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  • Hello. Mr. Sato. Let's talk about setting.

  • Setting is where and when a story takes place, as well as the social context of that place

  • and time, and don’t worry, I’ll explain what social context means in a minute.

  • A story might be set in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s,

  • the streets of the South Bronx in current-day New York City, or maybe in a small village

  • in Korea during the 12th Century. It could take place in a future society --

  • or in a time and place that exists only in the imagination of the author. Or, of course, it could

  • take place today.

  • That's setting. It’s the where and when. Simple enough.

  • But why does setting matter?

  • Well, for one thing, In some stories, the physical setting is super important to the

  • plot. Let's say you're reading a murder mystery and the story depends on your understanding

  • the physical layout of a particular house. The bedroom, for instance, might be accessible

  • only by going down a hallway that is monitored by security cameras. So how could the bedroom's

  • occupant have been murdered when the security cameras saw nothing? Were the cameras tampered

  • with? Is there another unknown entrance to the bedroom? Was the murderer hiding in the

  • false ceiling? You can only understand these crucial questions about the plot by understanding

  • the physical setting. So, that’s one reason why setting can be important.

  • The physical setting can also be important in terms of symbolism. I have a whole other

  • video about symbolism if you're interested. Let's say there’s a book that takes place

  • in a boring, beige colored desert. (Not that deserts are necessarily boring, but this hypothetical

  • author describes this desert as boring.) All the conflict takes place there. The main character

  • feels like no one cares about her; no one pushes her to do something with her life;

  • maybe they even make fun of her dreams. But at the end, the main character moves to a

  • place that's full of trees! and rainbows! and candy-colored flowers!, at the same moment

  • that her life is changing for the better. The desert might represent or symbolize the

  • absence of caring people, the lack of growth and support and stimulation in her life. And

  • the new place that's full of color and living things might symbolize the improved state

  • of her life. That's an example of how physical settings can be symbols for important ideas.

  • The next element of setting is the time in which the story takes place. Number the Stars,

  • a young adult novel by Lois Lowry, is set in Copenhagen in 1943. You can’t really

  • get that story unless you know at least a little about the persecution of Jewish people

  • in Europe during that time period. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t know

  • what the heck was going on.

  • Another example is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. There's no way to understand that

  • story without some knowledge of the racial conflicts of the time. Without that understanding,

  • the verdict in the Robinson case would not be as meaningful. So, the WHEN can be just

  • as important as the WHERE when it comes to setting.

  • The reason we understand all that stuff in To Kill a Mockingbird and Number the Stars

  • is because we understand what's called the social context of that time period. The social

  • context just means "whatever's considered normal at that time and in that place." It's

  • the customs and assumptions that people at that time take for granted. We understand

  • that, although today it would be no big deal for a white lawyer to vigorously defend a

  • black defendant, in small-town Alabama in the 1930s, only a very brave and principled

  • man would do that.

  • Social context is useful in non-historical fiction too. In the very funny movie, Clueless,

  • which is set in modern times, we understand that Tai and Travis here belong to two very

  • different social groups and that they aren't supposed to cross those clear social boundaries.

  • He's a skateboarding slacker and she's been adopted by the popular girls, who look down

  • on skaters. If you didn't understand that social context, you wouldn't get this story.

  • You'd think, what's the big deal about Tai liking Travis? And you wouldn't understand

  • that Tai had stood up for herself as an individual with her own identity, and that her friend

  • Cher here had become more open-minded by accepting Tai's choice. In other words, the story would

  • seem kind of pointless if you didn’t understand the story’s social context. By the way,

  • Clueless was based on Emma, an 1815 novel by Jane Austen. The director snuck a little

  • literature into your escapist entertainment there.

  • Finally, setting is important in establishing mood. Remember that made-up book I described

  • about the boring, beige desert? Let's say that there's a scene in it describing the

  • awful withering heat and the endless rocky expanse of nothingness surrounding our main

  • character. Let’s say she's looking out at this desert, imagining being stuck in this

  • desert, lost. Without water. The author is creating a mood. Mood is the emotions the

  • reader is made to feel when he or she reads a story. In this example, you're made to feel

  • fear and concern on her behalf, and an anxious desire for her to get her to a happier place.

  • That’s mood being created by setting.

  • So, setting has three main elements: the place, the time, and the social context.

  • The setting can be used to assist the plot, like in the murder mystery I described.

  • It can be central to the conflict, like in Number the Stars, which in turn has an effect on theme.

  • It can be a part of the characterization like in Clueless. Furthermore, the POV, who's

  • telling the story, influences the setting because we're seeing the setting through the

  • narrator's eyes. And it can be used to create the mood, or the emotions the author wants

  • you to feel while reading the story. All of the elements of fiction are interconnected.

  • And setting is an essential thread in this web of storytelling.

  • And once you understand how setting influences a story, look around you. Is this the setting

  • you want for the story of your life? If not, what can you do about that? Next, look at

  • the social context that surrounds you. Why do you believe the things you believe?

  • How much of it is simply because everyone else around you believes them, so they must be

  • true? Right? Always question your assumptions. That’s what it means to think.

  • So, enjoy exploring setting and check out some of my other videos on the 5 basic

  • elements of fiction. I hope you like them.

Hello. Mr. Sato. Let's talk about setting.

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A2 初級 美國腔

為什麼一個故事的背景很重要? (Why is a story's setting important?)

  • 131 15
    Xiaying Qin 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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