PrepTest 158, Section 2, Question 24
Filmmaker: Many people feel that independent films have(62 more words not shown)
The filmmaker's conclusion is properly(9 more words not shown)
- AA creation has(23 more words not shown)
- BIf any of(28 more words not shown)
- CThe creations of(14 more words not shown)
- DThe unconventionality of(13 more words not shown)
- EA creation has(23 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Does being less conventional make a film more artistically honest? That's my first question about the view the filmmaker introduces. An unusual film doesn't automatically have more integrity than a familiar one.
But the filmmaker takes a different route. Independent filmmakers need to make money too, and that need affects artistic decisions in most independent films. The conclusion is that most of those films lack absolute artistic integrity.
That's the connection to examine: why does a financial influence on an artistic decision rule out absolute integrity? Could a filmmaker make a choice that works as art and also helps cover the production costs? The argument needs a rule saying that this financial influence is disqualifying.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to make the conclusion follow. Give us that rule: when the need for profit affects an artistic decision, the resulting work cannot have absolute artistic integrity. Keep both parts precise. Merely earning money isn't the stated problem, and lacking absolute integrity doesn't mean having no integrity at all.
Working the answers
- A
This tells us that freedom from profit's influence is enough for absolute integrity. The films we're considering have artistic decisions affected by the need for profit, so they don't meet A's starting condition. A doesn't tell us what happens to those films. Both affected and unaffected works could have absolute integrity without violating this rule.
- BCorrect
Any artistic decision affected by the need for profit rules out absolute integrity in the work. The passage says that this influence occurs in most independent films. Applying B therefore gives the conclusion: most independent films lack absolute integrity.
This is stronger than saying commercial pressure might compromise a film. For this question, we need a rule that establishes the conclusion, and B supplies exactly that link.
- C
An independent film isn't necessarily the creation of just one person. More importantly, we need a connection between financially influenced artistic decisions and absolute integrity, not a comparison between individual and group creations. C supplies neither the needed categories nor the needed rule.
- D
This addresses our initial question about unconventionality. But that was the reasoning attributed to other people, not the filmmaker's reason for the final conclusion. Even if unconventionality has no bearing on integrity, we still need to explain why the effect of profit on artistic decisions rules out absolute integrity.
- E
This rule concerns decisions influenced by views about convention. The evidence concerns decisions influenced by the need to make a profit. The argument doesn't equate those influences. E also talks about having no integrity, whereas the conclusion only denies absolute integrity. Those differences prevent it from supplying the missing connection.
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