I've finally given in to peer pressure and started watching *Orange Is The New Black.* My *Lost* project may or may not be on hold a week due to this. Anyway.
The show began annoying me pretty early on but I wasn't quite able to finger _why_ right away. Somewhere around the third or fourth episode, I figured it out: the show had been manipulating the viewers' emotions by painting all of the prisoners with sympathetic back stories, showing and describing poor unfortunate victims of circumstance. We're watching murderers, thieves, violent criminals and white collar criminals, drug dealers. . .and are being put in the position of sympathizing for them in a vacuum where their crimes aren't a part of who they are.
I was going to write a long screed about how much I dislike this (much longer than you're reading now), about how much I've grown weary with shows that are compellingly well-written features about universally despicable people (and not that the characters here are _all_ despicable, but not one of them are angels and so far it's only been painting law enforcement personnel as despicable). And then I came to episode seven or eight, where Taylor Schilling's character Piper's mother comes for a visit and Piper has to remind her mother that everyone there is a criminal, that everyone there made a decision to commit the crime they committed and their presence in jail was deserved. Now, this wasn't a speech that threw this entire sympathy problem into check, but I give the showrunners some credit for at least addressing the issue that, yes, these are people who did bad things. These are people who belong where they currently are and what we should root for is them doing well in their prison sentences and rehabilitating back into being good members of society.
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If this post was about any other show referenced in your title, I would agree. For Orange though, I think you are getting exactly one half of the point of the show. There are no anti-heroes in this show. There are no heroes in this show. Cheering for any of them isn't the point. In fact, I would say this show is aimed squarely at you but hasn't quite penetrated yet.
I have to disagree. I get that the show is trying to show how there are no heroes or anti-heroes (or villains?), only people and that everyone is both saint and sinner. If there is some other esoteric point, you're right in that it hasn't penetrated to me and likely won't.
My problem with that thesis though is similar to the problem I had with Jenji Kohan's other grey morality, good people do bad things for good and bad reasons because in the end they're just people show: *Weeds.* The production is too heavy-handed in showing us either farce or pathos that any other important message is too heavily diluted.
Weird. I thought I'd get some sort of notice if you replied.
Anyway, I don't think that chalking it up to "good people do bad things" is quite getting it either. I really think that the point of Orange is to change how people think about those in prison while being a smart entertaining show.
I think that some Americans thoughts about those in prison goes something like "Someone commits a crime and gets caught. The criminal goes to prison. The criminal should do their time. The criminal should repent for their crimes. The criminal should rejoin society when they're done and lead a good life." I think that Jenji Kohan would like to replace "criminal" in those sentences with "person".
Perhaps it is heavy handed but I think you're bringing too much to it to see it for what it is. And lest you think I'm being a fanboy, I gave upon Weeds in the middle of the second season.
"goodpeople do bad things" is pulling the quote out of context. I get the "criminals are people" thesis and thought I made that clear in my reply.
I do think it is smart and entertaining. And I do think it's trying hard to remind us that people are people no matter where they live or why they live there.
I'm not sure what you think I'm bringing to the show. I just think it's too heavy-handed with its message and sometimes too farcical to take seriously (legendary chickens that make everyone lose their composure? I haven't gotten to that point in the book, but I also hope that point isn't in the book. Actually, there's a lot in the book I'm glad isn't in the show).
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