I think you're in a bubble. Lots of people have interest in the 30s given it was the golden age of Hollywood: Gone with the Wind references have entered the cultural lexicon, so have The Wizard of Oz references.

A movie from the 70s that compares with TWoO and GWTW in stature would be Star Wars, certainly not MPatHG.

I find it unremarkable that people today quote SW.

Yeah but even then, you have The Three Stooges, The Marx Brothers, and Charlie Chaplin. All 30s-era comedy groups similar in notoriety to Monty Python.

In high school and college in the 70s, people did not go around quoting the Marx Bros. They were generally regarded as belonging to their grandparents' generation. It's just not like Python quotes today, which seem to be just as pervasive as in the 70s.

Can you even think of a MB quote without looking one up? If I made a pun on one, would you recognize it?

Yeah, like I said, I think you're living in a bubble and/or this is confirmation bias. I grew up in the 00s and, from my perspective, I see Monty Python as belonging to my grandparent's generation. No one in my age group commonly quotes Monty Python.

If people still do quote Monty Python, I think it's a culty minority or people who study media. The same status as the Marx Brothers and other comedians of bygone eras.

But we can agree to disagree :)

> Back in the 70s, there wasn't any interest in movies, music, etc. from the 30s.

I don't know, Hawkeye Pierce did a pretty good impression of Groucho Marx.

I think it's down to numbers: There are a Hell of a lot more people born who know about the 1970s alive now compared to people who knew about the 1930s alive in the 1970s. It was a Baby Boom, after all.

Great question. Hypotheses:

a) 70s culture was a brief moment where geek culture was also pop culture, e.g. Monty Python. So geeks will forever adore that moment

b) mass culture underwent a big shift when TV emerged, so that people after TV cannot easily understand culture before TV

c) the disillusionment and paranoia of the 70s is especially relevant today

> 40 year old movie

spanish inquisition was flying circus, not holy grail

but my theory is that the vcr, and now the internet, has a lot to do with it, just like you'd expect references to books to increase with the printing press and general increase of literacy

My guess: Because it's Monty Python. They weren't around in the 1930s, but they are still funny today.