(Luke 8:4-15)
Jesus was a master teacher and He used a variety of techniques in His teachings. The parable was the teaching method He chose most often to explain the kingdom of God, the character of God and the expectations God has for people. A parable presented the listeners with a familiar situation or event, usually taken from everyday life, for the purpose of helping people see things in a new way. Jesus often told a parable to answer a question or to make a point more clearly through illustration. He desired His listeners to draw moral truths from his stories and apply them to their lives.
(Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, s.v. "Parable." Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992.)

Economic Factors

Agriculture played a vital role in the livelihood of individuals, and the economy as a whole, in Palestine. Since agriculture was so much a part of the lives of people in Palestine, many of Jesus' parables are based upon agricultural practices, which would have been familiar to His listeners.
(New Bible Dictionary- the Second Edition, s.v. "Agriculture." Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.)

In this section of the film, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer sowing his seed. The farmer's field was not plowed like today, and he sowed the seed by scattering it across the soil with his hand. Sometimes the seed landed in fertile soil and other times it did not. Only after the rains brought the seed to fruition would the farmer know in what type of soil the seed landed.
(J. Dwight Pentecost, The Parables of Jesus, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982, 50.)