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
12.
The narrative structure of which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
a
a novel that ███████ █ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████████ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████
The passage doesn’t indicate that the musicals would jump between events without giving the information necessary to understand the chronology or context. The musicals described in the passage had a
b
a novel that ███████ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ █ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ██████████ ████ █ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
The passage doesn’t describe musicals as showing a single event from many different perspectives that eventually come together, so this isn’t a good analogy. We are looking for an example with a narrative that is interrupted; (B) does not do this.
c
a novel that ███████ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████ █████████ █ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ █ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████
The passage doesn’t describe musicals as showing a number of characters experiencing a typical day, so this isn’t a good analogy. We are looking for an example with a narrative that is interrupted; (C) does not do this.
d
a novel that ███████ █ ███████████ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████ █████
(D) says that the novel pauses to provide relevant information; the 1930s musicals were notable because the interruptions were only
e
a novel that ███████ █ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████
This description of a novel with a narrative about a single day that pauses for stylistically elaborate scenes about life in general aligns with the author’s description of 1930s musicals, which had narratives that were interrupted with performances only