Rabbit of Caerbannog

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The attack of the Killer Rabbit
The attack of the Killer Rabbit

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog is the fictional beast that is said to be the funniest visual joke in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.[1] It is considered one of the film's "famous setpieces", and makes a similar appearance in Spamalot, a musical inspired by the movie.[2] The iconic status of this skit was important in establishing the viability of the musical.[3]

Contents

[edit] Story

The Cave of Caerbannog ("caer bannog" being Welsh for "turreted castle") is the home of the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh. This is guarded by a monster which is initially unknown.[4] King Arthur and his knights are led to the cave by Tim the Enchanter, and find that they must face down its guardian beast. Tim verbally paints a picture of a terrible monster, with "a vicious streak a mile wide!" and "nasty, big, pointy teeth!", so terrifying that Sir Robin soils his armour. When the guardian appears to be an innocuous white rabbit[5], surrounded by the bones of the fallen, Arthur and his knights no longer take it seriously. Ignoring Tim's warnings, King Arthur orders Bors to chop its head off. Bors confidently approaches it, sword drawn, and is immediately decapitated by the rabbit to the sound of a can opener. Despite their initial shock and Tim's loud scoffing, the knights attack in force, but are driven to "run away!" as the rabbit leaps and attacks, killing Gawain and Ector. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is then used to to defeat the beast and allow the quest to proceed.[6]

[edit] The Lost Cave

The rabbit scene was shot outside a cave overlooking the Perthshire village of Killin. For the 25th anniversary DVD, Michael Palin and Terry Jones returned to be interviewed in front of the cave but they could not remember the location. They wandered up and down the hills for hours and, in desperation, asked the locals, saying that they couldn't miss it as it had a killer rabbit in it. This prompt was insufficient and so the couple performed a comic turn in front of the nearby loch to general amusement: "It was priceless stuff, and some of the looks they were getting were unbelievable."[7] [8]

[edit] Casting

The rabbit was portrayed in the movie by a real rabbit and also a prop. The woman who owned the real rabbit was incensed by the amount of Kensington Gore in which it had been doused by the Python crew.[9]

[edit] Antecedents

The tale of the rabbit has a parallel in the early story of the Roman de Renart in which a foe takes hubristic pride in his defeat of a ferocious hare[10]:

Si li crachait en mi le vis
Et escopi par grant vertu

The idea for the rabbit in the movie was taken from the facade of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. This illustrates the weakness of cowardice by showing a knight fleeing from a rabbit.[11]

[edit] Metaphorical power

The rabbit is now used as a metaphor for something ostensibly harmless which is, in fact, deadly.[12] Such hidden but real risks may even arise from similarly cuddly animals.[13] The humour of the skit comes from this inversion of the usual framework by which safety and danger is judged.[14]

Four years after the release of the movie, Killer Rabbit was the term used widely by the press to describe the swamp rabbit that "attacked" the then US-President Jimmy Carter while he was fishing on a farm pond.[15] This reference to the Monty Python sketch[16] symbolized the failings of a president who, to many, was seen as incapable, inept and weak.[17]

[edit] Attributions

The Rabbit of Caerbannog inspired numerous imitations, tributes and references in a variety of media.

An extra in the movie, Iain Banks, became a critically-successful novelist who referenced the rabbit in his first novel which built upon the primal myths of modern culture.[18]

The computer games "Eternal Lands", AdventureQuest, Wizard's Crown, Kingdom of Loathing, Catacomb 3D, Eureka!, Wizardry, Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, Shadow Warrior, Ultima Online, Fallout 2, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, and Asheron's Call all feature or make reference to the rabbit, as does Blazing Dragons, notable for being the brainchild of former Python, Terry Jones.

The card game Munchkin features a card that appears to be a weak monster, the "Perfectly Ordinary Bunny Rabbit". When engaged in combat, however, a die is rolled, and on a result of "6" it turns out to be "that rabbit from that movie". If a player is forced to flee, the rabbit slays that player, even if it was a perfectly normal rabbit. The monster art depicts Bun-bun, of the webcomic Sluggy Freelance.

