PrepTest 118, Section 1, Question 6
Maria: Popular music is bad art because it(55 more words not shown)
The dialogue provides the most(11 more words not shown)
- Amost good art(3 more words not shown)
- Bsome bad art(8 more words not shown)
- Cart should always(10 more words not shown)
- Dart need not(7 more words not shown)
- Epopular music should(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Does art have to be realistic to be good?
Maria treats popular music's exaggerated picture of love as enough to condemn it. But that assumes accurate representation is something good art must provide. A song could give someone comfort or a sense of romance without accurately describing an ordinary Tuesday. That's Theo's response. Popular music has other artistic jobs, including offering consoling fantasies. Criticizing it for failing to reflect reality misses what it's trying to do.
What we’re looking for
For the disagreement question, keep that specific dispute in view. Maria uses inaccuracy to establish bad art; Theo rejects that basis for condemning it. We need an answer we can put to both speakers and get opposing responses. It isn't enough for an answer to mention something only one speaker discusses.
Working the answers
- A
Neither speaker says most good art creates consoling illusions. Theo gives consolation as one function of popular music, without counting how much good art has it. Maria doesn't say whether good art can console people. We can't turn one example of an artistic function into a disagreement about most good art.
- B
Maria would agree: she calls popular music bad art because it exaggerates love's role. But Theo need not deny that some bad art also exaggerates love. Theo's objection is that exaggeration doesn't by itself make art bad. Some exaggerated works could still be bad for other reasons. We don't have opposing answers here.
- C
Always is doing too much work. Theo says popular music needn't reflect reality, not that every work of art should depict an ideal or possible reality instead of the actual world. Maria's criticism also doesn't establish a view about everything art should portray. This goes beyond the disputed standard for judging popular music.
- DCorrect
Maria's criticism relies on accurate representation being required for good art: the music is inaccurate, so it is bad. Theo rejects that requirement by pointing to other artistic purposes. Art can serve those purposes without accurately reflecting everyday life. This is the disagreement we identified while reading.
- E
Both speakers treat popular music as art. Maria calls it bad art, while Theo discusses its artistic functions. Their dispute concerns how to judge its quality, not whether it belongs in the category of art at all.
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