Hello everyone and welcome to your lesson on how setting can reflect important themes.

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to describe how different settings can reflect key themes in a dystopian description.

We'll be looking at how we can find out more about the genre that we are reading about just through looking at the setting.

And here are our key words for today.

We have opulent.

An opulent place or item is costly and luxurious, in a boastful manner.

Dilapidated.

A dilapidated building is in a state of ruin because of neglect.

Semantic field.

A semantic field is a group of words related in meaning.

Inequality.

When a society has inequality, there are unfair differences between groups of people.

And juxtapose.

If you juxtapose two things, you place them together for contrasting effect.

Lots of new words today, but together I hope we'll get a really good grasp on them.

So in today's lesson, we're going to look at key themes in the dystopian description written by someone else so we can begin to recognise key themes in someone else's work.

And then we are going to create our very own setting that reflects an important theme for our story.

So let's begin.

We're going to start with recognising key themes in a dystopia.

So let's look at this example dystopian description.

Let's have a read.

"In the centre of the city stood towering spectacles, with opulent chrome facades that belonged to the elite.

Inside, the rooms were adorned with chandeliers, marble floors, and lavish tapestries.

Inside, the people flaunted intricately embroidered silk garments in extravagant colours.

Whilst they lazed in front of the television, indulged in hearty meals and plotted inside the warmth of their rooms, Troy trudged home from his long shift in the rain.

He reached his dingy narrow street with a sigh.

The dilapidated shacks, with sagging roofs, shattered windows, and rotting walls, housed the rest of society.

This area was known as The Wasteland.

Everything was discarded here, leaving a relentless pungent stench.

As Troy continued walking, he passed swarms of people perched on the curb.

Their eyes were hollow and their skin pallid.

Their hands swelled and their joints ached.

Survival was not easy here.

If starvation didn't capture them in its wrenching grasp, the cameras would.

They were perched like sentinels on every corner, ready to capture every move, every word, every act of defiance." Let's go back to that first paragraph.

What do you notice about all of the highlighted words? So look at the word opulent, adorned, chandeliers, marble, lavish, et cetera.

What do you notice about all of those words? What might connect those words? How are they similar? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said, all of the highlighted words relate to excess, luxury and wealth.

For example, chandeliers and marble floors, they are very luxurious items to have in your home and would be an indicator of wealth.

We also see wealth indicated by the type of clothes the people are wearing.

So for example, silk garments, that's a very expensive fabric.

We also have them wearing extravagant colours, meaning that they don't just have one type of clothing.

They have many, many different, interesting flamboyant pieces, which probably shows excess.

They have more than they need.

If we look at, if we remember the second paragraph, they definitely didn't have all of this luxury in their lives.

They also live in, they live in warm rooms and they're indulging in hearty meals.

They have plenty to eat and they are comfortable.

As well as having expensive objects, expensive clothing.

So all of the highlighted words relate to excess luxury and wealth.

Well done if you said that.

A semantic field is the use of many words related in meaning, so we could say the writer here has used a semantic field of excess, luxury and wealth because all of those words in purple there that we've just discussed, they relate to each other because they are all related to excess, luxury and wealth.

Therefore, there's a semantic field here of excess, luxury and wealth.

So I want you now to think about why do you think the writer chose to use the semantic field of excess, luxury and wealth? What does it show about the citizens that live here? Pause the video and have a think.

The semantic field of luxury, wealth and excess here may highlight the power and greed of the citizens that live here.

With all this luxury, with all this wealth, they have a lot of control over the other people that don't have that much.

Also, it could show their greedy because they have more than enough and we question whether they share it.

And based on the other paragraph we read, we can assume that they don't share that, they have more than enough, but they don't give it any of it away to help the other people in society.

Well done if you said that.

Now, let's go on to that second paragraph that we read.

What semantic field has been used here? So what you need to do is look at all those words in purple and think what links those words? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said the writer here has now used a semantic field of poverty, lack and suffering.

