The Creator's Context - What it means, and embedding it into your text study
- Susan de Lautour
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
What do we mean by ‘creator context?
Context, in relation to in depth text studies (like a novel, poem or film study) is the situation that inspired the creator (eg: author, poet, scriptwriter/director) to create the text. For example: MT Anderson’s book “Feed,” (2002) is about a futuristic society where people have the internet implanted in their brains so that people ‘know everything’ and no longer have to think. Of course the context is the invention of, and our reliance on, the internet. Interestingly, this story is even more relevant now that AI is such ‘a thing’!
We ask, “What’s the context of this text?”
Common points of confusion.
FIRST:
There may be TWO contexts to consider for your text. This can cause dithering and confusion, so define each first. You could have:
The context that happened long ago – before the creator’s time but it’s one that’s had a profound impact on the text creator. You’ll want your students to know about that original context.
The context in which the creator lives at the time of writing. Their text is the product of their reaction to what is happening in their world at the time – be it political, cultural, social or personal.
For example, New Zealander Whiti Hereaka wrote her novel, “Legacy,” about the experiences of Māori soldiers in World War I. This would be the first context you should study with students. Now, Hereaka wasn’t around during World War I, but the stories about how Māori soldiers were treated on the battlefields and when they returned home, are still an important part of her country’s history and there are still grievances about this to this day – her day – so, that’s your second context. That passion that is felt in Hereaka’s context ignited her desire to write about it.
SECOND:
The context of a text is not the same as the ‘context clues’ we talk about for close reading activities. Context clues are about inferencing or reading ‘around’ a word to understand it. This is NOT what we’re referring to here. Here, we’re talking what a text creator has lived through that has motivated them to create this text.
Why is creator context so important in our text studies?
If students understand who (author) and what (context) is ‘behind’ the lines they’ll better understand the:
Audience – who creator wants to influence.
Idea – what it is the creator wants to convey to that audience (the message).
Purpose – why the creator wants to influence the audience and how they want to influence them (in what way).
This is why it’s important to choose a text with depth – one that explores ideas about our real world.
When should I delve into context with my students?
To enhance understanding of the text, to help students engage with it, and to improve critical thinking, context should be a key part of any in-depth novel, poetry, podcast or film study!) If it helps, think of it as another element of literature. We’re used to teaching plot structure, characterisation, setting, symbolism and idea (theme); now we need to add context.
How could I introduce context (in general) to my students?
Thinking about context involves asking, “What’s the situation here?” Go colloquial – talk about the ‘sitch’!
Ask students about the sitch right now - ie: what’s going on, what’s keeping everyone’s tongues wagging, what’s ‘in your face’ at the moment:
At our school? (Eg: The upcoming football tournament, exams, the school musical, obsession with “Stranger Things”.)
In our country? (Eg: Elections, an international win for our team, Halloween, Matariki, housing crisis.)
In the world? (Eg: war, climate change, countries banning social media for under 16s, popularity of reality TV, the Olympic Games. )
Another way to approach it could be to ask, “What’s trending in world?”
You could discuss, also, how our history ‘is’ our present and our future. That is, the way what happened in the past affects how we feel and behave now.
How might we study the context of the creator we’re studying?
Research! Provide a fact sheet about the creator (or have students do a bit of guided research) and/or the real life context the text relates to.
We’ve already mentioned Whiti Hereaka’s inspiration for her World War I novel. Here are some more examples:
Click here to read about what inspired Kristin Hannah to write her popular novel “The Women”. You could learn about two contexts: (i) The war in Vietnam and the experience of female nurses there and (ii) how the world perceives those experiences now (in Hannah’s time).
William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” was inspired by the depravity he witnessed during World War II and is a strong indictment of our ‘inherent evil’. Look into the atrocities of war and war crimes.
The film “Blood Diamond” is inspired by the blood diamond trade and how our consumerism and ignorance drives horrific conditions in developing nations. You could study the blood diamond trade/fair trade.
Here’s a fun way show that research: Have students create an Instagram feed to reflect the context. Add captions, descriptions, hashtags to help reflect events, values, feelings.
What about a homepage for a news website? Students could include headlines, photographs, captions and the first paragraph of each article to capture the context of the time.
How can I use context to delve deeper into our text?
Ask students to put themselves in the creator’s context. How would they have felt? Once they’ve empathised, ask students to think about how this context would have affected the creator – physically and emotionally. Link this to the creator’s message (idea) and purpose.
Provide (or have students collect) headlines from news publications that relate to the context. See examples in the image below. As students read, collect quotations from the text that relate to these headlines.
At the end of your text study, get students to give it a star rating according to how well it reflects actuality from the past, present, or how likely it is for the speculated future to become a reality. Next, ask students to explain their rating with evidence from the text.
Have students create a ‘mood board’ to reflect how it must feel living in this context. To what extent are these feelings reflected in the characters of your studied text?
Context provides the perfect opportunity to investigate bias. Have students consider whose side of the argument has and has NOT been told.
Explore how tropes/stereotypes have been used to present a particular context. Eg: the coach who’s prepared to sabotage the gear of a competitor in a film about the Olympic Games is a typical trope. Ask students how these tropes affect our understanding of/how we feel about the context.
Add context to some of your essay questions/statements. Eg:
For juniors:
Explain how your novel reflects the real world.
Explain how the experience of a character illustrates the experiences of a person/group from the author’s context.
For seniors:
To what extent does the author/director’s rely on their own context to create a story that helps us understand our world?
Discuss how the setting in your film reflects the context that inspired it.
Build commenting about context into any essay/response templates you use to scaffold students through writing about texts.
Discuss with students how understanding the context of their text has helped them not just understand the main idea, but appreciate its significance (importance) too.
Discuss with students the story in the text has helped them learn more about the real world.
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