#6 - Maria: Popular music is bad art because it greatly

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point at Issue. The correct answer choice is (D)

Maria’s argument can be analyzed as follows:

Premise: Popular music greatly exaggerates the role love plays in everyday life.

Premise/Conclusion: Popular music fails to represent reality accurately.

Main Conclusion: Popular music is bad art.

Maria claims that popular music is bad art because it does not accurately represent reality. Her
conclusion commits her to the idea that it is necessary for art to represent reality accurately if it is to
avoid being classifi ed as “bad art.”.

Theo argues that popular music is not supposed to refl ect reality, as it performs other functions. He
concludes that Maria should try to understand (the purpose of) popular music before claiming it is
bad art. Because Theo proposes other artistic functions for art, and defends popular music, he is
committed to the idea that representing reality accurately is unnecessary for art that is not bad.

The question stem asks you to identify the point of disagreement, so keep in mind that you can use
the Agree/Disagree Test to determine the correct answer. Also, there are several points of contention
in this exchange, including that Theo and Maria clearly disagree over the necessity of representing
reality accurately and whether popular music is bad art, so you have several possible prephrases to
consider while attacking the answer choices.

Answer choice (A): There are two ways to eliminate this answer choice. The fi rst centers on
the reference to “good art.” Although Maria addresses “bad art” in her argument, she does not
specifi cally address “good art” (remember, not all art is good or bad; some art can simply be neutral).
Thus, we do not have specifi c grounds to state Maria’s position (or Theo’s, for that matter) on “good
art.”

Second, even if you make the assumption that all art is either good or bad, this answer choice still
cannot be justifi ed. Maria would disagree with this statement, because her reasoning commits her
to the belief that no good art offers consoling illusions, to the extent that illusions get in the way
of representing reality. However, you cannot be sure that Theo agrees with the word “most” in this
response. Even though Theo defends popular music, or some art, on the grounds in this statement,
you do not know that Theo believes that most good art offers consoling illusions.

Answer choice (B): Maria is committed to agreeing with this statement because of how she uses the
premise of exaggerating the role of love to reach her judgment against popular music. However, you
cannot be certain that Theo would disagree with this statement, because he does not address what
constitutes bad art (remember, art is more than just popular music, and Theo has not discussed love
in relation to other forms of art).

Answer choice (C): This is the most popular incorrect answer but one red fl ag is the word “always,”
which makes this an extreme answer. Remember, read very closely when you are attacking answer
choices because the test makers will often slip in one or two words that change the strength of the
answer choice.

Looking at the answer, Maria would probably disagree with this statement because it suggests that
art should never consider immediate reality. However, although Theo believes that there are times
when art should go beyond reality as it is, you cannot be sure that Theo would believe that art should
always focus on what could be, rather than what is.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. As discussed in the analysis of the stimulus,
Maria and Theo disagree over whether it is necessary to accurately represent reality if art is to have a
chance at being good.

Answer choice (E): Maria must reject this statement, because she has argued that popular music
is bad art. Theo would also disagree with this statement because he has stated that popular music
performs “other artistic functions.” By making this statement, Theo indicates that he believes that
popular music is art. Since both speakers disagree with the statement, the answer fails the Agree/
Disagree Test and the choice is incorrect.

[ange.li6778]

Hi Powerscore, I need some help identifying where Thomas says popular music is not bad art. The way I read it, he only outright says that popular music is not supposed to reflect reality, has other artistic functions, and needs to be understood before it's condemned. I didn't think I could infer from those facts that he thinks it's not bad art. Thanks in advance!!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Be careful, Ange. He never weighs in on if popular music is good art or not. He does however talk about what good art should do and doesn't have to do. Maria criticizes popular music (a type of art) for not reflecting reality accurately. Theo says that popular music is not supposed to reflect reality but instead perform other artistic functions. We don't need to know if he thinks it's good art or not. His statements require that there be alternate purposes for art other than reflecting reality. That's what answer choice (D) describes.

Hope that helps!

[Christmaspuppy]

I am confused by the explanation above. About answer C, I think we don't know whether Maria thinks art should always reflect reality. And Theo might disagree. Because Theo said pop music is not supposed to reflect reality. Why the explanation above there said Maria disagrees with C?

[katehos]

Hi christmaspuppy!

The reason why we know Maria would disagree with the statement is because (C) is not stating that art should represent reality, but rather (C) says that "art should always represent reality as it could be, not as it is." From Maria's argument, it is clear that she believes popular music is bad art on the grounds that it fails to represent reality accurately. So, she believes art should reflect reality as it is (aka represent reality accurately), as opposed to how it could be and would thus disagree with (C).

Additionally, we don't know whether or not Theo believes art should always represent reality as it could be, just that he believes popular music isn't meant to represent reality as it is. The word always makes this an extreme answer choice, so it's possible that Theo agrees with this statement, but we can't be certain that he believes at least one type of art isn't meant to represent reality as it could be. Since we don't know whether or not Theo would believe this statement, it's not the Point at Issue and can be eliminated in favor of (D) for the reasons above!

Hope this helps
Kate

[Christmaspuppy]

Hi christmaspuppy!

The reason why we know Maria would disagree with the statement is because (C) is not stating that art should represent reality, but rather (C) says that "art should always represent reality as it could be, not as it is." From Maria's argument, it is clear that she believes popular music is bad art on the grounds that it fails to represent reality accurately. So, she believes art should reflect reality as it is (aka represent reality accurately), as opposed to how it could be and would thus disagree with (C).

Additionally, we don't know whether or not Theo believes art should always represent reality as it could be, just that he believes popular music isn't meant to represent reality as it is. The word always makes this an extreme answer choice, so it's possible that Theo agrees with this statement, but we can't be certain that he believes at least one type of art isn't meant to represent reality as it could be. Since we don't know whether or not Theo would believe this statement, it's not the Point at Issue and can be eliminated in favor of (D) for the reasons above!

Hope this helps
Kate

Thank you, Kate! It seems that I misunderstood answer C. Your reply is very helpful!