Dolly Parton used humour to take control of her career and to expose sexist assumptions. In a 1973 live duet on The Porter Wagoner Show, she ad-libbed extra lines and talked over her co-star, turning a song about a marital quarrel into a moment where it was clear whose song it really was. Country music has long treated women as window dressing or as climbers who abandoned their roots, and performers like June Carter and the trio Pistol Annies used jokes to push back. Parton was especially skilled at using self-deprecating quips to disarm audiences while pointing out double standards. Her humour helped her leave Wagoner's show and build a career with many number one singles and Grammy awards.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.