#9 - Concept Ref., Must, Purpose, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=12785)

The correct answer choice is (A)

The author refers to Cameron’s The Passing of Arthur in the third paragraph, in which the author highlights “obvious” and amateurish props but tells us that these “details are insignificant.” (Lines 46-50).

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The broomstick oars and white muslin water of the The Passing of Arthur are examples of the amateurish production values of Cameron’s work.

Answer choice (B): Here, the answer choice is incorrect because the author discusses the transformative power of theater (i.e., the ability of theater to “transcend its doubleness”) in the second paragraph, while The Passing of Arthur was discussed in the third paragraph.

Answer choice (C): The author never states or implies that Cameron’s use of props is ingenious, nor that her photographs are ingenious. Rather, it appears that the value of Cameron’s work is fortuitous, rather than ingenious.

Answer choice (D): For Cameron to have intended her work to be taken ironically, it would have to be the case that she used her photographs to convey some deeper meaning. However, the author gives us no indication that Cameron intended to do anything other than photograph dramatic scenes.

Answer choice (E): It is true that the author implies that Cameron’s props were both obvious and amateurish, which is a negative assessment of the props. However, the author’s appraisal of Cameron’s work, the photographs as finished products, is positive, not negative.

[freddythepup]

Hi, I was stuck between choices A and C and ultimately picked C for this question because I thought the usage of the props could show that the artist was very creative in using these amateur props to create her fantasy scene. Couldn't C work as well? I know that the author never used the word "ingenuity" but I thought a main point of the passage was to show how Cameron had created these pictures and successfully conveyed her fantasy with creative maneuvers? Thanks

[Adam Tyson]

Use the context to prephrase this answer, Freddy. The paragraph started by telling us:

What gives Cameron’s pictures of actors their special quality—their status as treasures of photography of an unfathomably peculiar sort—is their singular combination of amateurism and artistry.

Then it goes on to use The Passing of Arthur as an example to illustrate that idea. The props are described as being obviously props - broomsticks and muslin drapery - and tells us that those details are insignificant. That's the "amateurism" aspect of this example. It's the other aspects, the romantic fantasy and the magic and mystery of the picture, that provide the artistry.

You're right that "ingenuity" isn't mentioned, and that should be a good reason to eliminate answer C. But more than that, we should select answer A because our prephrase should be based on the text, and that's where we find this particular picture and its contents being used to illustrate the juxtaposition of amateurism and artistry. The props, which we were asked about, show the amateur side of that relationship.

Prephrase, every time! You won't regret it!

[holy115]

Use the context to prephrase this answer, Freddy. The paragraph started by telling us:

What gives Cameron’s pictures of actors their special quality—their status as treasures of photography of an unfathomably peculiar sort—is their singular combination of amateurism and artistry.

Then it goes on to use The Passing of Arthur as an example to illustrate that idea. The props are described as being obviously props - broomsticks and muslin drapery - and tells us that those details are insignificant. That's the "amateurism" aspect of this example. It's the other aspects, the romantic fantasy and the magic and mystery of the picture, that provide the artistry.

Hi, thank you for the detailed explanation. I have a follow up question. How do you know that the broomsticks and muslin drapery are the amateurism aspect, while the romantic fantasy and the magic and mystery of the picture is related to artistry?

Thanks!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi holy115!

The first sentence of the final paragraph supports making that distinction. It mentions that "their status as treasures of photography of an unfathomably peculiar sort—is their singular combination of amateurism and artistry" (lines 44-46). The next sentences go on to exemplify what this sentence discusses. Based on the order they're presented in, one would expect the examples that follow to start with amateurism and then go to artistry.

In addition, after the broomsticks and drapery are mentioned as props, the paragraph transitions: "But these details are insignificant. For once, the homely truth of the sitting gives right of place to the romantic fantasy of its director. The picture, a night scene, is magical and mysterious" (lines 50-53). The "homely truth" here is referring to the broomsticks and drapery that the paragraph just introduced, and they are "giv[ing] right of place" to something else. So while it doesn't explicitly say that the fantasy, magical, and mysterious aspects are the artistry, the intro sentence of the paragraph plus this transition seem to be strong contextual clues indicating that the something else is the artistry aspect.

