What is the difference between macro and micro setting?

The macro-setting is the overall world of a narrative, such as Los Angeles in 2019. The micro-setting is the setting of an individual scene, such as an office boardroom at night.

What is an integral setting?

A setting is integral when the story could not work without it — when it sets up the rules of the world or creates the central conflict — as opposed to a setting that is merely a backdrop.

How does setting create meaning?

Setting can reflect a character, build a mood tied to genre, create tension, supply social or historical context, or become so important that it functions as a character in its own right.

Setting — Definition & Examples

Setting is the symbolic code of where and when a story takes place — its location, period and world — chosen and dressed so the place itself carries meaning.

The setting is the world a story takes place in — its location, its time, and the atmosphere the two create together. It is built mostly through mise en scène, with audio and camerawork adding to it. Setting is rarely just a backdrop: where and when a story happens shapes how we read everything inside it.

Two terms are worth knowing:

The macro-setting is the overall world of a story — Los Angeles, 2019.
The micro-setting is the setting of a single scene — a boardroom, late at night.

A setting is integral when the story could not happen without it, and incidental when it is little more than a background.

Place

Where a story happens — the physical location, from a galaxy far, far away to a deserted central London.

Star Wars' galaxy far, far away — Star Wars

A deserted central London in 28 Days Later — 28 Days Later

Time

When a story is set — historical, contemporary or futuristic — how long it spans, and even the time of day. The Breakfast Club unfolds across a single Saturday detention; A Nightmare on Elm Street lives mostly after dark.

The Saturday-detention setting of The Breakfast Club — The Breakfast Club

The night-time setting of A Nightmare on Elm Street — A Nightmare on Elm Street

Context

A time and place carry context — the social, political and cultural conditions that shape how we read a story and its characters. Brooklyn (New York, 1952) sets up what was expected of a young woman at the time; The Big Short is anchored in the 2008 financial crisis.

The 2008 financial-crisis context of The Big Short — The Big Short

What a setting can do

Beyond telling us where and when, a strong setting does work in the story. Look for any of these:

Extension of character

A space can reflect the person who occupies it. Tyrell’s vast, cathedral-like office in Blade Runner mirrors his god-like power; Amélie’s warm, cluttered bedroom is a portrait of her inner world.

Tyrell's office reflecting his power in Blade Runner — Blade Runner — Tyrell's office

Amélie's bedroom as an extension of character — Amélie

Mood and atmosphere

The elements of a setting combine into a mood, often tied to genre. The wide, exposed plains of North by Northwest leave a man nowhere to hide; the handsome old school of Dead Poets Society anchors its coming-of-age tone.

The exposed open setting of North by Northwest — North by Northwest

The school setting of Dead Poets Society — Dead Poets Society

Creating tension

A setting can trap or pressure characters into action. In Clue, everyone is locked in the house with a murderer; Pleasantville drops present-day characters into a buttoned-up 1950s town and lets the friction build.

Characters trapped in the house in Clue — Clue

The 1950s town of Pleasantville — Pleasantville

Setting as character

When a setting is so essential that the characters have a relationship with it, it can read as a character in its own right — like the impossibly perfect constructed town of The Truman Show.

The constructed town of The Truman Show — The Truman Show

How to analyse setting

Name the place and time precisely, then ask what they add: what does this setting make us expect, how does it shape the characters, and would the story mean the same thing if it happened somewhere — or somewhen — else?

Setting