Duck Soup (Movie & Questions)
"You're a brave man. Go and break through the lines. And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in be in here thinking what a sucker you are."
Duck Soup- A Movie & Questions: Students will watch a film - answering some questions immediately - and more involved thinking prompts at home. Duck Soup is the movie that I first paired with All Quiet on the Western Front - before changing to Grand Illusion.
Duck Soup is a Marx Brothers film - and a film that many consider the funniest ever made (though of course comedy is a very subjective genre). The important thing is that it works so well with All Quiet. Like their earlier novel, Candide - Duck Soup is a satire. A very biting satire in fact - about war, governments, and the battles they fight.
Because we showed it around the holidays - it was also a nice switch from the dire tone of All Quiet on the Western Front (we showed the 1930 movie version of that book - after school as extra credit).
Lesson Overview
Duck Soup Movie Questions (see my page on Movie Questions). You can also see my first film that I showed in this class, The Return of Martin Guerre, for more reasoning on how and why I choose a specific movie. In a nutshell there are two different types of questions - those in bold that the students answer while they are watching the movie (it keeps them focused and on track) and those questions in italics that the students answer for homework. Each of the latter questions is a kind of mini-essay that requires them to use what they found in their reading of the novel, our discussions & group works, and their viewing of the movie.
Here are the instructions from the handout (found below) and the first question which is a bit different - students need to look for something during the entire showing of the film (which takes 2 days):
All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic anti-war novel. It shows the reader the true horror and devastation of the war in order to turn them against it. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat. The two extra credit books, especially Catch-22, use satire as a way of diminishing war. If you make something look so ridiculous and stupid, then perhaps people won't engage in it. Like All Quiet, this movie was also banned by Hitler who saw it as a threat to his plans to mobilize the people for war.
The Movie - Duck Soup
Here is the description taken from Rptten Tomatoes (the media ratings website): "Fueled by inspired silliness and blessed with some of the Marx brothers' most brilliant work, Duck Soup is one of its -- or any -- era's finest comedies. The trailer can be found here.
Handout (Movie Questions)
Most Recent Handout
PLEASE NOTE (FOR THIS HANDOUT) - the immediate questions are NOT boldfaced, and the at-home thoughtful questions are not italicized. This was my first ever set of movie questions - and as such, they are a lot more laid back - and the students had a lot less to do (but they did have to keep a running list of satirical targets).
Audio Visual Content
Again - here is the link to JustWatch.com - where you can find where Duck Soup is streaming. I find it really strange that there is physical media for this amazing film.
Remote Enhancements
It is more than possible to watch films together with your class - usually that means having the video you are watching on your computer and sharing the screen with students. You can also keep the comment window open to share things with them (just don't get too distracting). You can also see if they are paying attention or not.
No Man's Land - An All Quiet on the Western Front Essay: A very early essay in my career - in fact, it was modeled on the one I had to do for my college class (where All Quiet was assigned). In addition to the prompt (see below), I give the students some tips and additional instructions. There is also an extra credit essay on comparing the book to the 1930 movie of the novel. The reasons for there not being more essays is quite simple: The movie questions started becoming more and more like mini-essays and the students were already doing a lot of writing on the book. 2) There was also an Illuminated Text Project (first) and a General Creative Response Project (second) that took up a lot of the students time and gave them a chance to respond to All Quiet on the Western Front.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
All Quiet Closing Discussion or Grand Illusion Movie Questions
Thoughts on the Lesson
After we started showing Grand Illusion - I really missed seeing this very funny film with my students every year - but, it was offered as extra credit so a number of students still got the chance to see it.