A raga is a melodic framework that Indian classical musicians improvise within, a little like a mode but with more rules. The word means 'colouring' or 'dyeing', and in the Indian tradition each raga is meant to colour the listener's mind with a particular emotion. A raga defines which notes are allowed, how they may be approached, and which phrases mark it out, so the musician creates sequences of notes within those rules instead of playing a fixed score. Hundreds of ragas are recognised, of which about 30 are common, and traditionally each has associations such as a season, time of day and mood.

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.