WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS 1

2 Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 British comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. This parody of the Arthurian epic relates the quest of the Holy Grail by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. After a long coconut-shell-banging ride through his kingdom (Fig. 5), Arthur recruits, not without difficulty, his new companions-in-arms. Having decided not to move in the castle of Camelot (''It's a silly place''), Arthur is urged by God to seek the chalice where the blood of Christ has been kept: the Holy Grail. Set off on many more or less unsuccessful adventures, the company is told that an enchanter (there are some who call him... Tim) could help the Knights finding the Grail (Fig. 6). Led by Tim the Enchanter, the group reaches the cave of Caerbannog ''wherein, carved in mystic runes, upon the very living rock, the last words of Olfin Bedwere of Rheged make plain the last resting place of the most Holy Grail'' 2. However, before entering the cave, the Knights have to defeat the monster that guards the entry, a ''creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived'': a white and apparently harmless tiny little bunny (Fig. 1). Doubting the seriousness of Tim's warnings, the Knights have to admit they were wrong after seeing how quick their fellow Bors is beheaded by the ''bad tempered rodent'' (Fig. 7). The second attempt to defeat the rabbit turns out to be a disaster and two other knights are killed during the attack. While the knights are rethinking their strategy, Lancelot suggests they use the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, a powerful explosive sacred relic (Fig. 8). The operation is a success: King Arthur blows into pieces the ferocious blood-splattered rabbit. The Killer Rabbit scene is one of the best examples of Monty Python's capacity to combine ''Oxbridgian wit and music-hall vulgarity'' 3. Disrespectful cultural references are coupled with blood squirts in a general subversive and antiauthoritarian discourse. Royal authority and chivalric bravery are always challenged by various opponents: anarcho-syndicalist peasants, cow-fetching and excrement-throwing French soldiers, ''eight score young blondes and brunettes, all between sixteen and nineteen and a half'', the shrubbery-addict Knights who say ''Ni!'' and our rabbit. All these enemies are absurd and, only in appearance, mundane and prosaic. They clearly don't fit the expected epic frame of the Arthurian legend. This disrespect toward the ''Arthurian history sanctioned by the English educational and political establishment'' 4 is perfectly embodied by the murder of one of the narrators. In scene 9, ''A Famous Historian'' a BBC TV expert caricature is killed by a mounted knight before he could finish his comment (Fig. 9). 2 A curious contradictory detail. In scene 34, the announced ''mystic runes'' carved by Olfin Bedwere of Rheged are said later to be the last words of Joseph of Arimathea and are supposed to be written in Aramaic. 3 UMLAND 1996, p KLINE 2012, p

3 We must therefore bear in mind that particular approach to history when questioning the inspiration for the Pythons' Killer Rabbit. A medieval sculpture alone couldn't have suggested the idea of a bloodthirsty rabbit. The creative process is in fact richer and more complex. Like Chartres and Reims cathedrals, Notre-Dame d'amiens is ranked among the best examples of the ''classic'' gothic cathedrals built from the end of the 12th century to the mid-30's of the 13th (Fig. 10). The term ''classic'', used by art historians like Henri Focillon or Hans Jantzen, refers exclusively to the formal aspect of the cathedral, seen as an archetype and model. It also implies an idea of unity and architectonic purity. At the turn of the 20th century, the cathedral of Amiens was admired by modern commentators for the noble simplicity of its interior, whereas the richly decorated main western façade was often seen as an anomaly that couldn't fit in a holistic architectural analysis 5. Despite the impressive variety of sculptures, the western portals follow in fact a very formal scheme. This point is particularly well epitomised by the base of the portals, entirely covered by series of quatrefoils whose ''repetitious quality [...] is reminiscent of wax impressions mecanically produced through the imprint of a seal'' 6. Among them is the series of the twenty-four Vices and Virtues quatrefoils (Fig. 11). These binary combinations are used here to strengthen the general moral discourse of the central portal dedicated to the Last Judgement. Placed in the upper register (''vice is more accessible to the visitor than virtue'' 7 ), the twelve Virtues are embodied by female allegories holding attributes, whereas the twelve Vices, in the lower register, are symbolised by scenes rather than personifications (Fig. 12). The vividness and visual power of these representations contrast with the more semiotic, and in a certain way more difficult to decipher, allegories. One of the most epic scenes is the one depicting the vice of Cowardice (Fig. 2). The quatrefoil frames a knight fleeing from a hare hidden in a bush, dropping his sword on the way. Fear can be read on his face. The meaning of the bird perched on the tree a detail also present in the medallion of Notre-Dame of Paris (Fig. 5) is puzzling. It is often simply ignored in literature. Could the bird just be a witness of the scene? Knowing the exact bird species would help in the interpretation of the sculpture. Placed above the Cowardice quatrefoil, its exact opposite, Courage, shows an armed woman holding a shield with a lion on it, a far more noble and ferocious beast. 5 MURRAY 1996, p. 4, p Ibidem, p Ibidem. 3

