It can be argued that Orange is the New Blacks (Netflix, 2013 -) first season, written by Jeni Kohan, both represents and challenges ideas surrounding gender, sexuality and race. Central to this argument is main character Piper, whom is part of a diverse cast of characters and their gripping narratives. Praised for ‘humanising inmates’ by The Washington Post[1]; Orange is the New Black first aired in 2013 and since then has become a global sensation on Netflix. Evident through its 93% Rotten Tomatoes[2] rating and audience satisfaction rating it’s no surprise the Critics Consensus[3] was: “Orange Is the New Black is a sharp mix of black humor and dramatic heft, with interesting characters and an intriguing flashback structure.” Based on real-life experiences, Piper Chapman a middle class, white woman played by Taylor Schilling, is sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Women’s Prison for her association with drug trafficking 10 years prior. Now part of the correctional system; her white skin, previous homosexuality and tantalizing wild side will be both her biggest ally and biggest enemy. Trading normal life for her new prison orange she begins to learn about life behind bars and the people that live there. OITNB openly tackles female sexuality across all ages, something Kate Mulgrew, who plays Red says, television has avoided until now, as well as racism, homophobia, body types, gender and religious extremism, creating a highly diverse analytical view point on the matters.[4]
Gender, sexuality and race are commonplace in prison films, as seen in Film 4’s top 20 prison movies list[5] which ranks Shawshank Redemption at the top spot. It’s no surprise as it is renowned for its masculine violence and racial segregation, this is closely followed by Cool Hand Luke at number two. It’s not until spot number 16 that Caged Heat, a female driven prison story is featured, only 1 of 2 in the list, thus highlighting female prison narratives are somewhat underrepresented, over run by the stereotypical masculine environment. ‘A History of Women’s Prisons’ by Jessica Pishko in 2015[6] writes about the ‘The Sentencing Project’ which claims, the number of women in prison rose 646% between 1980 and 2010 which is 1.5 times the rate of men. Women also differ from men as they tend to be convicted for nonviolent offenses. This becomes apparent in Orange is the New Black as Chapman committed a nonviolent second party crime, which she would claim she only did so because she loved Alex. The same applies for Gloria Mendoza who committed fraud to protect her children and leave her violent partner and Aleida Diaz who is arrested for drug dealing despite it being her boyfriend who is running the operation. The same can’t be said for all the woman however, as OITNB also creates characters who are murderers, violent robbers, drug dealers and psychopathic stalkers. This adds a new dimension to the way an audience views and looks upon femininity as it questions the passive nurturing stereotypes woman are traditionally supposed to honour. While the debate over women’s experiences during incarceration is still questioned today, it is embedded in old debates about femininity and the causes of women’s criminal behaviour in the first place. These gendered assumptions about what the model woman inmate should be have caused both insufficient conditions and a greater emphasis on rehabilitation over punishment.
Orange Is the New Black is a robust consideration of women within prison, the crimes they commit, the stories behind their sentence and the presence of race, gender and sexuality as means of belonging. The intriguing integrated flashback structure introduces main character Piper, coinciding her previous normality with a new prison life alternative. Piper’s character is highlighting and raising issues surrounding sexuality by delving into her past and present relations with Alex Vause. Although she begins as a woman of domestic bliss her love for both Larry and Alex coincide together and is undeniable to both herself and the audience. While a confusing matter of the heart, the sexuality traits of Chapman are laid bare, yet in the whole 26 episodes they only use the word bi once, which seems foolish when it is defined as being sexually attracted to both men and women. Robert Allen Clyde would argue that gay, les, trans and bi viewers interpret the gender based dimensions of programs in different ways than perhaps the way the programmes were intended.[7] Imaginably OITNB has failed to address this and define it as being bi instead continuing its tabooed nature.
