“Orange Is the New Black” (OITNB) marked the beginning of Netflix’s success with original streaming series. As opposed to shows like Netflix’s “House of Cards,” which was adapted from a British series, OITNB holds ambitious storylines, unafraid of telling underrepresented stories. The seven seasons hold strong reasons as to why this show was received by audiences so well and had continuous success. From gay storylines to female characters with various body types, what was not to like? The diversity of the storylines and characters is what keeps new viewers coming back, holding high expectations with each season and plot line.
I watched this show during the peak of its excitement and release. The season five trailer blew away all expectations I had, and then some. Mirroring real-world problems in U.S. prisons, I found myself with glossy eyes at almost every episode I watched. The harsh truths to these stories, the harassment that these women endorse along with the privilege that comes from being a guard’s favorite inmate, or just a white woman.
Protagonist Piper Chapman is a white, upper-middle-class, educated Brooklynite whose past catches up with her when she becomes a convicted felon. Ten years after committing this crime, she has a fiancé and a life, but all that gets put on hold. Her purple hoodie and weekly trips to Whole Foods have been traded in for an orange jumpsuit and a platter of prison slop. Now Piper is serving 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary (also known as “the Litch”), all because in that post-college fog, she helped her international drug-smuggling girlfriend traffic money.
Piper Chapman has two lives, one before prison and one during. Actress Taylor Schilling does a terrific job of portraying this change in Piper’s character. Piper is not always the most-liked character and she knows that, always stirring something up even if she doesn’t realize it.
Also, have I mentioned yet that this is a true story?
Schilling does an amazing job of tapping into this real-life role, backed up by her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. In one of the first episodes of season one, we meet Piper’s mom who still hasn’t quite grasped that her daughter is a lesbian, rather than a criminal. During an excruciating visit with her daughter, Piper’s mother tells her, “Sweetheart, you’re nothing like any of these women,” which couldn’t be farther from the truth. She has committed a crime and is now serving time, just like every other woman in the prison.
At first, the show seems to center around privileged and pestery Piper. Yet once we walk through those prison doors with her, the world of Black, Brown and lower-income women is thrown into the faces of the audience. Through the eyes of Piper, we find a series of characters who could be considered the lead. No character is more important than the other because they are all on the same level, which is imprisoned.
Though the show has its fair share of male guards and therapists, this show is unapologetically women-centric.
Open to all gender and sexual identities, we meet inmates that are transgender, straight, or “gay for the stay.” In one of the first season’s episodes, Piper finds out her grandmother is sick, and she finds herself applying for furlough. Unsurprising to everyone but Piper, she gets furlough. The reasonings everyone believes is due to her being white, attractive, and wealthy. Alongside the fact that her counselor Mr. Healy finds his old self crushing on Chapman.
This incident alone shows the power dynamic within this prison.
One of the characters that I found to draw me in the most was Suzanne Warren, also known as “Crazy Eyes,” and played by Uzo Aduba. Suzanne draws viewers in as soon as she is introduced in the first episode. Suzanne wants Piper to be her “prison wife,” to have someone to take after and care for, but Piper shuts this proposal down almost immediately.
These characters go through so much turmoil together and apart which is such a good aspect of this show. Suzanne’s story opens up the conversation of mental health awareness within the prison systems. Suzanne was adopted as a child and suffers from mental illness which is never outright said. Inmates and guards use Suzanne’s illnesses as a joke and constantly push her to do things that will make her have one of her outbursts. Everyone knows who she is by her nickname, not her birth name.
There are intertwined storylines that reveal more about each character and their background as the show progresses. “Orange Is the New Black” is more than diverse; it represents the complexities of real women and their stories. The prison cliques form along racial lines, but even within those cliques, there are subdivisions based on age, crime, or background. The episodes vary from flashbacks to interweaving the present-day narratives.
Throughout the series, Piper unsurprisingly finds herself back into the swing of things with ex-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) while also playing with the feelings of her fiance. A typical occurrence for Piper is putting her own feelings first. Piper is aware of her bad habits as well, but would rather frame herself as the victim in most scenarios.
Piper is the type of character who realizes she has made mistakes but continues to victimize herself. She says she doesn’t know any better only to just turn around and do something else foul later. Unlike most of her fellow inmates, though, Piper’s fate was not overdetermined by her race or class.
Piper will be protected by her family, her money, and the color of her skin when she gets out.
Conversely, the character Taystee (Danielle Brooks) leaves “The Litch,” only to realize, “[e]veryone I know is poor, in jail, or gone. Don’t nobody ask ’bout how my day went?”
This is what the show does best: As the narrative tends to each character, it debunks Piper’s prejudices and feelings of superiority and unpacks her privilege. It reminds the audience that each woman is a full person, not an oddity.
Piper eventually comes to this realization: “I am in here because I am no different from anybody else in here. I made bad choices, I committed a crime, and being in here is no one’s fault but my own.”
