By Elaina Funk
In 2010, Piper Kerman, an ex-felon who spent a little over a year of her life behind bars for felony-level money-laundering charges, published a memoir about her time in a minimum security prison titled Orange is the New Black. While the memoir got attention on its own, it wasn't until Kerman's work got transformed into a TV/Netflix show when it really took off to a worldwide recognition level of fame. The memoir and show highlights flaws and challenges any misconceptions about prison life for women with its relatable characters and witty humor with a touch of self deprecating reality of prison life. Behind all the jokes and ‘silly-ness’ these beloved characters appear in this now cult-classic Netflix original, is there something that lies deeper in the graphics being shown on our computer screens that alludes to a deeper meaning and understanding of society behind bars? In this essay, I intend to cover how the Netflix Original Series: Orange is the New Black deals with incarcerated women’s experience behind bars regarding race and ethnicity, and how its nature of a total institution humanizes and dehumanizes its main characters, unique challenges by certain race groups and its use of race as a method of getting the stories of POC women to the everyday viewer. The goal of this paper is to inform the audience about Orange is the New Black’s methods in getting the stories of women of color out into the world.
Orange is the New Black recognizes race very clearly. There is never a second thought in the minds of the viewer that not only does the show recognize race, but also the characters in the show as well seeming that it is a building block for social standards and expectations within Litchfield Penitentiary. We see off the bat in the first few episodes of the first season that the entire prison is seperated by race as well, and named according to what each ethnicity or race belongs there. There is cell block A: The Suburbs, where Caucasian and Asian-pacific islander inmates reside. There is cell block B: The Ghetto, where black inmates reside. Lastly there is cell block C: The Spanish Harlem, where (you guessed it!) Hispanic and Latina inmates are stationed. The way these arrangements are laid out by presumably the correctional officers or by request of the inmates is interesting in the sense that it recognises and almost celebrates the diversity as well as the segregations preferred by the inmates. The third episode of season one titled ‘Lesbian Request Denied,’ our main character (who is also the character that is portraying the author of the memoir) Piper Chapman, is placed into cell block B, The Ghetto. This is an important moment in the series, because the show throughout most of the seasons alludes to staying in your racial group as a comfort or a family inside of prison. It is obvious that the first night Piper is in her cell block there is a sense of discomfort for her (it could also be Suzanne Warren peeing outside her bed, too), being not in the Suburbs but a foreign territory for this character.
The race of our main character Piper is also incredibly important, to mention as well, especially in the context of those very first few episodes of her being in Cell Block B. In
Does the show humanize or dehumanize its main and supporting characters? In Jane Caputi’s essay, ‘The Color Orange?’ She mentions that our main protagonist, Piper Chapman, acts like a Trojan Horse of exposure to Women of Color’s stories. Being that Piper is an attractive, upper class and college educated white woman, this makes the show more relatable to audiences of that ‘type.’ This idea appeals to a hegemonic viewership which will make those who aren't typically in those situations, more comfortable with the idea of watching this protagonist. With this attraction and relatability to the main character, this opens up a whole world of possibilities to display the struggles of women of all colors, ages, education levels and economic classes, just by having that single character (Caputi, 1132). This argument captivated me because it challenges the hegemony of television right now with characters that could very well relate to just about anyone, bringing up a whole new argument about racial representation becoming mainstream.
With all of this in mind, that third episode of season one is powerful because it is our first taste of the Trojan horse in action. The audience sees a whole array of African American actors on display, and this is very apparent as well when we get glimpses of Hispanic/Latina, Asian, Caucasian, older, younger, actors too! Our Trojan horse is in full display for the most part the entire first season. The more and more the series progresses though, as we build connections with characters that we wouldn't have even been exposed to in television had it not been for that white protagonist that led the first season, the less we rely on the Trojan horse named Piper for that comfort or relatability that was needed early on. Once the seasons go on, the audience becomes more and more distant with Piper as women of color Tastee, Poussey Washington, and Daya become fan favorites and unarguably lead the storyline in a far more deeper and critical societal standards way that Piper ever did. With this character fading out, it became less about the individual story of one woman in prison, and became the story of far more women as a collective in prison.
