Women in the Orchestra
I think its really important to show more women in a wide range or roles on TV and in film. The way I do this is by adding little touches to artwork used in the background of the shows I work on. Ill add small things that show women, people of colour, people of older age, people who are queer etc. (basically everything other than white men) when ever possible. Most of the scripted content does tend to be pretty lacking in representation so I feel like this balance it out.
This was one of the first posters that I was able to draw during my first year working for the Art Department on Murdoch Mysteries. I was pretty excited about it as I got to make a few posters for the scene and this was one I illustrated and not just graphic designed. When I finished drawing it I decided to add a woman's name to the tagline. Most of the other posters were male-centric.
The posters went to set, my bosses were happy and I thought nothing more of it.
Then a day or two after the scene was shot one of the set dressers came into the office and told a little story. She explained how someone on set saw the poster and very loudly complained that it wasn't accurate because there were no women in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at this time. I think they even suggested the poster get moved because of this. It wasn't moved.
The funny thing is, you know what else didn't exist in 1910 Toronto? The Toronto Symphony Orchestra! They weren't founded until 1922. This story line like a lot of what happens on Murdoch Mysteries is a fantasy. We are remaking history into entertainment.
But for some its easier to imagine a man creating ray-guns and GPS in 1910 Toronto than it is to imagine a woman playing classical music. (Murdoch comes up with a lot of inventions.)
This comment pissed me off. But it also set a little fire in me. I understood better then its really important to me personally to include as many types of people as I can in my artwork. And I'm still striving to do that.
Fortunately my values seem to align with those of the producers and writers at Murdoch. So ill just keep adding women's names to things.
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