The word dingy, narrow, sagging, shattered, rotting, suggests these people are living in a poor state.

They don't even have comfortable houses to live in.

Their houses are falling apart.

Furthermore, it says starvation.

Starvation says they have a.

Suggests they have a lack of food.

And that's in very direct contrast to the other people that had indulged in their food.

So the semantic field here is poverty, lack, and suffering.

We see the suffering for their hands swelling, their joints aching, their eyes being hollow, and their skin being very, very pale as if they are sick.

Well done if you said any of that.

I now want you to think about why has the writer used the semantic field of poverty, lack and suffering here? What is the writer trying to show about the citizens or trying to show about the society in general? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said the semantic field of poverty and lack here may show the hardship and difficulties that the poor citizens face, unlike the wealthy citizens who are very comfortable in their position.

So now I've put the two paragraphs side by side.

I want you to think about what theme overall is highlighted by juxtaposing these two settings.

So by placing these two settings next to each other to contrast them, what is the writer showing about the society? Pause the video and have a think.

By juxtaposing these settings, the writer highlights the theme of inequality.

That's because society's obviously not fair.

If half of the society live in luxury and wealth and the other half live in suffering and lack and poverty.

By having those two types of people living side by side, there's a lot of injustice and unfairness in that world.

Well done if you said that.

Now I want you to think about this question.

Opulent settings can reflect what? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said opulence settings can reflect greed.

Remember we said that opulence is about having a lot, having luxury and showing it off in a boastful manner.

Therefore, opulence settings can reflect greed.

Opulence settings would not reflect suffering because someone who's suffering, someone who's in a lots of pain would not necessarily show off their wealth and luxury in that way.

Dilapidated settings can reflect what? Pause the video and have a think well done if you said dilapidated settings can reflect suffering.

Think about the description we've just read.

The people are living in a dilapidated area where the roofs are sagging, the walls are rotting.

They're not living in a comfortable homely place.

They don't have enough to eat in that place either, we can assume.

Therefore, they're probably suffering.

They're struggling to survive in that place.

Well done if you said that.

Now, juxtaposing, opulent, and dilapidated settings can reflect the theme of.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said juxtaposing, opulent and dilapidated settings.

In other words, putting them in contrast next to each other, that can reflect the theme of inequality.

Because we see a very rich, luxurious area, side by side with a rundown area, and we see there that those two societies living in each of those places are not equal.

Well done if you said that.

Now, I want you to zoom into this quote to answer the question, how has the writer juxtapose the two settings to show the theme of inequality? You guys be analysing this quote from the extract.

The quote is, "inside the rooms were adorned with chandeliers, marble floors, and lavish tape tapestries.

The dilapidated shacks with shagging roofs, shattered windows and rotting walls." So I've taken one quote from the first paragraph, one quote from the second paragraph, but I've put them together to help you analyse the use of juxtaposition.

So again, you are going to be answering the question, how has the writer juxtaposed the two settings to show the theme of inequality? So you're gonna be analysing the use of an opulent setting and the use of a dilapidated setting and what those two things together show about society, how they show the inequality in the society.

Remember in your answer, you need to include a topic sentence, which focuses on inequality, mention the use of semantic field and juxtaposition when introducing your quote, 'cause they are the devices the writer has used.

You also need to focus on the most interesting parts of the semantic field.

You need to zoom in on different words in the quotation.

So the words that really stand out to you at creating a sense of inequality.

Zoom into those and you also need to have your final sentence focusing on inequality to link back to the question.

So pause the video and have a go at this task.

Let's go through what you could have written.

So how has the writer juxtapose the two settings to show the theme of inequality? The writer presents the theme of inequality in the dystopian description by juxtaposing two semantic fields.

One part of the city is adorned with chandeliers, marble flaws, and lavish tapestries.

Chandeliers, marble, lavish, linked to a semantic field of wealth and luxury.

