HISTORICAL CONTEXT
 Written during the 1950`s
 Veldt (wide open rural space of South Africa)
 Time of racial segregation.
 Time where technology was quickly developing.
 Time where television was a common place for
children to be entertained by.
 Rise in fear of the effects of
industrialization.
TECHNOLOGY/MODERNIZATION
 New technology is a major source of social change.
 Modernization deals with social change from agrarian
societies to industrial ones.
 New technologies do not change societies by itself.
Rather, it is the response to technology that causes
change.
 Technology makes it possible for a more innovated
society and broad social change.
 This dramatic change through the centuries that has
evolved socially, industrially, and economically, can be
summed up by the term modernization.
ANALYZE THIS SHORT FILM
http://vimeo.com/76492042
What is the message?
How is this conveyed?
AGREE OR DISAGREE
1)Parents should control all of their children`s choices.
2)Technology is a threat to humanity.
3) Society has become dependent on the use of
technology.
4)Freedom over structure is better for children.
5)Children are naturally more savage than adults.
THE STORY
 George and Lydia notice the nursery is stuck on the setting of
an African Veldt where they notice two lions eating and
vultures flying around them.
 They threaten to close the nursery because they feel their
children are spoiled and have become too independent on
their futuristic home.
 The children freak out.
 The parents call a psychologist.
 Throughout the story, the parents hear screams coming from
the nursery room and find their belongings along the way
(wallet).
 When they hear yet another scream, the parents run to the
nursery as their children lock them in to be eaten by the lions.
SETTING (PRIMARY & SECONDARY)
Primary Setting:
Futuristic high-tech suburban home in the U.S referred
to as the Happy Life Home.
Secondary Setting:
The children in the story are able to use a high-tech
nursery to create natural settings to play in. The children
repeatedly play in an African savage land.
IS OUR SOCIET Y
DEPENDANT ON TECHNOLOGY ?
MAIN CHARACTERS
George Hadley: Father
Lydia Hadley: Mother
Peter: Son
Wendy: Daughter
David McClean: Child psychologist
KEY QUESTIONS
 Is technology a blessing or a curse?
 How has technology affected the way we communicate?
 How have we become sensitized to violence?
COMPARE / CONTRAST
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvtNS6hbVy4
Happy life with the machines scattered around the room.
Look what they made; they made it for me... happy technology!
Outside the Lions roam feeding on remains...
We'll never leave, look at us now;
So in love with the way we are here!
[Chorus:]
The world that the children made...
The world that the children made, here!
The world that the children made, here!
The world that the children made.
Every night they rock us to sleep, digital family!
Is it real? Or is it a dream? Can you believe in machines?
Outside, the beating sun, can you hear the screams?
We'll never leave, look at us now.
So in love with the way we are here!
Happy life...with the machines scattered around the room.
Look what they made, they made it for me; happy technology!
Outside the lions roam feeding on remains.
We'll never leave, look at us now;
So in love with the way we are here!
DEADMAU5
THE VELDT
(LYRICS)
Deadmau5
The Vedlt
ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
 Why do the children’s preference for the nursery worry their parents?
 What or who is the protagonist or antagonist in the story?
 Find 3 symbols and explain its symbolism.
 Find 2 examples of foreshadowing.
 What is the most genuine fear in the story?
Is it technology ? The children ? The savage image of Africa?
 The story is both predictive of the future and descriptive of
the role of television in the lives of children.
Do you think this story is predictive or descriptive ?
 Do children like Peter and Wendy exist today ?
 What mistakes have George and Lydia made in raising their children ?