Another character who challenges pre-conceived ideas is Sophia Bursett played by Laverne Cox, a transgender woman. A demographic which is not often represented or seen on TV, Bursett is a catalyst for discrimination against transgender people and tackles the implications that has whilst being in prison. In coming years LGBT characters on TV will make up a larger percentage than ever before. Sarah Kate Ellis the ‘Glaad President’[8] notes that “While it is heartening to see progress being made in LGBTQ representation on television, it’s important to remember that numbers are only part of the story, and we must continue the push for more diverse and intricate portrayals of the LGBTQ community”. Sophia Bursett would be a good example of the writers of OITNB recognising this need for change. As we see Bursett in her past life as a fire fighter, undeniable a strongly masculine occupation, she takes herself away to the changing room where it reveals she is wearing women’s underwear beneath the uniform, a symbolic representation of having to hide one’s true self, under a masculine façade. These scenes juxtapose with Bursett now standing in the prison bathroom, no longer keeping herself a secret, she openly stands naked, applies makeup and has boobs. Clyde states that “Representations of the conventional binaries of male/female, masculine/femininity need to be studied not only for how they get constructed, reproduced and enforced but also for how they are already being and can continue to be broken apart.”[9] Flashbacks of Bursett again show Crystal, her former wife dressing her in women’s clothes, connoting a mother to daughter type relation, innocence at its most precious. However, this is broken and brought back to reality when Crystal asks “please keep your penis for me”. An ignorant comment on a woman’s want for masculinity over gender acceptance. Clyde comments that “Televisions information and its stories have active roles in shaping the way TV viewers think about themselves and feel about themselves and their worlds, including how they think and feel about themselves as gendered human beings.”[10]
It is evident that Litchfield is heavily focused on rehabilitation as the women are given jobs such as working in laundry or in the kitchen. Routines, with set times for meals and sleeping and available classes such as yoga and counselling. Chapman is assigned to electrical although naturally complains as she requested to be put in education, realisation that she is no longer a member of society listened to by the state is becoming ever more evident. Robert Allen Clyde in ‘Television Representation and Gender’[11] claims US Television in the early 1950/70’s was dominated by repeatedly produced representations of young, white, middle class, heterosexual and attractive domesticated women as the norm of femininity, to attract the largest possible audience, in this case Chapman. It rarely depicted the people of colour, the poor, the handicapped, the lesbians, so forth also constituted the category of US femininity. Thus, as Piper enters prison engaged to Larry Bloom, a freelance writer, whose Father is a lawyer, it would seem Schilling has been cast purely to appeal to the widest audience market. However, it soon becomes clear that OITNB very much challenges this historical practice as from the offset Piper can’t be considered a conventional heterosexual white woman, not to mention the vast array of personalities, sexualities, races and diverse mentality the other characters represent, for example Suzanne; ‘Crazy Eyes’; whom is a black woman, suffering from learning difficulties and violence tendencies.
Although we watch as Piper’s domestic, picturesque life forms in series one; her meeting Larry, getting engaged, moving in together, it is short lived when they are torn apart and separated for her 15-month incarceration. The picturesque façade is also overshadowed by their united hatred towards Piper’s former lesbian lover Alex Vause. Laura Mulvey explains in ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’[12] that the thrill comes from “leaving the past behind without rejecting it, transcending out worn or oppressive forms, or daring to break with normal pleasurable expectations to conceive a new language of desire”. After having met Alex in a bar, Piper quickly became engrossed in travelling the world with her, whilst knowing of her drug trafficking and drug mulling occupation. Series creator Jenji Kohan refers to protagonist Piper Chapman as a “gateway drug”[13] into Litchfield, someone with whom viewers may identify with and who illuminates that anyone is one bad decision away from being in her shoes. Chapman’s down fall arising when agreeing to be a drug mule herself. Prison makes sure to remind Piper that “lesbians are very dangerous”, as she becomes assigned with Councillor Healy who is gregarious with his views on lesbian fornication and activity. Although Healy’s viewpoint is controversial it’s scary to wonder whether views like this are common place in such a facility. Perhaps why female inmates were considered more trouble than men even though their crimes were often less violent, which is shown as inspectors of an Illinois Prison wrote in their official report from 1845, “From past experience, not only in our own State, but in others, one female prisoner is of more trouble than twenty males.”[14] L. Mara Dodge, writing for ‘The Journal of Social History’, explains this common attitude derived from the idea that women needed individualised attention: “Women were viewed as being more pure and moral by nature than men, the woman who dared to stray or fell from her elevated pedestal was regarded as having fallen a greater distance than a male, and hence as being beyond any possibility of reformation.”[15] This relates to Chapman, as her Mother would agree she has fallen very far from the ‘perfect’ upbringing and model daughter she was nurtured to be. Carol Chapman, Piper’s mother is first introduced when in visitation, she is a well-dressed, white woman, appreciating the finer things in life. Well-spoken and uptight, Carol quickly makes the focus of conversation about sexuality and femininity, explaining; “it’s a lot harder to conceive in your late 30’s”, is this simply a mother’s concern about her daughter’s chance of having her own children or is it a wider comment on femininity being related to fertility and Piper being female reason enough to worry about an ageing womb.
