Support/Contrast Strategy: Is it an "extreme/less extreme" case in the following problem?

Here “far from” is a contrast (-) and, let’s say imitation is negative. So, answer should be (-) x (-) = (+); something anti- imitation like origninality. But “lack of” itself is negative. So, the answer choice should be something like “imitation”. But the answer is (D) originality. What am I missing here?

Is it some kind of extreme (less extreme case)? Like, “symptomatic of a lack of originality” is a higher stage compared to “imitation” in learning to be creative and considered as opposite of “imitation”?