Blog 8

Background and foreground each construct the other. Without one, the other is meaningless. Usually, they help narratives be outlined, focusing on particular things less or more. For example, Mama, John's mom, is much more of a background character in the episodes of the podcast leading up to John's suicide. Once at his funeral, she becomes less backgrounded and more foregrounded - this is likely to show her grief as a mother who has lost her child, under major duress as a result of her mental state and loss of a son. Additionally, her transition from background to foreground may foreshadow her rise in relevance to the story moving forward. That's the underlying beauty in comparing background and foreground: they both contribute key components to stories. Be it background characters, settings, dialogue, etc, these story establishments are just as crucial to the main, foregrounded plot because they add ample contribution to the tone, plot, and message that a story, fiction or non-fiction, may be trying to tell.