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.Answer:A column in a certain entertainment magazine states that the producers of the upcoming movie, 3003, could potentially maximize their profits by casting Robin Good and paying him millions of dollars to star in it. The amount, however, is greater than that of any person in the production crew of the film would make through the project. But, the argument is flawed for several reasons.
Firstly, the article bases its prediction on the fact that Robin has been previously paid similar sums and was also involved in multiple financially successful movies. It assumes that a similar trend would hold true for this film and neglects the possibility of an exception. Moreover, Robin may have also been involved in movies that flopped financially and the same has been omitted in the article. Hence, more data is needed about the same.
Furthermore, the author of the column assumes that the movies, under discussion, generated immense profits only due to the involvement of Robin Good. There might be another factor in play, which might have been accidentally missed out on. For example, the movies might have had an engaging story, drawing in multiple people to watch it; or the movies might have simply been a mass-appeal film. Hence, the author might have strengthened the argument by mentioning if Robin Good films ar successful solely because of his fan base.
Finally, it assumes that casting Robin Good is the only way for the film to earn maxium profits, without stating other possible alternatives based on evidences. There can be several other ways to relaize more profits, such as screening the film in more regions wherein they can target the right audiences, or even by optimizing their budget.
Therefore, the argument is flawed for the above mentioned reasons and can be strengthened by introducing more statistics on the previous films of Robin Good, and also exploring other possible alternatives.