Orange is the New Black

            When historians write and present their own work, they frequently grapple with the “so what?” problem. This “so what?” problem boils down to a question of what makes this research different from everything that has come before it? What about the research is new and worth paying attention to?  Unfortunately, finding something new or different is rare. I had a history professor who highlighted this problem when he said, “Most books should be articles and most articles should never be written.”

            Because I can rarely turn off the critical thinking part of my brain anymore (thank you, grad school), I have begun to apply the “so what?” question to other areas. This has mostly led to me to become much more particular about what I watch or eat (these particularities sometimes lead my mother to jokingly call me a snob).* Orange is the New Black, the newest Netflix original series, represents something new and different in the television landscape. It investigates the ecosystem of a women’s prison and explores how the people within that ecosystem—prisoners, their loved ones, guards, and administrators—exist together.

 Orange is the New Black ostensibly tells the story of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a yuppie white woman, who winds up in prison as a result of a prior lesbian relationship with heroin smuggler, Alex Vause (Laura Prepon). Piper’s story foregrounds the first season of the show and introduces the viewer to the broader world of the prison. The world of the prison includes a primarily female cast of white, black, and Latina actresses. If the creative team of OITNB had pitched the show to Netflix as a show about this group of women in Federal prison, I doubt it would have made it to air. The idea of building a television show around a group of largely poor, and non-white female felons does not adhere to what most television executives and viewers would consider a successful  or entertaining television. Yet this focus on the prisoners and the world they inhabit makes the show appointment television.

Orange is the New Black effectively uses flashbacks and brief character building scenes to transform prison caricatures into fully fledged people. The characters of Suzanne, known as “Crazy Eyes,” and Miss Claudette exemplify the strength of this approach. In Piper’s first days at the prison, she realizes that Crazy Eyes has taken a liking to her and begun to refer to her as her “prison wife.” Piper does not want to engage in a lesbian relationship with Crazy Eyes and breaks up with her. Piper’s refusal prompts Crazy Eyes to pee on the floor of Piper’s cell, incurring the wrath of her cellmate, the fastidious Miss Claudette. Over the first season, the show reveals how Miss Claudette arrived in America and worked for and then ran a cleaning service that exploited Haitian girls. This places her in a morally questionable position, rising from the exploited to the exploiter. Then the viewer discovers that Miss Claudette murdered one of the cleaning company’s clients who sexually abused one of the girls—Miss Claudette leaves the house spotless, except for the man surrounded by a pool of his own blood. Crazy Eyes receives similar character shading as we meet her well-to-do white parents during one visiting day at the prison. She performs Shakespeare in an attempt to scare a group of juvenile delinquents. She also describes to Piper that the tic that earned her the derogatory “Crazy Eyes” moniker actually serves as a signal to her parents and the guards that she has control of her mental faculties.

            The show also highlights the dark and dehumanizing aspects of the prison system. Having a group of people trapped within a confined space and having to adapt to that ecosystem reminds me of CBS’s new show Under the Dome about a small Maine town that becomes trapped under a mysterious dome. Yet where Under the Dome has the consistently relied on absurd characterizations (see: Junior, the annoying teenage psychopath) and having its characters treat being incarcerated as the third or fourth worst part of any given day, the prisoners, guards, administrators, and family members are constantly aware and reminded of their places within the prison ecosystem. Piper’s fiancé, Larry (Jason Biggs) always hears an automated message stating that he is receiving a phone call from a prisoner. Prisoners are subject to strip searches after visiting hours. Red (Kate Mulgrew), the prisoner in charge of the kitchen, tries to cobble together a Thanksgiving dinner for the inmates within the regular kitchen budget because the prisoners don’t warrant extra money for a holiday meal. One of the prison administrators tells a new female prison guard that it is best to treat the inmates as cattle and to refer to them coldly as “Inmate.”  After the death of a prisoner, Piper tries to organize a traditional remembrance service in the chapel. She pouts when no one attends, only to discover that the inmates have their own way of grieving. The inmates gather in the dead woman’s cell, drink prison made alcohol, tell stories, and mourn the loss of their friend.

            The dark side of the prison administration and Piper’s relationships play crucial roles in the (dys)function of this ecosystem. A guard nicknamed “Pornstache” smuggles drugs into the prison and takes sexual advantage of the inmates. Yet his experience as a prison guard and the way that women treat him governs his relationships with all women. Out at a bar, Pornstache reveals how women at the bar treat him much the way the prisoners do, as someone who can get them something without caring at all about him. Healy, Piper’s case officer, begins as a sympathetic character, trying to help Piper. Healy’s failures in his own mail-order marriage and his hatred of lesbians lead him to try and win Piper’s affection. When that fails, he attempts to resolve his personal frustrations by stamping out lesbian activity in the prison.  Larry, Piper’s fiancé, takes advantage of Piper’s imprisonment to jumpstart his fledgling writing career. In relying Piper’s original impressions of inmates like Miss Claudette and Crazy Eyes to an NPR audience, Larry endangers her standing in the prison. 

            Orange is the New Black has a few problematic plotlines and characters. The storyline of a young guard who fell in love and impregnated a young Latina inmate serves as an important impetus to the plot, but the storyline itself pales when compared to the other more compelling characters in the prison. Piper’s antagonist in the prison, a former meth addict nicknamed “Pennsatucky” is a one dimensional villain. Pennsatucky, a self proclaimed religious prophet, hates Piper immediately because of her privileged background. This hatred, driven by Pennsatucky’s religious beliefs, lead to a confrontation in the finale between her and Piper. The show attempts to give Pennsatucky some shading by demonstrating how she murdered a nurse at an abortion clinic who had insulted her and how she allowed herself to become a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion movement. This character development, while it provides some background for Pennsatucky, does not provide the same depth that the show gave to so many other characters and relies on stock characterizations of evangelicals and the anti-abortion movement.

            Go watch Orange is the New Black.  Go now.

*Hi Mom!