Self-study
Support Most popular historical films are not documentaries; Support they are dramatic presentations of historical events. ████ █████████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that uninformed viewers of dramatic historical films should not think of the films as accurate portrayals of historic events.
Why does the author believe this?
Because most of the popular historical films are dramatic presentations of historical events. Dramatic presentations can’t present evidence for the accuracy of what they portray.
Notable Assumptions
The conclusion asserts that a certain kind of viewer “should not” think of dramatic historical films as accurate depictions of historical events. But the premises don’t tell us when a viewer “should not” view films in a certain way. We want a principle that gets us from the premises to the judgment that viewers “should not” view films in a certain way. For example:
If you are an uninformed viewer, and if the film you’re watching does not present evidence for the accuracy of what it portrays, then you should not regard the film as an accurate portrayal of events.
Let’s keep an open mind, because the correct answer can sound very different from the example above.
14.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Writers of historical ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████
Leads to wrong conclusion. (A) allows us to conclude that certain writers should try to provide distinctive insights. But we’re trying to reach a conclusion about how viewer of a film should think about the film.
b
Historical documentaries should ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███████
Leads to wrong conclusion. (B) allows us to conclude that documentaries should try to present all the evidence. But we’re trying to reach a conclusion about how viewers should think about historical films, not about what a documentary should do.
c
Dramatic presentations of ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████████
Leads to wrong conclusion. (C) allows us to reach a conclusion about when a dramatic presentation in a film is more helpful for educating people. But we’re trying to reach a conclusion about how viewers of historical films should think about the film. Although (C) allows us to say that historical films would be better for educational purposes if they did include evidence, we still don’t know whether a viewer shouldn’t think of the films as accurate. Just because a film isn’t as good for education as it could be does not imply that it shouldn’t be regarded as accurate.
d
Dramatic presentations of ██████████ ██████ ██████ █████ █████████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ █ ████ ████████████ ██████
Leads to wrong conclusion. (D) allows us to conclude that dramatic presentations of history shouldn’t sacrifice accuracy for entertainment. But we’re trying to reach a conclusion about how viewers should think about historical films. The conclusion is about viewers’ perception, not about what historical films should do.
e
One should never ██████ █ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██████
Helps get from the premises to the conclusion. (E), restated, asserts that if one has NOT considered the evidence on which a historical account is based, then one should NOT regard the historical account as accurate. We know that dramatic presentations in historical films don’t present evidence for the events portrayed. If you’re uninformed, and the film doesn’t present the evidence, then that implies you haven’t considered the evidence on which the events portrayed are based. (E), then, allows us to conclude that you shouldn’t consider the portrayals in the film as accurate.