Reading comp PrepTest 136 · Section 3 · Question 3

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        Many critics agree that the primary characteristic  . of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène's work is  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics, background, and the Author’s view on Sembene
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Critics - Sembene’s primary characteristic = sociopolitical commentary
    • Background - Trained in Moscow; from Senegal
    • Sembene (Goal) - Not entertain, raise social awareness
    • Author - Original filmmaking = adapting Western film to West African culture

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - West African storytelling - characters/motifs
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples - Tree (motif); trickster (character)
    • Characters = collective ideas/attitudes facing archetypical problems (Example)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - Dilemma tales - Structure
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Dilemma tale - Audience debates/decides outcome
    • Sembene - Open-ended plots with several alt endings (and freeze frames)
    • Examples

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - Oral tales - Journeys that change protagonist (and viewer)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Movies - Emerging social consciousness from change
    • Critics - Opposites are from Marxism
    • Author - Opposites are from African oral storytelling

Main Point: While critics focus on the Marxist influence on Sembene, his originality in filmmaking actually derives from adapting the Western medium of film to the storytelling traditions and cultural expectations of West Africa, communicating his social views to audiences there.

Key Lines?

Lines 8-11 - The Author’s opinion on Sembene’s innovation

Lines 16-18 - One similarity backing up the Author’s opinion

Lines 33-38 - Another similarity

Lines 44-48 - Another similarity

Lines 54-58 - The Author contrasts her view with the critics

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Artist - As with many Humanities passages, the Author here explains the innovative nature of an artist (“originality as a filmmaker”; Line 8). In this case, she argues that Sembene was original because he “successfully adapted film” (Line 9) to the “needs, pace, and structure of West African culture” (Lines 10-11). She then goes on, in the rest of the passage, to highlight three aspects of his filmmaking that are related to West African traditional storytelling. When a Humanities passage falls into this category, the innovative nature of the artist (and the innovation) make up the main point, as noted above.

Generalization/Examples//Comparisons - The Author sets out her general point in Paragraph 1 - Sembene is an original filmmaker because he adapted a Western cultural medium (film) to the needs, pace, and structures of West African culture. From there, she goes into three examples, comparing his films to African storytelling traditions - one in each paragraph. By using these specific examples (and examples within the examples) to prove the general point, the Author is using the Generalization/Examples Meta-Structure, with each Example serving as a comparison (specifically, a similarity). We should expect questions about these examples/comparisons, as both of those types of elements are frequently featured in questions!

NOT Defense from Critics - A common type of Humanities passage will defend an artist from what the Author believes is unfair criticism. While there are critics present in this passage, they’re not saying anything negative about Sembene. Rather, the Author is arguing a different point from the critics - she doesn’t think they’re unfairly criticizing him, but rather that they’re commentary misses a key aspect of his work.

Last Thoughts?

Let’s not lose sight of the overall structure, with the intro paragraph providing a general argument that’s backed up by examples/similarities in each subsequent paragraph. That structure is going to help us identify relevant information - e.g., if a question asks about characters or motifs, we should head to Paragraph 2.

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Review the Author’s argument made in the final lines, then find an answer that strengthens that argument (probably by providing more examples)

Answer Anticipation

Strengthen questions in RC tend to have answers that are a bit more direct than in LR. That means, in general, we’re looking for things that provide direct evidence of the claim being made - more examples, or the elimination of counterexamples.With that in mind, let’s head to the final sentence of the passage. There, the Author argues that Sembene’s use of “binary oppositions” (e.g., good vs. evil) is probably related to African oral storytelling rather than his Marxist ideology. So we’re looking for an answer that says Sembene, in this regard, was influenced by the former rather than the latter.As such, our answers could fall into one of two categories:Anything that suggests Sembene’s use of binary oppositions was related to African oral storytellingAnything that suggests Sembene’s use of binary oppositions wasn’t related to his Marxist ideology

Answer choices

  1. A
    Several African novelists who Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Lines 54-55) The passage notes that binary oppositions are used in West African tales in the same way Sembene uses them, but there’s no indication that this element is particularly key or noteworthy in those tales. By showing examples of other African artists who aren’t aware of Marxist theory who also use binary oppositions in an analogous manner, this answer strengthens the argument that Sembene might be, as well. It doesn’t strengthen the argument much, but it does suggest that this element is prominent enough to influence artists who have been exposed to that tradition, so this is the correct answer.

  2. B
    Folklorists who have analyzed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) The more sources there are for binary oppositions, the less likely that Sembene was influenced by any one of them in particular. As such, if anything, this answer cuts against the Author’s argument.

  3. C
    When he trained in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) If Sembene used binary opposition because of both his Marxist ideology and exposure to African oral storytelling, then that cuts against the argument that he was influenced by the latter more than the former.

  4. D
    Very few filmmakers in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Without knowing something about these filmmakers and their exposure to Marxist ideology, or how they relate to Sembene, this answer is out of scope.

  5. E
    Binary oppositions do not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) This answer is way too weak to affect the argument in discussing only “some films” by certain other filmmakers who have Marxist ideals. Maybe the vast majority of films by Marxists do have binary opposites as a key aspect; maybe almost none of them do

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 73%
  2. B 6%
  3. C 4%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 15%

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Discussion

  • Why is E incorrect? 1 reply

    Started by Shiyi-Zhang

  • A vs E 1 reply

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