Mulvey explains; “Woman’s desire is subjected to her image, a bearer of the bleeding wound, she can only exist in relation to castration and can’t transcend it.”[16] In a turn of events both Larry and Healy’s fears are confirmed in episode 10 when the reoccurrence of sexual lust and activity between Vause and Chapman reignites. Surprisingly it’s Chapman, the wronged innocent white girl who instigates it, pulling Alex into the Chapel to have sex with her. “Why do you always feel so inevitable to me?” Piper questions, which is a rather sweet look at the fate which has brought the two of them together after 10 years. In 1964, two UCLA sociologists, David A. Ward and Gene G. Kassebaum, conducted a study published in ‘Social Problems’, their study emphasised stereotypical aspects of women, concluding that women were more likely than men to form same-sex romantic attachments in prison as “women require more emotional support.”[17] At the time, women who participated in romantic relationships suffered severe penalties. Although not the case in OITNB, lesbian activity is still taboo and shunned by the officers, particularly Healy, who throws Piper in solidarity confinement for dancing with Alex “provocatively”. Thus, exposing a lack of development by the State in the matter. In the time of the study engaging in a relationship with a woman often meant that a parole date might be revoked or substantially pushed back. In Piper’s case, it could be argued her reconciliation with Alex is the start of her demise, her relationship with Larry, best friend Polly and her business on the outside are jeopardised after having given into the ‘dangers’ of lesbian activity. In analysing the historical record of arguments made in favour of women’s prisons, Joanne Belknap, writing for ‘The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology’, wonders, “Could it be that to succeed in implementing sex-segregated incarceration, the women reformers had to include sexist programming.”[18]
Piper’s character is also a white racial representative to reinforce and challenge ideas about white power, integration and social standing. In her book ‘Partial Justice: Women, Prisons, and Social Control’ Nicole Hahn Rafter[19] argues that over time women were convicted of more violent offenses and were separated into rehabilitative institutions and prisons similar to that of men’s; race and class frequently served as a factor in determining placement. On arrival at Litchfield, Morello; a fellow American white woman says “we look out for our own”, as race in prison is determining who they look out for, give favours to, sit with at lunch and trust. Chapman is given more guidance at dinner; “go sit there, she’s a nice white lady.” The white people within the prison could be described as an elitist representation of white power in wider society. This is reinforced when black inmates Poussey and Taysty imitate white culture in episode 6, they discuss politics, healthcare, sushi, veganism, yoga, wine tasting and having quiet sex at 9, whilst trying to impersonate a posh white person accent. Thus, conveying an insight into how white culture has been perceived by other races within the prison and perhaps society alike, as the topics they discuss are what they view as being important and normalised for the white culture. Richard Dyers book ‘White’[20] from 1997 conducted research into books, museums, the press, advertising, films and television which repeatedly show that in Western representation whites are overwhelmingly and disproportionality predominant, they have the central and elaborated roles, and above all are placed as the norm, the ordinary, the standard. Whites are everywhere in representation. Yet precisely because of this and their placing as norm they seem not to be represented to themselves as whites but as people