ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Social Studies Videos 51 videos

Social Studies 5: Time Periods are Important
25 Views

Time periods are super important. What if The Lord of the Rings had taken place in the future? Frodo would have just used his rocket boots to...

Social Studies 5: The Plantation System
95 Views

Plantations may have made their owners rich, but it was at the expense of the slaves that worked there. They were treated terribly. Rickety houses,...

Social Studies 5: Battle Songs during the Civil War
143 Views

Okay, get this. During the Civil War people actually used to march into battle with bands that blasted heroic music in order to inspire the troops...

See All

Social Studies 5: Time Periods are Important 25 Views


Share It!


Description:

Time periods are super important. What if The Lord of the Rings  had taken place in the future? Frodo would have just used his rocket boots to fly straight over to Mt. Doom, you know just like he could have used the great eagles to...oh. Well then. Bad example.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino signing]

00:13

When we think about the setting of a work of fiction, [girl reading a fiction book]

00:16

we often get caught up in the question of where it's taking place.

00:18

Is the main character in a city? In the country? On the moon?

00:22

And, sure, the where is definitely important, but so is the when: in what time period is

00:27

the work taking place?

00:29

We all know where Harry Potter happens –and if you don't, you should pause this video [Man sitting at a table]

00:33

and read all seven books…we'll wait… [clock ticks]

00:37

Good? Okay, so we all know it takes place at Hogwarts.

00:41

But when does the story take place?

00:43

Anybody?

00:44

That’s what we thought. We kind of already intuitively know how important

00:47

time periods are in fiction. A lot of stories only really make sense [Caveman and darth vader in a field]

00:51

in the time period they take place.

00:53

The Little House in the Prairie series is set in the late nineteenth century, so a lot

00:56

of stories deal with what it was like living in the American Midwest in that period, with [Farm animals walking around]

01:00

all the farming and work duties of the time.

01:02

Heh. Duties.

01:03

But if the same series were set in the present, things would be a lot different. [Family driving a car]

01:07

Let’s just say that they’d be a lot more concerned with charging their phones than chopping wood.

01:11

Just think about all the things that a time period can affect….

01:14

The place: Paris in 1918 is way different from Paris in 1789, or Paris right now. [Eiffel Tower with an islamic flag]

01:20

Technology: not too many laptops in biblical epics, are there?

01:24

Language: words, phrases, and slang change over time. Believe it or not, you're not going

01:27

to find the phrase "on fleek" in Jane Austen. [Jane Austen in a field]

01:30

Social relations: the status of women in western society has changed so much throughout history,

01:35

so depending on when a piece of fiction is set, the pressures and expectations that female [Woman protesting for equal pay]

01:39

characters experience will be very different.

01:41

These are just a few examples of the kinds of things that drive some pretty good stories.

01:45

All in all, whether a work of fiction is set in the past, the present, or the future, the

01:49

time period in which it takes place will definitely be important.

01:52

And for the record, Harry Potter is set in the 90s. [Man dressed in wizard robes]

01:54

Yep, Harry was probably listening to the Spice Girls and Britney Spears. [Harry listening to Britney Spears and Spice Girls]

Related Videos

Social Studies 5: Impeachment
1011 Views

No, this isn't a terrible new mint-peach bubble gum flavor...though it does tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Social Studies 5: Jamestown
335 Views

Those settlers in Jamestown really should have settled down with all that land-stealing. Tobacco's bad for you anyway.

Social Studies 5: The Birth of Canada
199 Views

Being born out of multiple wars doesn't quite seem to fit the peaceful, polite Canadians we know and love today...oh wait, they were called The Bea...

Social Studies 5: How to Analyze a Political Cartoon
636 Views

Not every cartoon is meant to entertain small children while their mother gets some "Mommy time." There are also political cartoons, which are mean...

ELA 5: How to Spot Bias
3247 Views

Check out the best bias video ever made, courtesy of the most awesome and amazing educational website in existence.