[quan-tang@hotmail.com]

Use the context to prephrase this answer, Freddy. The paragraph started by telling us:

What gives Cameron’s pictures of actors their special quality—their status as treasures of photography of an unfathomably peculiar sort—is their singular combination of amateurism and artistry.

Then it goes on to use The Passing of Arthur as an example to illustrate that idea. The props are described as being obviously props - broomsticks and muslin drapery - and tells us that those details are insignificant. That's the "amateurism" aspect of this example. It's the other aspects, the romantic fantasy and the magic and mystery of the picture, that provide the artistry.

You're right that "ingenuity" isn't mentioned, and that should be a good reason to eliminate answer C. But more than that, we should select answer A because our prephrase should be based on the text, and that's where we find this particular picture and its contents being used to illustrate the juxtaposition of amateurism and artistry. The props, which we were asked about, show the amateur side of that relationship.

Prephrase, every time! You won't regret it!

I am still not convinced A is correct. The question ask the purpose of the mentioning, and the stem says the afformationed evidences of amateriums are insignificant, 'But these details are insignificant.' Then the paragraph went on to discuss the ' artistry' which 'puts one in mind of good amateur theatricals one has seen'. So even though the piece of art was created in amaturistic way, its purpose of the mention is not to show how amatuer it is, but show how artistic it is despite being amatuer, therefore ingenuous. Saying the purpose is to show 'examples of amateurish aspects of the work' is contrary to the actual purpose.

[Adam Tyson]

You seem to be missing what the question is asking, quan-tang. It's asking about why the author mentions the props, not what they think about the picture. They mention the props to point out the amateur aspects, but then they go on to say something akin to "but who cares, it's still pretty great!"

Stay focused on what the question is asking!

Here's an analogy:

I've heard that durian smells awful, like rotting garbage, but that once you get past the smell it tastes amazing and is a real treat.

Why mention the awful smell? To point out something negative about the fruit that you have to get past in order to enjoy it. It's a potential obstacle that is worth overcoming.

The props here are the same: the author mentions them to show a potential negative aspect of the photograph, but which one can overlook because the picture is magical despite them. The author feels that the positives completely outweigh the negatives, to the point where they become insignificant.

[cd1010]

Like others, I was in between A and C for this one. During PT, when I re-read the section for this question, I focused more on the sentence "their singular combination of amateurism and artistry". In the example provided above in the explanation about durian, the analogy about the durian was intended to show that the sentence "the details are insignificant" meant something like "oh but these potential negative things don't matter, let's forget about them and move on". But, I didn't think that was what the author said. To me the author was saying that its the COMBINATION of these things (the amateurish, the artistic) that makes the portrait special. So, to me, the sentence "these details are insignificant", didn't mean "these negative things don't matter" but more so like "we don't need to get into specifics" (i.e. she could have used a white table cloth or a blanket or some rags instead of the white muslin, we don't care, the main point is that she used something homely).

I answered C during PT because I thought this was the primary purpose of this section -- to say something about what is going on in the work. A felt a little bit too narrow. During PT, I noted that "ingenuity" was not mentioned, but I felt like the phrases "unfathomably peculiar" and "singular combination" gave the sense that the work was unique, thus ingenious.

I can see the argument for A. As I said in my explanation, i thought the main point of this was to show combo of amateurish + artistic, so in hindsight, the humble materials used are the precisely the things that contribute to the amateurish aspect of the work (Which is A). But I'm not entirely sure why C is incorrect? And I don't know how to correct my process for next time. There are some RC questions where I pick something narrow, and the correct answer is broader, and then questions like this where the correct answer is narrower than what I pre-phrased.

[Adam Tyson]

Here's the problem with answer C: it gives Cameron too much credit. Don't forget, back at the beginning of the passage the author indicated that what makes her photographs so special is that they do NOT succeed as seamless works of illustrative art. The author is telling us that Cameron didn't plan all these odd, amateurish aspects of her work; they were unintentional. She was trying to make something full of grandeur, and what she ended up with was delightful because of the special quality of her failures. The picture is good despite those props, not because of them.

A is very straightforward, not too narrow. The props are some of the amateurish aspects of her works.