In a section of a 1976 essay discussing cinema of the United States, James Baldwin observed that Lady Sings the Blues (1972), a biographical film about jazz singer Billie Holiday, can be said to reflect Holiday’s life and the experiences of Black Americans only “by courtesy.” According to Baldwin, the failure of this film to authentically represent its subject matter is indicative of a larger trend in films of the era: rather than leveraging the medium’s potential to confront difficult truths, filmmakers and studios often resorted to platitudes about contemporary US society.
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Verbal·Craft and Structure·Text Structure and Purpose
hardWhich choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A
It conveys Baldwin’s rejection of contemporary US cinema in favor of earlier films that are more authentic representations of society.
B
It characterizes the nature of the disconnect Baldwin identified between reality and how it was represented in US cinema.
C
It illustrates a view of Baldwin’s that the text explains departed substantially from the consensus view held by US film critics.
D
It expresses Baldwin’s initial reaction to a US film that the text suggests he would later reconsider.