Question

the mention of sergei eisenstein adds to the development of kirschs argument about dickens mainly by ____________ (paragraph 4). ironically, the comparison to dickens, which is meant to suggest that tv has reached a new level of quality, harks back to the very beginning of modern filmmaking. already in 1944, sergei eisenstein suggested in a landmark essay that the film grammar invented by d. w. griffith was indebted to dickenss narrative strategies. dickens, he wrote, was the real inventor of montage. if todays best tv feels dickensian, that may be because the conventions of filmed storytelling themselves derive from dickens — who in turn, eisenstein points out, was influenced by the melodramas of his day. indeed, one criticism that could be leveled against quality cable tv is that it is not nearly as formally adventurous as dickens himself. its visual idiom tends to be conventional even when its subject matter is ostentatiously provocative. a. showing the reader that kirsch is an expert in his field b. defining the word melodrama c. showing the reader that the comparison of movies and tv to charles dickens is not new d. helping the reader understand more about the history of movies and tv

Explanation:

The text mentions that in 1944, Eisenstein already made a connection between film grammar and Dickens. This shows that the comparison of movies/TV to Dickens is not a new idea, which supports Kirsch's argument.

Answer:

C. showing the reader that the comparison of movies and TV to Charles Dickens is not new