David Bowie was an English singer, songwriter and actor who began his career in 1962 after studying art, music and design. His commercial breakthrough came in 1972 with the Ziggy Stardust character, followed by a series of personas such as Halloween Jack and the Thin White Duke. He then moved through soul, art rock and electronic music, most fully with the Berlin Trilogy of Low, Heroes and Lodger, made in the late 1970s. His biggest commercial success was Let's Dance in 1983. Bowie also acted in films including The Man Who Fell to Earth and Labyrinth, and he was one of the first artists to engage with fans online through his BowieNet website. He died in 2016, two days after releasing his final album, Blackstar.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.