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There will always be back-and-forth about how—and how far—to take any
interpretations of these paintings. How much about them was ever even meant to
be interpreted at all?—they're 'only' background set dressing. How much of this
is down to the set dresser's view of who this character is, as opposed to
at-the-specific-suggestion-of... someone else; director of that episode, etc.
(i.e. 'That print isn't working here, let's get something with more red and put
this one in another scene....')
There are a lot of unknowns that limit how far we can go with any
interpretation of these reproductions: some concern external variables. These
would include set-dressing of the type discussed above (how much of this is down
to a given member of the production team?), and what types of art reproductions
are actually available to the team. (Some of the prints in Helen's flat are part
of a larger work, like the Bronzino: has that always been a typical practice of
the businesses who sell prints, or is it recent—and does that matter, i.e. did
the production designer go out and purchase things specifically for certain
sets, or did the set-dresser(s) have to use what was to hand?)
There are also differences of opinion within the fandom which bear on certain
readings. These would include issues such as: to what extent a viewer includes
backstory found within the Bad Girls book as canon (for example, how important
is the religious significance of certain paintings given the fact that Helen's
father was supposedly a minister, although his profession is never mentioned in
the show proper). There's room for latitude in any reading, but it seems best to
err on the side of caution.
There's one more unknown: what, if anything, the makers of the show actually
intended the background art to suggest about a character (mainly Helen for
obvious reasons, hers is one of the only off-prison sets we see with any
regularity). Only after considering the wide range of external factors that may
have influenced the decision to use a certain reproduction in a given setting
can we begin to approach the more purely fictional aspect of the questions such
reproductions raise—namely, what the character herself might have thought, when
'choosing' the prints she chose.
With each of the pieces of art examined in this Gallery, we try to consider
all of these factors, and then allow ourselves to draw some conclusions about
what the art says about the character with whom it's associated.
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