Self-study
P1
Film scholar David Bordwell refers to the years 1917–1960 as the classical era of filmmaking in Hollywood. ███
Intro Topic ·
Hollywood's classical era according to Bordwell
Early- to mid-1900s
Bordwell's view ·
Era's style focused on straightforward, realistic narratives
Filmmaking techniques were used to immerse the viewer in a realistic story
P2
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Exception to Bordwell ·
Musical films of the 30s
They don't just focus on plot-driven narrative; they also have musical sequences
Example of exception ·
Musical sequence in Berkeley film
Unrealistic ("fanciful") sequence departs from film's plot
Author's view ·
Musical filmmaking techniques serve other, non-narrative goals
Telling a realistic story is not the priority in musical sequences
Key question ·
Can musicals fit Bordwell's definition of the classical era of Hollywood?
Or do musicals contradict Bordwell's view?
P3
Bordwell's answer ·
Yes, musicals are still realistic in their own way
Musical audiences expect breaks from the plot, so including those breaks is "realistic"
Author's criticism ·
Bordwell's explanation is wrong
Even though audiences expect breaks from the plot, those breaks are still a departure from the "reality" portrayed in the film
expand criticism ·
Bordwell's view is too narrow
Too focused on fitting film styles into definitions while ignoring how audiences engage with films
Passage Style
Critique or debate
7.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Despite some evidence ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ █ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
The passage does not suggest that Bordwell’s definition is confirmed by a more careful examination of genres like the musical. Instead, the author
b
Contrary to Bordwell's ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ██████
The passage does not mention whether or not Berkeley’s films depict events in chronological order. Also, the main point of the passage is the criticism of Bordwell’s definition of the classical style; the main point isn’t about Berkeley’s films.
c
Because film genres ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███████████
This summarizes Bordwell’s
d
The films of █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███████████
The author’s main point isn’t about how to categorize Berkeley’s musicals. The author never claims that Berkeley’s films can’t be considered examples of the classical style of filmmaking. Instead, the author references Berkeley’s films to show the weakness of Bordwell’s definition of the classical style.
e
The fact that ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████
This is the main point. The author’s overall argument is that Bordwell’s definition of the classical style doesn’t work. The author references Berkeley’s musicals to show how Bordwell needs to