who are variously gendered, classed, sexualised and abled. At the level of racial representation, in other words, whites are not a certain race, they’re the human race. However, Ferguson in ‘TV, News, Current Affairs, Documentary’, would argue “most white people, and even most representations of white people, are not virginal women glowing in the light or hyper-muscular men sorting out other people's problems or even privileged marginal transfixed by the dilemma of doing. Yet the extreme, very white image is functional in relation to the ordinary, is even perhaps a condition of establishing whiteness as ordinary.”[21] Piper’s mother instigates that this is how she views her daughter, a morally traditional white woman, such as herself. Prestigious, she wants to believe that Piper is different and not like the others whom surround her in prison, simply because Piper is white or because this view is formed from previous white privilege stature in society. Regardless, everyone wants Chapman to help them with rewriting and editing their visitation rights letters. As an educated white woman, the inmates assume Piper is of the right caliber for the task, assuming from her background, race, appearance and dialect perhaps, however it soon becomes clear she is no more qualified for this role than the next person. The white privilege continues when Piper is not searched in the hunt for a missing screw driver in episode 4, whilst women of other races such as Dayanara don’t go unsearched for the weapon. Ironically this is an underlying fault in the system as Piper is the one who stole the screw driver. A comment on wider society; that miscarriages of justice are instigated when white privilege and stereotyping over takes fair and equal judgement and treatment for all. Another example is in episode 6, when each click, which is determined by race, is choosing someone to lead and represent their group in prison meetings, however, white privilege is inept as white status comes into play. Chapman is told to think of it like it’s the 1950’s as it makes it easier to comprehend the racial segregation, as she questions; “but not every Hispanic wants the same thing?”, “well of course they do”, she is told. Despite Morello, a fellow American white woman running for the role, Chapman wins the vote for leader despite not having any winning campaign. It’s in fact Healy her councilor, arguably a misogynistic man, who has gone against the democracy and elected her regardless. Both Healy and Chapman can only reap the rewards or in some cases disadvantages of white privilege if another character’s privilege is compromised. Richard Dyer continues to question this issue in ‘White’ 1997[22] as this assumption that white people are just people, is not far off saying that whites are people whereas other colours are something else, which is rife in white culture. Some of the sharpest criticism of it has been aimed at those who would think themselves the least racist or white supremacist. Bell Hooks, an American author, feminist, and social activist, for instance has noted how amazed and angry white liberals become when attention is drawn to their whiteness, when they are seen by non-white people as white. Perhaps Healy assumes himself and Piper have common ground in relation to being middle class white citizens or does he feel like he can put more trust in someone higher up the status ladder than Morello, who to him is far too common to trust with such responsibilities. Holland explains that; “it seemed that for broadcaster’s whiteness was a prerequisite for civilisation to exist whiteness and the power that goes with it, have been represented as so utterly normal that any other possibility seems like an aberration.”[23] Nevertheless, white privilege and intersectionality will not occur unless at someone else’s expense.
