PrepTest 155, Section 4, Question 14
Deborra: The art of still photography cannot enable(59 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AArtists who take(9 more words not shown)
- BThe functioning of(7 more words not shown)
- CThe art of(5 more words not shown)
- DA complete understanding(8 more words not shown)
- EImages cannot be(2 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Can't a photograph tell a story?
Deborra says still photography cannot help us understand the world. At first, I wonder what she thinks a photograph is missing. Sound? Smell? Those could be questions to explore, but they aren't the reason she actually gives.
Her argument turns on narrative. Understanding requires going beyond how things look to how they function over time, and she says only something that narrates can enable that understanding. Fine: accept narrative as a requirement for the purpose of this argument.
But then we need to know whether still photography meets it. Stories, poems, and movies readily come to mind as narrative forms. Does that establish that a still photograph cannot have a narrative aspect? No. Deborra hasn't said why photography falls outside the required category.
What we’re looking for
The assumption we want is that still photography is not narrative. Without that, the narrative requirement doesn't rule photography out. We're identifying what her argument needs, not deciding a broad debate about what photographs can do.
Working the answers
- A
Trying to understand and successfully understanding through a particular medium are different things. A photographer could be deeply interested in understanding the world, even if Deborra were right about the limits of still photography. The artist could also pursue understanding through books or other experiences. Deborra doesn't need to assume a lack of effort.
- B
'Film' is broader than still photography. A film can be a movie with a story unfolding over time. Deborra's restriction is aimed at still photography, and her narrative rule could allow other uses of film to contribute to understanding. B excludes more than the argument requires.
- CCorrect
This supplies the missing connection. Deborra requires narrative for understanding. If still photography isn't narrative, it fails that requirement, giving her a reason to rule it out. If photography could be narrative, her stated rule would leave open precisely the possibility her conclusion denies.
- D
Still photography is only one form of art. Even if it cannot enable understanding, movies, literature, or other narrative arts might. D also shifts to a complete understanding of the world. The argument doesn't require this sweeping limit on all art.
- E
Explaining an image is different from using the image to understand the world's functioning. Deborra could allow us to explain a photograph while denying that the photograph provides the narrative she thinks understanding requires. The missing assumption concerns photography's narrative capacity, not whether images can be explained at all.
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