PT152.S3.P2.Q12 > Analytics

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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

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Bordwell's view · Era's style focused on straightforward, realistic narratives

Filmmaking techniques were used to immerse the viewer in a realistic story

Exception to Bordwell · Musical films of the 30s

They don't just focus on plot-driven narrative; they also have musical sequences

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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

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Key question · Can musicals fit Bordwell's definition of the classical era of Hollywood?

Or do musicals contradict Bordwell's view?

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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"

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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

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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.

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Question Type

Analogy (RC)

This is an Analogy question. We are looking for an example of a novel with a narrative structure that parallels the 1930s musical films as described in the passage. We know that the musicals of the 1930s would interrupt the narrative to depict performances that are only tangentially related to the plot; the right answer will describe a novel with a narrative with similar interruptions that are only tangentially related to the plot.

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 narrative; the narratives were just interrupted with musical performances. This description of a novel that depicts an unrelated series of events is not the analogy we are looking for.

15%

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.

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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.

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(D) says that the novel pauses to provide relevant information; the 1930s musicals were notable because the interruptions were only tangentially related to the plot.

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 tangentially related to the plot.

74%

PrepTest 152 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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