A version of the rabbit is featured as an obstacle in the Grailquest series of interactive fiction books, notably in book 6 (Realm of Chaos). The player character must defeat the rabbit to progress through to the final sections of the story. A successful strike against the player character by the rabbit in combat immediately severs the character's head and ends the story.

The fantasy television series Xena: Warrior Princess features an episode titled "In Sickness and in Hell", in which Gabrielle has to fight for her life when attacked by a vicious, fanged rabbit.

AppleShare 3.0 was given the codename Killer Rabbit in reference to this character.[19]

[edit] Merchandise

The rabbit has been reproduced in the form of merchandise associated with the movie or musical. Such items include plush toys[20], slippers[21] and staplers.[22]

[edit] Popularity

The rabbit ranked high in an Easter 2008 poll to establish Britain's best movie rabbit, coming third to Roger Rabbit and Frank from Donnie Darko.[23]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Steven Gale. Encyclopedia of British Humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese. Taylor & Francis, 155. ISBN 0824059905. 
  2. ^ Ben Brantley. "A Quest Beyond the Grail", The New York Times, March 18, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-05-03. 
  3. ^ Eric Idle (2005). The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, 312. ISBN 0060758643. “"Will there be a Killer Rabbit?" "Yes." "Then I'm coming," he said, and went off gleefully shouting, "Ni!" Mike Nichols looked shocked. And impressed.” 
  4. ^ Derek Albert Pearsall, Derek Pearsall. Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction, 150. ISBN 0631233202. 
  5. ^ Brian Kaylor. For God's Sake Shut Up!: Lessons for Christians on How to Speak, 22. ISBN 1573124850. 
  6. ^ Darl Larsen, William Proctor Williams. Monty Python, Shakespeare and English Renaissance Drama, 69. ISBN 0786415045. 
  7. ^ Charles Lavery. "Monty Python & The Holey Grail", Sunday Mail, Aug 20, 2000, pp. 29. 
  8. ^ "Python's Killer Rabbit Search is a Holy Farce", Alastair Dalton, Scotland on Sunday, August 20, 2000, Pg. 3
  9. ^ `Mice' is new video release, Kansas City Star, Mar 5, 1993, <http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/KC/lib00144,0EAF3EF122A9FD6C.html> 
  10. ^ J. R. Simpson. Animal Body, Literary Corpus: The Old French "Roman de Renart". Rodopi, 156-157. ISBN 9051839766. 
  11. ^ Alan Parker, Mick O'Shea (2006). And Now for Something Completely Digital, 66. 
  12. ^ William W. Betteridge, James F. Niss,Michael T. Pledge (1975), Competition in Regulated Industries: Essays on Economic Issues, <http://books.google.com/books?id=Cb5AAAAAIAAJ&pgis=1> 
  13. ^ Holger Breithaupt (2003), “Fierce creatures”, EMBO reports (no. 10): 921–924, <http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v4/n10/full/embor949.html> 
  14. ^ R Simpson (September, 1996), “Neither clear nor present: The social construction of safety and danger”, Sociological Forum (Springer), <http://www.springerlink.com/content/l5887u107626qv18/> 
  15. ^ Edward D. Berkowitz. Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies. ISBN 0231124945. 
  16. ^ Blake Aued (January 20, 2007), Cheney hit hard on kickoff, Athens Banner-Herald, <http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/012007/news_20070120045.shtml> 
  17. ^ Matthew Robert Kerbel (1991). Beyond Persuasion: Organizational Efficiency and Presidential Power, 7. ISBN 0791406938. 
  18. ^ Cairns Craig (2002). Iain Banks's Complicity: A Reader's Guide, 9. ISBN 0826452477. 
  19. ^ Owen W. Linzmayer. Apple Confidential 2.0, 54. ISBN 1593270100. 
  20. ^ Killer Rabbit with Big Pointy Teeth. Toy Mania. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
  21. ^ Lisa Traiger (Friday, June 9, 2006), Killer Bunnies and Comedy In King Arthur's Court, Washington Post, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060800592.html> 
  22. ^ Mark Zaslove (Nov 2007). Toy Sleuth: It’s a Big, Big World Minis and Scary Staplers Fight for the Spotlight. Toy Directory.
  23. ^ Alba (Mar 24, 2008), The Diary, The Scotsman