In particular, the verb, adorned suggests that people live a life of excess and extravagance.

That is not necessary.

This links to the adjective lavish, which has boastful connotations.

Thus, the setting seems to symbolise greed.

In stark contrast, the second area has dilapidated shacks, sagging roofs and rotting walls.

The words dilapidated, sagging, rotting, link to a semantic field of decay, emphasising how impoverished this area is.

The harsh conditions hint at the suffering of the people who live there.

By juxtaposing a life of greed and a life of suffering and poverty, the writer shows that this dystopian society is terribly unequal.

Well done on writing your paragraph.

Of course it won't look exactly like that 'cause you would've had different ideas.

But as long as you answer the question, how has the writer juxtaposed the two settings to show the theme of inequality? Very well done.

We're now gonna move on at look at how we can create our very own setting to reflect important themes in a dystopia.

So what I want you to do now is imagine a dilapidated setting in a dystopian world.

Mind map your ideas with what you might include if you were to describe that place, if you looked at that place, what would you see? What could you pick out in that setting to show it's dilapidated? Pause the video and have a go.

Let's go through some answers.

You may have said, buildings in ruin, buildings falling apart.

You may have said, people that suffer.

And we can see that through how they look or how they interact with each other.

You may have said abandoned vehicles.

You may have said, lack of resources, food, heating, furniture and clothes and bleak weather to match the mood.

Let's move on.

Let's answer the same question for an opulent setting.

What could you pick out in a setting to show that it is opulent? Pause a video and have a think.

You may have said, new decorated buildings.

You may have said excess resources such as food, gadgets and space, state-of-the-art technology, people with power and control shown in their clothing and possessions and bright and colourful, or the setting is bright and colourful to reflect their carefree attitudes.

Great job, everyone.

In a dystopia, powerless citizens would typically not live in areas that have.

Pause the video and have a think.

In a dystopia, powerless citizens would typically not live in areas that have expensive furniture.

They would live in areas with gloomy atmospheres.

'Cause as we said, the setting or the weather often reflects the mood of the people.

And also powerless citizens would likely also live in areas with cameras and propaganda because cameras and propaganda are a form of control and dystopian societies often exert a lot of control over citizens with lack of power.

And in fact, that's the reason they don't have much power is because they're heavily controlled.

They're watched and they're told what to think.

Well done if you got that right.

In a dystopia, an opulent setting would likely feature.

Pause the video and have a think Well done if you said, in a dystopia, an opulent setting would likely feature the latest technological advancements.

We know that they would not include dilapidated buildings because their buildings would be in good condition, and we know that they wouldn't likely feature bland food because they're probably indulging in something that's been cooked very well and with good ingredients, and they're probably enjoying that food.

They probably have choice over a lot of options for their food.

Well done if you got that right.

I now want you to write two paragraphs of a dystopian description.

Paragraph one should focus on an opulent area with a semantic field of wealth and luxury.

Paragraph two should focus on a dilapidated area with semantic field of decay, poverty, and suffering.

Your aim is to highlight the theme of inequality by juxtaposing these two settings and the people that live there.

Use your mind maps to help you and use the dystopian vocabulary on the right there to help you with that as well.

Enjoy your writing everyone.

Pause the video and have a go.

I now want you to reread your work and identify the following.

I want you to highlight words that link to wealth and luxury in one colour that shows where you've created your first semantic field.

I then want you to highlight words that link to poverty, suffering, and lack in another colour that shows your second semantic field.

So pause the video and self-assess your work.

Great job on that task, everyone.

Let's go through what we've learned today.

Settings can be used to reflect key themes in a text.

A semantic field can be used to create a setting that has a theme or idea running through it.

Opulent settings can symbolise greed and power.

Dilapidated settings can symbolise suffering.

By juxtaposing an opulent and dilapidated setting, dystopian writers can highlight the theme of inequality.

Great job in today's lesson, everyone.

I hope to see you next time.