Setting: Time and Place

 Setting is an important part of any film.  It grounds the film in a particular place and time, and that will shape the values, challenges and opportunities of the people in the film.  

Place: if a film is set in New York, the people there will have different experiences and opportunities to what we have here in Māwhera.  They will have some different hobbies and use some different words to describe their world.

Time: if a film is set in nineteenth century Aotearoa, then the opportunities will be different to what we have now.  Getting ourselves and our clothes clean is much easier now!

The setting of a film will powerfully shape the culture of the film.  Today we are going to look at popular culture in 1984, when Michael Jackson was popular on the world stage (including in New Zealand), the internet had not been invented, and Billy T James was a popular entertainer on New Zealand television.  

Today we are going to learn more about these two entertainers.  If your birthday is in January - June, then start with Billy T James.  If your birthday is in July - December, start with Michael Jackson.

Task:

1. Make a slideshow about your entertainer.  Include information on what they did, birth and death, what shaped them to be the entertainers they were.  Find some videos of their work, and describe what you think made them successful.
2. Both of these entertainers had a complex relationship with the colour of their skin and/or their culture.  Michael Jackson changed his skin through surgery, and Billy T. James made a career out of making fun of his own people - Māori.  What do you think of this?

After this, we are going to make a blogpost about either Billy T James or Michael Jackson.  We will include some provocative questions to invite others to respond in the comments section.