Having a protagonist that fits the American Hegemony quite well, though, does have its downsides (obviously). The fact that so many of the viewers as well as the producers relied on this protagonist to even be interested in the lives of women of color is inherently problematic. Does this say something negative about the show and the way the producers decided to take this story to carry out the portrayal of women of color, or as society itself being interested in primarily the lives of white women being put into uncomfortable situations? I argue yes to both of those. It is blatant that one cannot exist without the other. The producers rely on that expectation that the audience has with how a show and its protagonist should be seen or looked. The two ideas feed off of eachother in the creation of the show. The unknowing preferential race of the audience allows the producers to use this character though to create a segway into something larger than Piper Chapman. Using Piper highlights and allows the producers to show that audience the struggles of women of color in the prison system. Piper herself even recognizes her white privilege that she has with the correctional officers which in turn reflects the systematic oppression faced by women of color each day. So this goes to show even though having this problematic method of delivering a message of the everyday struggles of women of color while in prison in a sugar coated white pill, whatever it takes to get the American audience interested in the first place is a good thing.
Litchfield Penitentiary resembles a total institution through many different ways, especially through its assumptions that are made in segregating the different racial groups that enter the prison. A total institution is a place that enforces strict routines in an enclosed area where many different people are expected to come and follow the rules to the T. Other examples of total institutions include (but are not limited to) universities, public schools, (some) work places, camps, and (you guessed it!) prisons. In the context today, I will be discussing total institutions in a prison sense. While the entire prison all follows a routine of when to wake up, when to go outside, when to eat, when to sleep and when to do it all over again, it can be seen that applying the idea of race to this total institution, we see patterns that are exclusive to race. This includes certain privileges of commodities and certain jobs that are available. The first example we see is through the use of free time with the television. There is often a set of unanimously agreed upon rules regarding the TV room and who gets access to it at any given point. It is seen throughout some of the episodes that it is also a method of trade between different racial groups, thus not only adding onto the total institution that these women are forced to act on, but also the totally controlled institution of rules they out upon themselves when regulating who gets what in an internalized self policing system within the justice system itself.
Another representation of total institution regarding race is the jobs they are given, and specifically the kitchen job. In season one, it is clear that the one who runs the kitchen is Red and her ‘family.’ This job tends to stay within the racial group of whoever is in charge of making the menu and conducting what is to be done with the rest of the staff. This job is a part of Red’s identity that she has made so prominent in her life that once that job is taken away from her and the entire staff is replaced by women in the ‘Spanish Harlem,’ this throws off her idea of the institution that has run her life for so long. She feels disoriented without the routine that she has followed for many years and this goes to show how controlling life can be within the prison walls that once that routine is broken, so are the minds of those being forced to follow them.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning the act of female bonding within the show when it comes to race and ethnicity. As mentioned previously at the beginning of this essay, race for these women tend to be a sense of comfort and familiarity that one they are put into a situation that is outside their racial identity, as seen with the main protagonist Piper when she is put into cell block B. Even a glimmer of surprise is expressed in episode three of season one by Anita when the CO announces the news to Piper because this idea of a white inmate being in an all black cell block seems out of the ordinary. The fact that there is this sense of being uncomfortable and uneasy being apart from her own racial group does not stop Piper from bonding with her bunk mate, Miss Claudette. Despite the fact that they are not both the same race, the fact that both seem to be outcasts, Miss Claudette being older and having to deal with younger inmates, and Piper being white and rejected by some of the inmates for being a different skin color, have their initial separation but in the end form an unexpected bond with each other before Miss Claudettes was transferred to maximum security. Miss Claudette is a fascinating character in the sense that she initially seems to be Piper's first real friend that, in my opinion, actually forms a bond and cares for her (excluding Alex, who already had a bond). Though their time together is short, Miss Claudette will always be Pipers first bunkmate and real friend in her time in prison.
Orange Is the New Black will forever be an interesting portrayal of women in a highly vulnerable state of being locked up. This show dives deep into topics that are hard to talk about including sexual assault, death, drug overdoses, and fear of institution, amongst the plethora of novels one could write about race and ethnicity. With the use of Piper Chapman as a Trojan Horse character that encourages mainstream audiences to watch the show, as well as how the use of total institution and bonding between women further maintains this view of race and ethnicity in Litchfield Penitentiary, it is clear that the intentions of this show is to put forth a new perspective and attitude on women and prisons. In conclusion, as problematic as one might argue this show to be, it does a hell of a job conveying the underlying intentions intended by the producers.