Hello everyone,
Two weeks to GMAT
daagh : Sir, could you please provide your valuable feedback ? Thank you.
The following appeared as part of a column in a popular entertainment magazine:
“The producers of the forthcoming movie 3003 will be most likely to maximize their profits if they are willing to pay Robin Good several million dollars to star in it—even though that amount is far more than any other person involved with the movie will make. After all, Robin has in the past been paid a similar amount to work in several films that were very financially successful.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counter examples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
The argument states that the producers of the upcoming movie 3003 will most likely maximize their profits if they are willing to pay Robin Good several million dollars to star in their film. The reasoning that the argument provides for this claim is that Robin Good was paid a similar amount to work in several films that went on to become financially successful. Stated this way, the argument is flawed and fails to consider several other key factors.
Firstly, the argument relies on the assumption that Robin Good caused the financial success of the movies in which he starred and that paying him similar amounts to star in the producer's movie 3003 would result in financial success. The reasoning the argument provides is flawed because there can be several other factors that contribute in the financial success of a movie, which the argument does not consider. What if there is a movie starring Robin Good, which gained financial success because of its brilliant script? What if all of Robin's movies are directed by an Oscar winning director, and thus are successful? What if the movie producers used special marketing strategies which resulted in finanicial success? However, the argument could be strengthened if the argument provided more information about the films starring Robin Good that gained financial success.
Secondly, the argument contradicts its own statement. It is mentioned in the argument that the producer's will maximize their profits if they sign Robin Good to star in their movie, even though the amount they would have to pay him is far more than any other person involved in the movie will make. The argument contradicts its own statement and provides a flawed reasoning to back the claim. If the amount they would have to pay Robin is far more than any person involved in the movie can make, how can the argument conclude that the producers will most likely maximize their profits? For example, if the amount that they would have to pay to Robin is $50000, and their film makes $30000, the producer's incur a loss rather than profit. By contradicting its own statement and missing crucial information, the argument is weak and questionable.
Finally, the argument fails to consider several key factors. It provides no definition of "very financially successful". Also, it does not provide details about the movies in which Robin Good did not star and these movies financial success. Without answers to these questions, the argument is unsubstantiated and weak.
Therefore, in conclusion, the argument is poor as it makes an unsupported claim. The evidence used for making such a claim is insufficient and we would need more information about several other key factors which could contribute to the argument. In absence of alternate causes of financial success of Robin Good starred movies, and in absence of information about successful movies in which Robin did not star, the argument makes a leap of faith and is open to debate.
The length is approximately 480-500 words. How much should we really target ? I was really pressed for time and I found it very difficult to exceed the 450 mark.
Thanks
Regards,
Saakhi