Character Analysis: Orange Is The New Black

Jersey Shore was a television show that aired in 2009 it was a reality-based look at the vapid lives of several Italians in their twenties and their respective friends and hookups. Throughout the series, there were numberless acts of the violent outburst, alcoholic behaviors, and sexual content all on camera. In a journal written by J. Johnson, he states that “evidence suggests that television’s influence on children and adolescents is related to how much time they spend watching television” (Johnson) and when a child is constantly watching these inappropriate shows they tend to pick up the behavior. First to take a look at the explicit language and violent outburst which can be categorized together as aggression. The show often displays aggressive

     In the short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner there is a very interesting character. Her Name is Emily Grierson and she is a rich southern gentile. All her life it seems that she was raised at a standard that was above the rest. By living such a secluded and controlled life it set her up for the happenings in her future.

It is often said that the people one surrounds themselves with can reflect things about themselves, such as their beliefs and ideals. One’s friends and acquaintances can reveal subconscious attractions to people that fulfill their ideals or agree with the things they say, but these relationships can also help one discover their personal philosophies by reinforcing opposing views. Indeed, in J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the way Holden reacts to and interacts with secondary characters reveal his established philosophies and the values he holds most dear to him.

In the reading, Jones explores the relationship between class, race, and gender. She states that African Americans, in general, are oppressed, however, black women

Orange is the new black is a Netflix original series about the functional ability of a woman's prison in upstate New York. Integrity, power, and privilege all work together to create many of the situations that arise. Litchfield prison is made up of white male officers, and different racial groups that are clearly divided. For each race, loosely made up of: blacks, latinos, whites, “others”, and a group of older women known as “the golden girls”, there is a sector of living. Blacks in one block, with a bathroom only for them, whites in another, etc. Conflict theory and symbolic interactionism are both excellent theories to examine this series by. Conflict theory, a multi-part theory about both race and gender, is applicable to Orange Is The New Black because of the degrading treatment of the women and the denial of their basic feminine needs. Symbolic interactionism can be applied to most situations that occur in the show. Through these theories social interactions in Orange Is The New Black can be looked at and better understood.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2001 film produced by Joel and Ethan Coen set in 1930’s Mississippi. The film is loosely based on The Odyssey by Homer. George Clooney stars as Ulysses Everett McGill, John Turturro as Pete Hogwallop, and Tim Blake Nelson as Delmar O'Donnell. Everett convinces Pete and Delmar to run away from prison to search for treasure. Pete and Delmar have big plans as to what they plan to do with the treasure; Pete wants to open a restaurant, and Delmar wants to buy back his family’s farm. The men have several adventures along the way and meet interesting characters. The first person they come to is a nameless man on a railroad hand cart warning the men to not seek treasure. They continue on and meet Tommy who is a black

Piper Kerman, a freelance producer living in New York City with her boyfriend, was incarcerated in 2004 for money laundering and drug trafficking. She tells this story in her memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. Kerman tells her audience about her escapades in her twenties, and her normal life afterwards. But one day she is greeted with two police officers at her door, and things go downhill from there. Kerman is later arrested after a very lengthy court case and taken to federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Kerman makes light of her year spent in prison, writing about the different people she met and the experiences she had. Overall, Kerman’s memoir is an easy and fun read

“Orange Is the New Black” is a modern memoir that leads you through Piper Kerman’s experiences in Danbury, a women’s correctional facility, and shows you the life within the cold walls. Her words magnify the greatness within everybody, even the ones who have been thought to not even contain a heart, not even a soul within their body. The people who have been encaged, locked up behind bars. “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander is an extraordinarily-written modern book, completely opposite of Piper Kerman’s memoir. It shows the challenges that most of the colored and Latino men face once they are framed as a criminal, as well as the stereotypical treatment they receive as human beings. While Piper Kerman’s book shows the happiness and good in all the different types of people, gay, black, white, straight, transgender, Latino, Buddhist, Catholic, or a stone cold killer, Michelle Alexander points out the fact that African Americans are being treated the way they used to, being looked at no differently than slaves.

