At a convention, I once asked an artist why he chose to paint apples over oranges. We weren’t really talking about fruit, but his answer intrigued me. “Because I produce my best art when I paint apples,” he said. “Oranges just don’t do it for me.”
Not all creators are the same. Some need to forge news paths. Others are compelled to perfect a well-traveled road. There is nothing wrong with either calling.
Yet the choices creators make are heavily influenced by industries that have been built around them, by gatekeepers who have the power to decide how many eyes and ears a creator’s work will reach. With the Internet, folks like to think that gatekeepers are obsolete, that a creator’s work, if it’s truly worthy, will reach the wide audience it’s meant to reach. But there’s one major reason why gatekeepers still matter.
Busy people trust them.
There are thousands upon thousands of books, artworks, and films competing for people’s attention. No one wants to spend time searching for the sweetest piece of fruit in a bottomless crate. So folks turn to gatekeepers–editors, producers, reviewers, perhaps a gal named Mina who started a sarcastic blog about vampiric fruit–to dig through it for them.
© 2013 Ursala Vernon
The problem is that gatekeepers tend to evolve tastes for particular types of fruit, and rarely deviate from them. Decades of experience, for example, might show that apples sell very well, so apples are promoted far and wide until they dominate a marketplace.
But not everyone likes apples, and even people who enjoy their crispy, sweet taste might be open to trying something new. Gatekeepers don’t want to lose ground with dedicated apple fans, so rather than take a risk on selling a different type of fruit, they produce a new variety of apple instead. “It’s different!” they say. “Isn’t that what you asked for?”
Erm, not really.
The point of this whole convoluted fruit metaphor is that gatekeepers are ultimately in a better position to speak out about the under-representation of women and minorities in narratives and to demand change. In publishing, one editor has recently discovered that if she asked for more diverse narratives, she got them. Another editor asserted that she can’t publish what isn’t submitted.
Yet I would argue that most career-minded creators know that they can only afford to be so picky about projects. There’s no special exemption for creators when it comes to paying rent and feeding kids, and few can draw a firm line in the sand the sand like the artist I met. So if a publisher decided that they wanted action adventure tales featuring pirate oranges, then by golly, writers will churn out stories about pirate oranges, even if ninja apples are what make their artistic souls soar.
I feel it’s up to publishers, to editors, to producers and other gatekeepers to to push creators to explore perspectives beyond their usual boundaries, and to ultimately ask for stories that better reflect the audiences that are consuming them.
And why should they do that?
Because straight white men aren’t the only ones with extra spending money anymore. Businesses who don’t attempt to capitalize on this change are missing out on chances to expand their markets and profit opportunities. And if there is any argument that should drive change in ANY business, it should be that there is money to be made by creating narratives that more potential customers–women, homosexuals, ethnic minorities–can identify with.
I repeat, there is MONEY to be made selling other types of fruit folks. So why are we still stuck with apples?
The artist I met might not be so firm about his choice to paint apples if there was suddenly a new demand for oranges. If he were pushed to try painting oranges, he might find that he enjoys painting them just as much as he enjoys apples. Heck, he might even consider creating a series featuring fruit cocktail. The only way we’ll ever find out is if gatekeepers give creators a firm push.
I should mention that the artist who created that downright troubling pear is NOT the artist I discussed in this post. Ursula Vernon is a North Carolina based artist who found that she enjoyed painting fruit having bizarre adventures. This only one of her many many talents. Check out more of her art at Red Wombat Studio and her comic series featuring everybody’s favorite wombat Digger.
