4/30, On What Happens Next

Nearly all narrative film critics and theorists agree that Story is a series of events that keeps the viewers wondering "What happens next?" The causality of these events should be clear and drives each subsequent event. The Way Things Go strips the narrative form to its barest necessities of cause and effect; however, Duck Soup bloats the narrative with dialog, sight gags, musical numbers, and slapstick comedy so far that the linearity of story is all but completely lost. The two pieces, though both narrative, stretch the popular film form to its diametric extremes.

Driven by the strict confines of cause and effect, Fischli and Weiss followed a series of events to make Rube Goldberg proud through explosions, fires, collisions, projectiles, combustions, and tires climbing up hills. For the duration of the piece I found myself held in extreme suspense wondering, as any good narrative should inspire a viewer to wonder, "What's going to happen next?" I held my breath as each stunt was set up by the previous event. This narrative, however, didn't assume any pretense. There was no character study, thinly veiled social metaphors. Only causes and effects. Tire hits soda bottle that fills the cup of a lever that in turn lifts a candle to a fuse that will blow another tire into motion. This thrill with narrative is very basic, childlike.

A similar childlike place is exploited by the Marx Brothers in their Duck Soup. The story is hidden under layers of playful dialog and action. The narrative is structured in a very conventional three act structure; although, Duck Soup's three acts can be summarized by only three events of cause and effect: Freedonia appoints Firefly leader; Firefly and Trentino declare war; War erupts between Freedonia and Sylvania. These three scenarios, however, are enough to carry the weight of Groucho's quick quips, Chico's lingual confusion, and Harpo's silent shenanigans.

The two films intervene into the narrative structures of filmmaking in very different ways. The Way Things Go forces the viewers to become involved with the action, denying any traditional elements of emotional attachment. Duck Soup similarly demands of the audience a leap of faith through intervention: it is all character, action, music, no events that propel a thin plot toward a logical conclusion. Where the former denies the audience a conclusion, the latter forces it on the viewers.