AWA Essay Feedback Session. Comments appreciated.
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03 Sep 2017, 10:08
The following appeared in a memorandum from the ElectroWares company’s marketing department:
“A series of books based on the characters from a popular movie are consistently best sellers in local bookstores. Seeking to capitalize on the books’ success, Vista Studios is planning to produce a movie sequel based on the books. Due to the success of the books and the original movie, the sequel will undoubtedly be profitable.”
In the passage, the author argues that releasing a new sequel based on the books and a popular movie will undoubtedly be a profitable venture. This is based on the premise that the books which are based on a popular movie are currently very popular. However, on deeper analysis it becomes apparent that the author does not take certain relevant aspects into consideration, leading to an argument that has some serious flaws and mistaken assumptions.
One such flaw is the very superficial assumption that past performance of related ventures will lead to good performance of the sequel. The author makes a leap of faith here and does show any evidence to support his statement. The author could bolster the argument by providing evidence of similar projects and how they have performed.
Further, the author does not give any figures regarding how much money is being spent on the move and how much money it is expected to make in return. The author might spend a lot of money on the making of the movie, but it would be not of help if they market is not big enough to recoup such an investment. In this case too the author could provide some evidence to support his argument.
Finally, and maybe most importantly the storyline of the movie also needs to be considered. The passage needs to discuss if the story of the new movie is something that the existing audience would be inclined to enjoy. Audience that the author intends to target for the sequel. If the intended audience would not enjoy this movie, then the chances of making a profit on the sequel might be less.
In conclusion the argument is flawed for the above mentioned reasons and is therefore unconvincing. It order to evaluate the conclusion the author needs to provide addition evidence.