The Cinematography of Duck Soup

Katherine Duck

Philosophy of Film

Dr. Langguth

5 May 2014

The Cinematography of Duck Soup

            The classic debate in film is upon what films are cinemagraphic and which are not. One approach to this is the realist approach. The realist approach states that the cinematography of a film is essential and that the recording and representation of reality is vital. Realist theorists argue that film should be an exact replica of reality Thus, according to this film evaluation approach, films should not be fantastical or imaginative beyond that which could be found in commonly accepted reality.

            The film Duck Soup begins looking very realistic. It has an ordinary setting with fairly ordinary-looking people. However, as the film begins to unfold, it is clear that we are not dealing with any ordinary governmental leaders. These people are clearly eccentric, sliding down fire-poles to descend from one floor to another and creating speeches entirely out of witty one-liners. Do these attributes, however, disqualify the film from the realist category?

            Duck Soup flirts with the line of non-realism because it is fantastical in content. While there are no unicorns or magic lamps involved, this film personifies certain characters beyond that which would typically be found in society. The people in this film randomly break out into song and choreographed dance, which is typically not believed to be a part of society today.

The sequence of events was all around unrealistic. However, the events of this film were that which could technically occur in a very different society that does not have the social constraints of our current society. Thus this film is not necessarily one that abides by the rules established by the realism category, but it is not necessarily a non-realist movie either.

Since this film is appreciated as a classic by many critics, it is not surprising that there is another school of thought that appreciates both the realistic and the fantastical in cinema. This approach is known as the pluralistic-category approach. In this theory, movies are permitted to belong to a variety of different categories, recognizing even that some films may belong to two or more categories at once. This allows for the serious evaluation of a certain type of film while respective films in other categories as well. New categories are embarrassed by this phenomena, thus the evolution of film is not suppressed by this approach.

Thus, if we use the pluralistic-category approach, Duck Soup may be recognized for its unique style of film and evaluated with respect to its individuality rather than its ability to fit into a specific category of cinema. While some viewers still choose to take the realist approach, many audiences have embraced the newer school of thought, which succeeds in including many accredited films that are excluded when using the realist philosophy.