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
██████ ████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███
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
13.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██
a
evidence that reviewers ██ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ████████
(A) gives information about reviewers of 1930s musicals, while Bordwell’s argument in the beginning of P3 is about viewers. Bordwell’s argument doesn’t mention reviewers, so this information isn’t relevant to the argument (and thus doesn’t weaken it).
b
evidence that audiences ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ████████████
Bordwell’s argument in the beginning of P3
c
evidence that viewers ██ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███████████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████
This weakens Bordwell’s argument because his argument hinges on viewers’ knowledge of conventions of the genre. According to Bordwell, it is the conventions of musicals that prepare viewers to expect a different structure. However, in order to be prepared for these differences, viewers must be familiar with the conventions (and thus have been previously exposed to musicals). If it’s true that viewers experienced musicals in the same way whether or not they’d previously seen musicals, Bordwell’s argument is weakened because we can no longer say that the conventions of the genre prepare viewers for the different structure. (Remember, if it really is the conventions of the genre that cause viewers to experience a film a certain way, then those unfamiliar with the conventions would experience the film a different way than those familiar with the conventions.)
d
evidence that audience ███████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████
Bordwell’s argument in the beginning of P3 is about whether or not viewers perceived the 1930s musicals as realistic; this information about attention spans is not relevant to the argument.
e
evidence that the ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████
This supports Bordwell’s