The first series of Orange is the New Black is undeniably a complex look at the female form in terms of femininity in women’s gender and sexuality, whilst still making a wider comment on women’s race and the part that plays in such a stereotypically masculine environment. Whilst Piper initially represents the picturesque, domestic bliss she longs to conquer, the stereotypical blonde, white, middle class woman that personifies American TV, makes sure to challenge her character against different female representations. Her white privilege, intersectionality, lesbian love affair and developing femininity is set to create a complex narrative arc through the rest of the season. Most strikingly this can only be exhibited when compared against someone else’s expense. Robert Allen Clyde questions the reality of representation, that both are limited by human kind’s capabilities, what if reality is fundamentally unknowable by human beings. Generation upon generation of representation has meant human beings are still fundamentally bound by our own limited ways of processing interpreting making meaning out of presentations of reality, reality which is humanly constructed.[24]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abramson, S. and Abramson, S. (2017). Opinion | How ‘Orange Is the New Black’ humanizes inmates. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-orange-is-the-new-black-humanizes-inmates/2013/07/26/d1559bac-f3e5-11e2-9434-60440856fadf_story.html?utm_term=.337e29b67d8e [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Rottentomatoes.com. (2017). Rotten Tomato. [online] Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/orange_is_the_new_black/s01/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Rottentomatoes.com. (2017). Rotten Tomato. [online] Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/orange_is_the_new_black/s01/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Ellis-Petersen, H. (2017). Orange Is the New Black: 'This show will change the fabric of our culture'. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jun/17/orange-is-the-new-black-this-show-will-change-the-fabric-of-our-culture [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Film4.com. (2017). Top 20 Prison Movies - Film4. [online] Available at: http://www.film4.com/special-features/top-lists/top-20-prison-movies [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Pishko, J. (2017). A History of Women's Prisons | JSTOR Daily. [online] JSTOR Daily. Available at: https://daily.jstor.org/history-of-womens-prisons/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Allen, R. and Hill, A. (2004). The television studies reader. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
GLAAD. (2017). Must-See LGBT TV 6/12-18: 'Orange is the New Black' returns, 'Out of Iraq' premieres, 'Orphan Black' season finale and more. [online] Available at: https://www.glaad.org/blog/must-see-lgbt-tv-612-18-orange-new-black-returns-out-iraq-premieres-orphan-black-season-finale [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Allen, R. and Hill, A. (2004). The television studies reader. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Allen, R. and Hill, A. (2004). The television studies reader. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Allen, R. and Hill, A. (2004). The television studies reader. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Mulvey, L. (1999). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. 1st ed. Britain: Screen, pp.17-26.
Radish, C. (2017). Creator Jenji Kohan Talks ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, Her Research Into Prison Life, and Graphic Sex Scenes. [online] Collider. Available at: http://collider.com/jenji-kohan-orange-is-the-new-black-interview/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
The Free Library. (2017). "One female prisoner is of more trouble than twenty males": women convicts in Illinois prisons, 1835-1896.. [online] Available at: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%22One+female+prisoner+is+of+more+trouble+than+twenty+males%22%3A+women...-a055084004 [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Jstor.org. (2017). Review on JSTOR. [online] Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3790670?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=L.&searchText=Mara&searchText=Dodge,&searchText=writing&searchText=for&searchText=%27The%20Journal%20of%20Social%20History%27&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3Fgroup%3Dnone%26Query%3DL.%2BMara%2BDodge%252C%2Bwriting%2Bfor%2B%25E2%2580%2598The%2BJournal%2Bof%2BSocial%2BHistory%25E2%2580%2599%26acc%3Doff%26wc%3Don%26amp%3D%26amp%3D%26amp%3D%26amp%3D%26fc%3Doff&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Mulvey, L. (1999). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. 1st ed. Britain: Screen, pp.17-26.
JSTOR. (2017). Society for the Study of Social Problems. [online] Available at: http://jthomasniu.org/class/687/Readings/wompris-wardkast1.pdf [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].
Belknap, J. (1991). Women in Conflict:. Women & Criminal Justice, 2(2), pp.89-115.
d’Orbán, P. (1992). PARTIAL JUSTICE: WOMEN, PRISONS AND SOCIAL CONTROL. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2(1), pp.58-59.
DYER, R. (2017). WHITE. 1st ed. [Place of publication not identified]: ROUTLEDGE, pp.111 - 113.
Ferguson in ‘TV, News, Current Affairs, Documentary’, would argue “most white people, and even most representations of white people, are not virginal women glowing in the light or hyper-muscular men sorting out other people's problems or even privileged marginal transfixed by the dilemma of doing. Yet the extreme, very white image is functional in relation to the ordinary, is even perhaps a condition of establishing whiteness as ordinary.”
DYER, R. (2017). WHITE. 1st ed. [Place of publication not identified]: ROUTLEDGE, pp.111 - 113.
Holland explains that; “it seemed that for broadcaster’s whiteness was a prerequisite for civilisation to exist whiteness and the power that goes with it, have been represented as so utterly normal that any other possibility seems like an aberration.”
Allen, R. and Hill, A. (2004). The television studies reader. 1st ed. London: Routledge.