Question electr
Electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos is credited with the music for three feature films: A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980), and Tron (1982). However, her musical score for A Clockwork Orange is mostly made up of her arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven’s work. Also, almost all the music that she and Rachel Elkind composed for The Shining was unused by director Stanley Kubrick. It did not appear in the film. Of the three films, Tron is the one in which audiences can the most of Carlos’s original compositions.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Of the three films for which Carlos is credited, Tron features the most original music from her.
The director of The Shining used most of the music that Carlos composed for it.
Beethoven is widely considered to be a more important composer than Carlos.
Carlos is a notable innovator among film composers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos is credited with the music for three feature films: A Clockwork
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Central Ideas and Details — Identify the central idea or thesis. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice A is the best answer because it best states the main idea of the text. The text indies that Wendy Carlos scored three feature films: A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron. It also indies that Carlos’s work on A Clockwork Orange consisted primarily of electronic arrangements of Beethoven compositions and that very little of what she and Rachel Elkind composed for The Shining was used in the film. But the soundtrack for Tron consists largely of music composed by Carlos, so it contains more of her original music than do the soundtracks for the other two films. Thus, the main idea of the text is that of the three films for which Carlos is credited, Tron features the most original music from her.
Choice B is incorrect because it directly contradicts the text’s claim that "very little of what she and Rachel Elkind composed for The Shining was used in the film." Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t address the perceived quality of different composers, instead, it discusses how much of Carlos’s original work was used in each of the three films she scored. Choice D is incorrect because it doesn’t relate to any of the major themes of the text: the work Wendy Carlos did for three feature films, how much of that work was composed by Carlos, and how much of her original work was ultimately used in the film.
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