Film Analysis: Orange Is The New Black

Fruitvale Station depicts the real-life case of Oscar Grant III, a young unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer on January 1, 2009 in Oakland. The movie begins with cell phone footage of Oscar Grant’s death recorded by bystanders. Grant’s life was tragically cut short due to a white man’s racism and stereotypical perception of a young black man. The BART police officer Johannes Mehserle abused his authority and shot Grant for no other reason but hatred and racism. At the time of the shooting, Grant was unarmed and pinned on the ground in handcuffs. The movie then walks you through the last twenty-four hours of Grant’s life. As you watch the movie and research the aftermath of Grant’s death you a forced to ask yourself a few questions; why does the media have the right to take away Oscar Grant’s humanity? Where do we draw the line between racism and holding others responsible and will the public’s perception of black men and women ever change? Lastly, we must focus on how this case and others impacts African American society and culture. We also must focus on the necessary changes African Americans must make in order to survive in a world that does not value black lives.

Food and Drug Association agents on one side, desperately sick people on the other. Anyone would normally think these two groups would be on the same page but this was the scene for many buyers’ clubs around the nation in the late 80’s and early 90’s as the HIV/AIDS crisis took ahold of America and what inspired the movie Dallas Buyers Club. The movie is based on the story of AIDS patient Ron Woodroof, who was described as “handsome, in a Texas dumb hick white trash kinda way” by his transgender sidekick, Rayon, and his pursuit to live despite the fact that the only drug approved by the FDA to fight AIDS is actually killing patients. The growth of buyers’ clubs proves that in a time where AIDS victims

How would you react if you found your wife in the shower with another man? Any sane person would furious, but would you lose control and beat the other man senseless? Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of bipolar disorder in The Silver Linings Playbook how untreated the disorder can take control of a person’s life giving them manic episodes and major depressive episodes. This film aims to accurately display the struggles any person with bipolar disorder will deal with in their daily life while trying to manage the extensive mood swings they experience. The intended purpose of this paper is to analyze not only in what ways the director and cast accurately display the everyday life of an individual with bipolar disorder, but also the quality of the film. Throughout the movie themes of divorce, medications, the need for social support when dealing with mental disorders and a person’s unwillingness to accept help, will all be brought up in order to help an individual manage their disorder.

Many factors can contribute to this problem the police force is having with police officers abuse of power, one of them being the psychological health of police officers where they aren’t fit to serve and protect the people they sworn to protect. After the shooting of an unarmed woman at Capitol Hill, The National Allegiance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) started what is to be the most Comprehensive Police Officer mental health program in the country, this 40 hours crisis intervention program is available in 45 states as well as the district of Columbia, excluded are the state of Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas and Rhode Island. Needless to say a few departments are working hard to improve the quality and integrity of their officers to eliminate the raising percentage of officers committing abuse to those who they sworn to protect.

The movie Mean Girls is set in a high school setting. The movie starts with a new girl coming to the school as a first time public school student. Cady, the new student, is immediately accepted into a group of friends, but later invited to another. The first clique she joins pushes her to become friends with the second group. This subsequently led to a typical high school drama scene. The ways these high school students go about their normal life seem very alike to the “typical” high school. Even though the movie Mean Girls by Mark Waters, uses humor to portray some questionable realism, it effectively depicts characteristics of ordinary high school life and uses realistic characters.

A June 2016 report by Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer, who worked as a prison guard for four months to research his article, says that one fifth of prison inmates have been physically assaulted by another prisoner or a guard. Between 3% and 9% of male inmates say they have been sexually assaulted behind bars suggesting that up to 180,000 current inmates may have been sexually assaulted of which only 8,800 cases have been officially reported. Women, who form 7% of the total prison population, have higher figures for sexual victimization. Some 22% of all cases of inmate-on-inmate and 33% of staff-on-inmate sexual assaults are on women (Bauer, 2016).

Prison Rape is no secret in today’s society. The American media has portrayed prison rape as a joke (Don’t drop the soap) in countless films, television shows, and in music, but have not realized the extent of how dangerous this crime is. Some cops even use this method as a means to get a confession from a suspect. A major obstacle in solving Prison rape is the notorious under-reporting of the crime. Only 16 percent of prison rape victims report their victimization. Reasons for under reporting are fear of consequences, shame, guilt, embarrassment, and refuse to relive painful details. This paper explores prison rape and its psychological and physical harm to not only inmates, but to society as well. It also discusses recent efforts to

New Year’s Day, 2009, a man is brutally shot by the BART Police of Oakland, California. Fruitvale Station, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, took audiences by surprise as it resonated with twenty-two year old Oscar Grant, a man who was shot down by the BART Police. This movie takes viewers on an emotional expedition as it takes a peek into the life and death of Oscar Grant and his family. The struggles of originating from an African-American background become apparent as Oscar Grant struggles with steering away from racial stereotypes and the misunderstandings of racial profiling.

Fruitvale station, is a story about the real life Oscar Grant, a black man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland. This film follows Grant and his last days before the shooting on New Year’s Day. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale station was his first feature film. Coogler expressed that he was interested in making this film because he wanted people to get to know Grant, get attached, so that when a situation like this occurs again, people will care more about that human life (Wikipedia). In addition, the cast includes Michael B. Jordan (Grant), Octavia Spencer (Wanda Johnson), and Melonie Diaz (Sophina Mesa), amongst a few others. However, there is an underlying concept in this film. This film relates back to Double Consciousness and the internal conflict and struggles within African American men.

When watching The Hateful Eight it’s clear that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing. There are quite a few subtle nods to the classic horror film as well as some not so subtle similarities. One could watch one right after the other and immediately see the similarities between the two films. While most people would not consider The Hateful Eight a horror film it takes the greatest horror aspects of The Thing and uses them to its advantage. Quentin Tarantino took quite a few ideas from John Carpenter’s The Thing and modified them so they fit seamlessly in to his western film, including actors, characters, and even some music that was originally written for Carpenter’s film but was never used.

Orange is The New Black provides insight as to how a prison sentence can affect the relationships had before entering the prison culture as well as the effect that can be had on your significant others. The following essay will discuss the process that women may experience when entering and adjusting to the prison life,

The Famous known Netflix Series “Orange is the new Black” is a woman based show that encourages woman brilliance and exemplifies the struggle of How woman are perceived in different aspects of society while it views the daily struggles of men on a day to day basis and has them create a status of their own; although their status differ so greatly they are still dependent on each other.

Selma is based on a true story that happened in 1965 in Selma, Alabama. Selma was the city that ended suffrage for African Americans because of Rev Martin Luther king and the help from his Christian family. The movie has some intense violence and a lot of foul language, but overall is mainly about Christian and moral content. Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 desegregated in certain areas. It made it more difficult for black to register to vote. In 1964 Rev Martin Luther king receives a Noble Pace Prize. The Civil Rights Act was outlaw segregation in all 50 states, but African Americans where still having trouble at that time. Martin decides voting should be there next fight. So, they march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

“Orange is the New Black” is Netflix’s hit new original series. Currently in its second season, OINTB has received critical acclaim (Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes) for its unusual subject matter as well as its varied and multi-dimensional portrayal of race, gender, class, queer and trans issues. However, while it excels specifically with issues of gender and sexuality, the show falters a bit more on issues of race and class.

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.