Python Beyond Python: Critical Engagements with Culture

 

Book Description:

This collection of original, interdisciplinary essays addresses the work of Monty Python members beyond the comedy show, films, and live performances. These men are prolific creators in a variety of artistic realms beyond the confines of the comedy troupe. Their work as individuals, before and after coming together as Monty Python, demonstrates a restless curiosity about culture that embraces absurdity but seldom becomes cynical. Python members collectively and individually create unique approaches to theatre, film, video games, comic books, business training videos and more. Python Beyond Python increases our understanding of this often neglected work and the meanings of Monty Python.

Author Bio:

Paul N. Reinsch is a media historian whose pedagogy and scholarly work often address sound and argues for the intersection of history and theory in accounting for this neglected component of media. Paul earned two degrees in Literature before earning and Masters and Ph.D. in media studies. Paul has taught courses on adaptation, media sound, theatre history, film history (US and international), film theory, theatre theory, research methods, genre (the musical, the western), and specific film directors such as Kathryn Bigelow and Brian De Palma. Paul is the author of A Critical Bibliography of Shirley Jackson, an editor of The Soundtrack Album: Listening to Media, and Python beyond Python: Critical Engagement with Culture. His work has also appeared in journals such as Music and the Moving Image, Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, Quarterly Review of Film and Video and Flow and edited collections such as Kedi: A Docalogue, The Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening, and From Madea to Media Mogul: Critical Perspectives on Tyler Perry. He has also worked as a film reviewer, movie theater popcorn peddler, and researcher for American Movie Classics.