It is increasingly common to talk about feminism in the media and include social groups that until recently were marginalized, Orange is the New Black is one of those series that, despite the flaws, are very close to this change that we are witnessing.
It deconstructs very well the myth of prisons, the idea that we make prisoners or, in this case, prisoners. It seems that sometimes we forget that in prison there are not only murderers and murderers, but also people who, for life, committed a misdemeanor and ended up in prison. Of course, not everything is perfect and we must not forget that we are facing a fictional series, but it brings us a little closer to a world that seemed forgotten.
- It shows the process of adaptation to the prison.
- The different groups that form there.
- The survival of women.
- The authority of the guards.
- Etc.
- The series debuted in 2013 on Netflix and is based on Piper Kerman’s book of the same name.
- Based on his own one-year experience in a women’s prison.
Out of curiosity and to close this introduction, I would add that the images we appreciated at the opening of the series belong to real prisoners.
The series begins by introducing Piper Chapman, a completely normal girl with a college education, a good social position, a boyfriend she plans to marry, who started a business with her best friend?
Piper’s life seems to be smiling, but one day he gets a notification of a crime committed 10 years ago, the crime in question is to have taken money from drug trafficking when he was still very young and had a lesbian relationship with drug dealer Alex Vause, with whom he will be in prison.
Piper will have to face the hard life in prison, put aside his comforts and find his place. At first it will be very difficult and you feel that you have nothing in common with the rest of the inmates, but over time you will see how some are not so different from it. To find your place, you must join your group, White. Among the prisoners were established tribes and hierarchies:
The scenes in the dining room are among the clearest about it and almost resemble the refectory of the school where everyone has to choose their place. Distinctions between groups are reflected in all areas, but especially in speech; we see that black women do not speak as white women, Latin American women speak Spanish or English and intercalent Spanish, etc. It is very interesting to see the series in its original version, because with dubbing some of the essence of some characters is lost.
Orange is the New Black shows racism and segregation in women’s prisons.
The series explores a plethora of realities of today’s women, it also addresses issues such as abuse of power and sexism on the part of some members of the prison team. We have very diverse characters in all areas.
We see prison officials wasting money and cutting budgets to their advantage, guards involved in drug trafficking and abusing their power over prisoners, we see sexual abuse, workers who have lost their faith and their vocation to help and understand detainees, and also some who manifest themselves humanity and vocation.
One of the most interesting things about the series is that each chapter, in addition to the main theme, tells the story of one of the inmates; even the most supportive and unnoticed character has his niche in Orange is the New Black.
In this way, the series explores in depth the past of these characters and shows us why they came to prison and, on many occasions, does so by showing us nearby characters, who have suffered, who may have been unlucky or make bad decisions. at a particular moment in your life.
The series debuts the idea that all the bad guys go to jail. Obviously, there are characters who have no remorse, who have actually hurt or murdered, but there are a large majority of real people we could identify with and sympathize with perfectly.
saves socially marginalized groups. We have a character like Suzanne, known as “Crazy Eyes. “(? Crazy Eyes?), who has some social problems, symptoms of self-harm, behaves like a girl and has bordering personality traits. But she also has her space, and her episode to show us what her life was like: we see that she was adopted when she was little and that she had to face countless obstacles.
Homosexuality will also be a key problem. Until recently, lesbians were minority or secondary in the media and rarely as relevant; in this, most inmates are lesbians and some, who are not, have already had a lesbian relationship or died as a result of their imprisonment.
We also have Sophia, a transgender inmate played by African-American actress and activist Laverne Cox. This character also has a past: before taking the step and assuming his true personality, he was married and father of a son. the actor who played Sophia before her transition was the actress’ twin brother.
She explores substance abuse problems and does so in a very difficult way through the character of Tricia, a young woman who lived on the street and flew to survive, was addicted to substances and ended up in jail.
Older inmates also have their group, including a nun, Asian characters are minority, but they are also present, they all fit in and are important in Orange is the New Black
It is a series that projects another vision of women’s prisons, is a series whose cast is predominantly feminine, many writers are women (even Jodie Foster even directed an episode) and shows the multiplicity of stories of these inmates.
Language barriers, racism, homophobia, machismo, violence, everything appears at the crossroads that we witness throughout the chapters, we no longer see them as distant people, who have little or nothing to do with us, but as normal people like us. All this in an increasingly heterogeneous and open society, where, as citizens, we have a responsibility to continue to fight for equality.
“I dare think that the anonymous man, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman. “- Virginia Woolf-