ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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We're all aware of how much the time period in which a work of fiction is set can effect the story. [Man riding a horse down a road]

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And if we're not aware then… hint: It’s a lot.

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But it's also worth noting just how much of an effect time periods have on the people [Man transforms from ancient clothing to modern clothes]

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who are writing fiction.

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You know, those cool, smart, handsome people.

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…Okay, sure, we have a lot of fiction writers at Shmoop. …We like to think we're cool…ish. [Writers working at shmoop]

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Anyway… writers are like sponges.

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They walk around in the world and take in all the sounds and sights and smells around them. [Girl looking at rainbow through binoculars]

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If you've ever read a book that describes a dirty, crowded, smelly street, chances are

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the author is writing from experience.

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And because writers live in a specific time, the state of the world ends up leaving a big [Writer with a pen and paper and bana skin lands on paper]

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mark on their work.

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Someone writing today will have very different concerns from someone writing a hundred years

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in the past, or a hundred years in the future.

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Nobody in the 1800s was writing stories about meeting people on Tinder, just like nobody

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today is writing stories about people meeting on Robotr. [Robot couple together]

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So think about a writer who was working in

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the early '60s, as the Civil Rights Movement was picking up steam.

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Whether they were exposed to it through what they read… [Person reading the Civil Rights paper]

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…what they saw on TV…

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…or what they experienced in the streets, it's reasonable to think that they would have

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thought a lot about the struggle for racial equality. [Man sleeping in bed]

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So when its time for them to write, whether they were writing a movie set in the Old West…

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…Biblical times…

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…or the distant future, the writer might have focused on the theme of racial equality.

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Because it was in their brain. [boys head opens and racial equality inside the brain]

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"On the brain, on the page," we always say.

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Just kidding, that’s the first time we’ve ever actually said that.

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Anyway, whenever you're watching a movie or reading a book, think about when the work [girl reading a book]

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was made, and the influence the time period might have had on the piece.

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We’re gonna go invest in Robotr. See you in the future, Shmoopers! [Roomba cleaning a floor and robot lays beside it]

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