PT152.S3.P2.Q7 > 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

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The main point of this Critique passage is the criticism of David Bordwell’s definition of the classical style of filmmaking in Hollywood. The author uses musical films from the 1930s as an example to show the weakness of Bordwell’s definition.

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 shows that a closer examination of genres like the musical reveals the weaknesses of Bordwell’s definition.

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.

Because film genres ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███████████

This summarizes Bordwell’s argument at the beginning of P3, but this is not the main point of the passage as a whole. This is Bordwell’s argument, not the author’s.

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.

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 stretch the definition of realism in order to account for the musicals of the 1930s in his definition of classical style, thus showing that Bordwell’s definition is not effective.

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PrepTest 152 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 7

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