4 The quatrefoil of Cowardice, submerged by the amount of decorations and sculptures, must be seen as a small detail among others and can't be artificially removed from both architectural structure and intellectual context. The ambivalence of the rabbit's symbolism in medieval collective imagination has generated a rich iconography. However, neither Amiens's nor Paris' ferocious hare has inspired Monty Python's Killer Rabbit. Whether it is true or not, that question does not really matter. Above all else, it was the medieval idea of folly and carnivalesque ''world upside down'' that influenced the Pythons. Like many other animals, hares and rabbits have an ambivalent meaning in medieval Christian symbolism. The hare is considered as an impure animal in Deuteronomy and therefore unsuitable for consumption according to the Jewish belief. A symbol of lust and ''sanguine sensuality'' 8, it paradoxically stands for shyness and fear. In Proverbs 30:26, it is described as a weak and shy creature: ''the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks'' 9. As a result, medieval bestiaries present hares and rabbits as nocturnal and lunar animals, hiding most of the time in the obscurity of a burrow (or a Scottish cave!). In the comic tale Roman de Renart, the main character, the fox Renart (or Reynard) has to deal with a young hare judiciously called Couart, which does not distinguish itself through acts of bravery. The Church Fathers used the metaphor of the fleeing rabbit to describe the lost and frightened soul looking for help and shelter in Christ and Church 10. Thank God, fear turns into force, and sometimes the ''feeble folk'' strike back and attack their persecutors as it is displayed in some Romanesque sculptures (Fig. 13) or in literature. In a relatively little known episode of the Roman de Renart, the hare Couart surprisingly defeats a fur trader who tried to attack him: Quant je le vi vers moi venir Adonques ne me poi tenir, Ainz ving a lui touz ademis. Si li crachai enmi le vis Et escopi par grant vertu. 11 Carrying the rogue hunter on his back, Couart decides to bring him to justice. The story of brave Couart has probably been written at a much later date compared to the ''canonical'' episodes. A previous knowledge of the traditional literary corpus is indeed required to appreciate the 8 PANOFSKY 1948, p ''Cony'' or ''coney'' is an old term for ''rabbit'', coming from old French ''conil'', ''conin''(lat. cuniculus). The original Hebrew text was in fact refering to hyraxes (also known as ''rock badgers''). In modern translations of the Bible, the mistake has been corrected. 10 KIRSCHBAUM 1970, p MARTIN 1887, p

5 turnaround, since Couart has been constantly described as a coward in the previous tales. 12 This iconography of ''revenge'' 13, though undoubtedly bound to religious concepts, must be seen as part of the larger context of ''world upside down'' imagery. In this fantasy universe, traditional hierarchy and decency are temporarily abolished and rebuilt in an ''inverted mirror configuration'', as can be seen during Carnival 14. Typically graphic examples can be found in illuminated manuscripts' marginalia, from which Terry Gilliam drew inspiration for the animations he created for the Holy Grail (Fig. 14). Pythons' Killer Rabbit, the ultimate anti-coward, seems to be a creature from the medieval world upside down. Many other links can be made. Cowardice is in fact one of the main themes of the film: ''Run away!'' is the most used line. Cowardice has also its champion with Sir Robin, the Not-quite-so-brave-as-sir-Lancelot, who always soils his armour before (not) fighting and whose shield emblem is a chicken. After the failed attack on the Killer Rabbit, he tries to hide himself under a rock, like the biblical ''coney'' (Fig. 15). The subversive discourse of the film in which all kind of authorities are challenged, echoes the medieval world upside down imagery but is not a simple illustration of it. According to Eric Idle's audio commentary recorded for the DVD version of the film, the Pythons chose a rabbit because it is ''the most unviolent animal you could think of. Really, it's a white fluffy rabbit [ ] Stoats are kind of nasty little things, and bites [sic]. [ ] We fixed up the rabbit theme from the earlier [...] wooden rabbit.'' The idea of a bloodthirsty rabbit must therefore be seen as a self-reflexive quotation of another rabbit of the film. In scene 8, Sir Bedivere conceives a large wooden rabbit to take the French Taunters by surprise. The operation is a complete failure: the Knights forgot to hide in it and the French used it as a projectile (Fig. 16). Saying that a medieval sculpture was used as a direct inspiration would be therefore overinterpreting. Though Amiens' hare and Python's rabbit are similar in their intellectual and humoristic genesis, the sources for the Killer Rabbit must be found in the larger scale of collective imagination and popular culture (Fig. 17). The same problem has arisen with another medieval sculpted rabbit. The 14th century rabbit of St. Mary's Church in Beverley, ''walking upright with pilgrim's staff and satchel'' is said to have inspired John Tenniel for his depiction of Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' 15 (Fig. 18). This widely spread story is but an anecdote, and not even a certified one. However, for it is precisely the characteristic of an anecdote, it will be the information that most people will remember. Video games show that the Monty Pythons and Lewis Carroll s rabbits have 12 SIMPSON 1996, p & BIANCIOTTO 2005, p DEBIDOUR 1961, p See also p , p LEVY-COOTE 2005, p KLINGENDER 1971, p

6 even more in common. In many video games (Wizardry, Quest for Glory, Ultima Online, Final Fantasy XII...) players face so-called ''vorpal bunnies'' 16 (Fig. 19). The imaginary adjective ''vorpal'' refers to Carroll's nonsensical poem Jabberwocky where the hero defeats the indescribable eponymous monster with a ''vorpal blade''. Published in Alice in Wonderland sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the poem inspired Terry Gilliam for his first solo film Jabberwocky (1977). From the medieval cathedral sculptures to the White or Killer Rabbits and video games, the circle is now artificially complete. As seen throughout the essay, apparently self-evident facts always have to be questioned. Art history, which often comes up against such anecdotes and myths, is a permanent rethinking of the historical process. Even if the link seems to be obvious, like the one made between the Killer Rabbit and Amiens' quatrefoil, the connections are not linear but entirely interwoven in a larger canvas. A rabbit is never quite the same as another rabbit. 16 TV TROPES CONTRIBUTORS 6