Chris Simonite's Cubo-Weirdism Blog! A Blog about Chris Simonite's Art by Chris Simonite. Who the Hell else?

I've written about the Bechdel Test at least twice on this here Cubo-Weirdist Blog here and I'm revisiting it once again to clarify something. Before I get into that, I'll just recap what the Bechdel Test is. According to Wikipedia "(t)he Bechdel Test is is a measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man." In other words it's a way of measuring how women are represented in movies, TV, books, etc. If a woman is a main character, it's pretty clear that other characters will talk about them, and I kind of assume that would also pass the test. Although if Bechdel (who is a cartoonist) were to argue the point with me, I'd acquiesce. 

I've written in the past about how it kind of feels like my own artistic output kinda sorta fails the Bechdel Test, at least in the sense that the majority of my pop culture based paintings are of men. Of course, my paintings can't talk to each other, so I guess I'm using the concept loosely. I got to thinking about this again for two reasons. One is that I've had some friends and acquaintances make some suggestions as to what women I could paint, which I'll talk about in a bit.

The other reason is that I was watching the final episodes of Ozark and thought to myself: "I should paint at least one character from this show." So you'd probably think that the first character I'd think of is Marty Byrde, who is essentially the main character, no? I mean, it's definitely an ensemble cast with lots of strong characters. But Marty is the one who initially gets everyone into the situation in which they find themselves. But Marty is not the character I painted. As you may have seen on social media last week, I painted Ruth Langmore instead. Because she is objectively the best character on the show. And I'm sure there are lots of scenes of people talking about her. And for that matter, there are probably scenes of say, Ruth and Darlene talking about talking about Wendy. So I'm pretty sure the show passes the test. And full disclosure, I might paint Marty. Maybe a painting with both Marty and Wendy Byrde. Stay tuned!

I'm trying to say that I think that it's a good thing when our favourite shows etc, pass the Bechdel test. I also think it's a good thing when Hollywood embraces diversity of all kinds. The entertainment we consume should absolutely reflect the demographics of our society, but I digress (see I did it again–every post!). 

Anyway, as I said I've had some friends and acquaintances make some suggestions as to what women I should paint, such as the companions from Doctor Who. And hey, my wife and I have watched all of Doctor Who (at least the new series), so there's a part of me that would love to paint, say Martha or Donna. The problem is, the paintings of the Doctor haven't generated a lot of excitement with my audience, and I suspect that the companions would likely be less successful. I guess I'm saying if all of the Doctors had been women, I would have that many more female subjects in my work. That was not my decision, it was Hollywoo–er the BBC's decision. It's also why I haven't painted all the Trailer Park Girls! 

^{Kim Wexler, 11" x 14", oil on canvas, 2022.}

I've used the headline I'm Failing the Bechdel Test on this here blog here, but my point really is that Hollywood, the BBC and even Canadian TV and movies fail the test all too often, and my work reflects that. So I hope that's as clear as mud! Now I'll leave you with a strong female character from Better Call Saul. I had painted a number of the characters from that show but I hadn't done Kim yet. And she is such a strong character who may not actually pass the test as it's written above, but if there aren't two women talking about her in at least one scene in that show, there should be! See you next week!