During and immediately after a war, Hollywood film

[JbhB682]

During and immediately after a war, Hollywood films typically trumpet the glory of sacrifice and unquestioning patriotism. Ten to fifteen years later, however, morally fraught and sometimes pacifistic movies about the conflict typically emerge. For example, after America joined World War I in 1917, the still infant film industry glorified the fight against “the Hun.” But by the early 1930s, films such as All Quiet on the Western Front did not shy away from depicting the horrors of combat and the disillusionment of soldiers. After World War II began, the cycle repeated itself. Guadalcanal Diary, produced during the second world war, portrayed “the ultimate sacrifice” as a noble and undisputed good while diminishing the ethical complexities. By 1957, though, films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, first published in book form in 1952, were winning awards for depicting the moral confusion inherent in war. Subsequently, the movie The Green Berets, produced at the height of the Vietnam war in the late 1960s, was far closer in tone to Guadalcanal Diary than to The Bridge on the River Kwai. A decade or more passed before the film industry finally began producing more complex and ambivalent depictions of the Vietnam war, such as Apocalypse Now and Platoon.

1. Which of the following best conveys the meaning of the word “fraught” in the second sentence of the passage?

(A) ”pacifistic” (line 5)
(B) ”glorified” (line 8)
(C) ”diminishing the ethical complexities” (line 18)
(D) ”confusion” (line 22)
(E) ”complex” (line 29

OA is E but i chose D ....

Could you confirm how do you differentiate b/w D and E ...

Following was my reason for picking D

--- When i first see the Red -- i wrote down in my notes .... look out for something like "conflicted" to replace the word "Fraught"

--- The Green seems to be saying ... there are conflicting views on morality that are inherent in war that are depicted in the films ..

Doesn't D represent "conflict" which is what "Fraught" essentially means

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

This is a tricky one. You decided that 'fraught' meant 'conflicted' and then narrowed your search down to a word that meant 'conflicted'. That's a risky strategy, because most words have multiple nuances of meaning depending on the context. In my opinion, the word 'fraught' can mean 'tense', 'confused', 'anxious', 'stressed', 'contradictory', 'full of' and other things too, as well as 'conflicted'. Take a look at some examples here: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fraught

The repetition of the word 'moral' is a trap here. Even though it's used in answer D, the use is a bit different. Answer D is referring to the war itself, not the films, whereas answer E references the films themselves.

However, there's an easier reason to be suspicious of answer D: 'fraught' is an adjective and matches with 'complex'; 'confusion' on the other hand is a noun.

[JbhB682]

Hi Sage - thank you for following up

Given i am trying to see how can i learn from this error on other related problems ...can i conclude

-- On ALL questions regarding : what is the best meaning of "XYZW" / what best conveys the meaning of the word “XYZW"

The following should ALWAYS match
-- the replacement word should describe the same thing (film for film or war for war)
-- the replacement word should be used in the same manner as the word ("xyzw") in the question (noun for a noun or an adjective for an adjective)

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Well done for looking for the transferable takeaways. Here's a further comment:

The following should ALWAYS match
-- the replacement word should describe the same thing (film for film or war for war)

Not necessarily. My point was that the meaning of 'fraught' above depends on the context. It's describing movies as being different from the simplistic war movies mentioned in the previous sentence. The same meaning could be used in describing things other than movies. Perhaps a better takeaway is: 'when looking at the meaning of a word, take the context into account'.

-- the replacement word should be used in the same manner as the word ("xyzw") in the question (noun for a noun or an adjective for an adjective)

I would tentatively agree with this.