Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Maps in Film: Lost Girl

A while back, I was watching the Canadian TV series Lost Girl [imdb]. In the episode ten ("The Mourning After") the location of a precious object is thaumaturgically ascertained, or more accurately, discovered via map dowsing.

Lost Girl ep.10 map screenshot
Of course, map dowsing requires a map and when I see a map in film,  I always wonder whether it is a real or fictional map of a real or fictional place. Well, in this case it is a real map of the Niagara Gorge. The map is a 1912 topographic map produced cooperatively between the Geological Survey of Canada and the United States Geological Survey (close-up below).

1912 Niagara Gorge Map Close-up
A copy of the map resides in the University of Toronto's Map Library [link] and has been enabled for digital access [link]. It seems reasonable to suggest that the map seen on screen is a copy of UT's, especially considering that the show is filmed in Toronto.