Duck Soup

1933, USA, Leo McCarey, 68 min.

Introduced by personality psychologist Tara Well

A sharp satirization of nationalist tendencies unfolds as a wealthy woman provides financial aid to the bankrupt country of Freedonia, her chosen leader bumbles into war with neighboring Sylvania, and mayhem ensues. This classic Marx Brothers comedy includes the famous mirror sequence, which poses the question: Is the man in the reflection real or just an image?

“For all its wild comic abandon, Duck Soup has darker implications than the usual Marx Brothers comedy and, as such, feels the most relevant and sharp in its satire”¦ perhaps the greatest comedy Hollywood ever gave us.”

—Peter Canavese

About Cabaret Cinema: Perception

Can the truth truly be trusted? Is it objective or rather tinted by our experience and memories? Perhaps there is no better medium with which to explore these questions than the illusory cinema. In that pursuit we have invited scientists to introduce films that potently demonstrate that much of our perception is clouded by the distorted lens of our assumptions and desires.

About the Introducer

Tara Well has over twenty years of experience in conducting research on what motivates us and influences our perceptions, as well as extensive training in meditation, yoga, and other mind-body healing modalities. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) have funded her research on achievement motivation and autobiographical memory. She has served as an associate editor of The Journal of Research in Personality and as a consulting editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.