The speech I attended was a panel of women who had all previously been to prison. This panel was particularly interesting because these women were the inspiration for the television series Orange is the New Black. The Netflix original series is based on Piper Kerman’s book of the same name. The book was based on her experience in the women’s prison Danbury, which is located in Connecticut. Piper wrote about her personal story and the stories of many of the women she interacted with. Several of these very women came to Suffolk University to give a talk on their own personal experience in the prison system and their thoughts on the television series.

Orange is the New Black, a comedy drama TV show that first aired on Netflix is 2013, follows Piper Chapman on her journey through an all women’s minimum security prison. The show is critically acclaimed due to the wide expanse of topics it covers. Not only is it taking on the topic of female prisoners in the United States prison systems and its accomplishments and flaws, it focuses on the female inmates and their backgrounds. The show touches various subjects such as sexual orientation, gender, race, and religion. There are inmates of all races and ethnicities and various different religions are portrayed, such as Catholicism, Buddhism, and Wicken. There are heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual inmates. There is one inmate that

Orange is the new black is a show that basis women's views from a prison who are not terrible people however they ended up doing something if not for themselves but for someone else that gets them in trouble with the law. Necessarily wasn't the best idea or the right thing to do. The women are viewed as being strong or weak emotionally independent, dependent.

The show is based on Piper Kerman’s memoir of the same name, and documents the experiences of a privileged Connecticut WASP named Piper Chapman who spends 15 months in a woman’s prison because she transported money for the head of a drug cartel, who happened to be her lesbian lover. Some of the show’s primary themes involve this clash of worlds, between the upper class white background of Piper, and the lower class, mainly nonwhite world of the prison.

The War on Drugs has led to an increase in the mass incarceration of people of color and minorities, which is a problem in the United States. In the past thirty years, the number of females jailed across the country, many of whom are poor with mental health and drug problems. The increase in the incarceration of females has had a devastating impact on their children, families and communities. This paper will describe the authors of Upper Bunkies Unit and Orange Is the New Black who wrote their respective books about the same prison, the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, a low-security female prison. Both books contain many themes, such as broken families, limited services available and substance abuse treatment. This paper will also explore many factors influencing the success or failure of incarcerated females in reintegrating after their release from prison. Literature will be used to provide insight into the lives of females behind bars by focusing on their well-being and resources available. In addition, the current trend in treatment, such as substance abuse and mental health treatments will be discussed. Lastly, collateral consequences will be explored.

Orange is the New Black by Jenji Kohan has been streaming on Netflix since July 2013 by the production company Lionsgate Television. The television show is about the main character Piper Chapman who just got in jail. She is serving time at Litchfield Penitentiary, a federal prison for women in upstate New York, for drug smuggling with her ex-girlfriend (Alex) a couple of years ago. When Chapman goes to prison she is reunited with Alex, even though their relationship goes through ups and downs as the time goes by. The main focus of the television show is to present a public discourse about the criminal justice system, particularly incarceration in the United States. Through the social cognitive theory and the agenda setting theory one is able to see how Orange is the New Black draws attention to different issues within our incarceration system, specially imprisonment of women. From the social cognitive theory aspect,the filmmaker has communicated an acceptance towards distinctive identities by having a variety of characters in the show. Apart from this, agenda setting theory comes into play when particular issues within imprisonment are presented, like solitary confinement was throughout many episodes. These can be further examined and analyzed looking at all the elements Jenji Kohan implements in her scripts to open up a public discussions about social issues.

In the story as cited previously, social class was significant in demonstrating dehumanization of blacks but also demonstrating differences in the rich and the poor. Miss Emily is judged for a having romance with a low class, poor citizen of that society, Homer baron. The following sentence affiliates towns’ people response towards Emily’s one and only intimate relationship with Homer. “Poor Emily”, the whispering began. “Do you suppose it’s really so?”, they said to one another, (Faulkner, p.23). The townspeople felt pity upon her relationship with Homer, as in the eyes of the townspeople a barrier of status was set up, only the deserving or the affluent ones were allowed. Homer was a labor whereas; Miss Emily belonged to a respected rich family. Distinguishing their class differences, Homer was way beyond Miss Emily’s league, an image set in the eyes of the townspeople.