Bunuel wrote:
A consumer survey of independent feature films revealed that the percentage of action films that received the survey's highest rating was greater than the percentage of romance films that received the highest rating. Yet, the survey organizers were probably erroneous in their conclusion that subject matter determines a feature film's popular appeal, since the action films were all directed by filmmakers with at least one hit film to their credit, while the romance films were directed by newer filmmakers, many of whom had not produced a previous film.
Each of the following, if true, supports the author's contention that the organizers misinterpreted the survey data EXCEPT:
(A) The fact that one has directed a previous hit film is a positive indicator of that director's filmmaking talent.
(B) Consumer ratings of a new film are influenced by the previous history of success of the film's director.
(C) Action films generally require larger budgets than romance films and are thus prohibitive for many first-time film directors.
(D) It is rare for the films of first-time directors to attain the popular appeal of films directed by filmmakers with at least one hit film to their credit.
(E) Directors who have produced a previous hit film generally obtain the largest budgets and attract the most talented and well-known
actors for their subsequent films.
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The second question based on this stimulus asks us to locate the one answer choice that doesn't strengthen the author's argument, which means we need to locate the odd-man-out. We therefore want to eliminate the four choices that strengthen the connection between the popular appeal of a director's film and that director's having a past hit film; or that strengthen the connection between lack of a hit film and lesser popular appeal. The right answer will be the choice that doesn't support the author's causal link between previous directorial success and the popular appeal of that director's other films.
An 800 test taker expects that some question stems will not be written in the clearest possible manner. Before proceeding to the answer choices in such questions, she pauses for a moment to consider what she's being asked and what kind of answer choice she's looking for, even when it's impossible to specifically prephrase an answer.
(A) If previous hits indicate talent, then the author's theory of the link between previous hit films and popular appeal of the survey films seems more plausible, and we're more likely to believe that the organizers are wrong, as the author maintains, about the effects of subject matter.
(B), (D), and (E) all strengthen the argument by tying past experience of success to present cinematic successes. (B) links previous experience to ratings directly. (D) takes it from another angle and explains that the films of first-timers do not often achieve the same popular appeal as that attained by previous hit-makers. It still strengthens the argument by offering a direct relationship between past success and appeal. (E) links prior experience of success to the ability to obtain the best actors, offering another benefit that accrues to experienced directors and makes them more likely to produce hit films. Like (A), all of these choices make it seem more reasonable to argue that the organizers have misunderstood the role of subject matter in the survey ratings. That is, they all support the author's alternative explanation.
(C) Why many first-time directors don't make action films has no impact on this argument. The fact remains that of the films in this particular survey, the action films were made by more experienced directors while the romances were made by novices, and the author uses this fact to counter a previous conclusion. (C) gives us one possible explanation for this fact, but has no effect on how this fact is used by the author, which, after all, constitutes the crux of her argument. This is the one choice that does not strengthen (or, for that matter, even affect) the author's argument, so it
is the right answer here.