Reading Comprehension

PT128 · S4 · P2 · Q9 Woody Allen

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

ln filmmaker Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, the writer Harry Block is presented as extremely neurotic and narcissistic.

Topic

Woody Allen's films

Framework

Noteworthy Figure/Phenomenon

Main Point

A theme present throughout Allen's career is critiquing people whose lives are dedicated to and obsessed with art.

Summary

P1 - Example 1, Deconstructing Harry

This paragraph opens with a vignette of this movie's central character, and then we get our Purpose Pivot in the 3rd sentence.

While the narcissism is exaggerated for comic effect, the effect is not simply comic: this film is emblematic of Allen's career.

In Noteworthy Figure passages, we're attuned for moments that sound like the author is crystallizing the essence of the artist. What was their unique angle / style / voice all about? So this sentence looks like an early nominee for our Most Valuable Sentence.

P2 - Example 2, Stardust Memories

This paragraph begins with "For instance", so we know it's supposed to be illustrating a Big Idea we just heard. We would remind ourselves of the big idea merely documenting their private suffering and fobbing it off as art", and our author suggests in the final line of this paragraph that Woody Allen probably struggles with this himself, worrying that he himself is guilty of this critique.

P3 - Example 3, Manhattan

Our first sentence again reinforces our main theme: a denigratory (to denigrate is to insult / debase) take on the artistic enterprise.

The themes in this movie again involve pretentious, narcissistic artists who try to turn their own woes into tragic art.

P4 - No Cause, No Effect strengtheners

This last paragraph provides a handful of examples to demonstrate that when Allen's characters are not narcissistic artists, he portrays them much more happily and gives them good outcomes in the story.

9.

The main function of the third paragraph of the passage is to

  1. present an exception to the

    Opposite

    This is another example of the general thesis, not an exception to it.

    0% picked this

  2. qualify an assertion made in

    Opposite

    This paragraph wants to substantiate an assertion, not qualify it. Also, since this answer means the same thing as (A), they would cancel each other out. To qualify is probably the single most misunderstood term on LSAT. People think its meaning is synonymous with substantiating / supporting / corroborating. But it has nothing to do with like "job qualifications". It's more like expressing a qualm. To qualify a claim is to present an exception or to restrict its scope ... in some way to backpedal from the original claim. Original claim: If a guy is tall, Wanda will date him. Qualified claim: If a guy is tall and not smelly, Wanda will date him. The original claim was stronger because it said that Wanda will date all tall guys. The qualified claim is weaker and narrower because it's only saying that Wanda will date non-smelly tall guys. It has carved out as an exception to the general rule that Wanda will date any tall guy (well, not necessarily the smelly ones). Original Assertion: Woody Allen throughout his career depicted artists as people deserving of mockery. Qualified Assertion: Woody Allen throughout his career, notwithstanding the anomalous film Manhattan, depicted artists as people deserving of mockery.

    12% picked this

  3. provide an illustration that is

    Opposite: contrasted

    The 3rd paragraph is yet another example, so it is presented as a continuation of the 2nd paragraph / as a similar situation.

    3% picked this

  4. Correct

    provide additional support for a

    Why this is right

    This is weird, since it would be more lovable to say that the 3rd paragraph provides additional support for the claim made in the 1st paragraph (that Allen's films are consistently peevish depictions of artists). But the final sentence of the 2nd paragraph is also a broad statement about Allen's films. Does the 3rd paragraph lend any support to the idea? Could we use the 3rd paragraph to support the idea that Allen might be portraying artists who document their private suffering and fob it off as art because he suffers from self-doubt that he is doing the same? The first sentence says that Manhattan "offers a denigratory take that is similar to" Stardust's. And the quote at the end is talking about one's private suffering (fear of death) being elevated to tragic heights (art?) To be honest, I find this a weird answer, because there's no great fit between a contention in the 2nd paragraph and what the 3rd is talking about, but it's the best available answer since it's the only one that comes close to saying that paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 are just two examples of the same thing. Maybe, LSAC thinks that the 3rd paragraph is supporting the contention made in the first sentence of the 2nd paragraph, that Stardust is "Allen's sourest portrait of artists before many". That's claiming that Allen made many sour portraits of artists, and the 3rd paragraph provides support for that since Manhattan is another sour (negative) portrait of an artist.

    Skill tested: Paragraph Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    83% picked this

  5. present a contention that will

    Out of Scope: contention argued for

    The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th paragraphs are all just providing examples of the thesis at the end of the 1st paragraph. This answer choice is saying that we get a big conclusion in the 3rd that is then argued for in the 4th, but the 3rd paragraph doesn't really even have any broad author-opinion type contentions. It's a few sentences of detail about the movie Manhattan, which none of the 4th paragraph is talking about.

    1% picked this

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free