I have a lot of feelings about OitNB. It’s show that I adore but that often makes me uncomfortable (in a good, question your own reality, kind of way). What I like so much about OitNB is that it is, essentially, telling stories of people who are disenfranchised, who’s own stories are often simplified and uncomplicated so that “the majority” will find them easier to understand. This includes women, as a broad category, and then gets down to the details of color, race, immigrant status, sexual orientation, and economic standing. The reason why OitNB often makes me uncomfortable (again, in a good way) is that it forces me to reckon with my own status in society and this is where it’s helpful to talk about Piper. I think, by and large, most of the fandom of OitNB will tell you that while Piper is the main character, she’s by no means the favorite–in fact a lot of people consider Piper the worst character, though I think this is done deliberately. Piper for all intents in purposes is a middle class (upper middle class, even) white, (mostly) heterosexual woman with a good family, a good economic status, and a good education. She has no inroads with her fellow inmates because most of them are neither middle class, nor white nor heterosexual, do not have strong family ties, little economic standing outside of what they made by working hard, both legally and illegally, and do not have the sort of education Piper does. I talk a lot–A LOT–on these boards about privilege and the white heterosexual male perspective that makes up our TV narratives but OitNB reminds me that, when all is said and all is done, I am a lot more like Piper than I am like Taystee or Sophia or Red or Poussey. I’ve never had to exist with the level of disenfranchisement that they have as people of color or transgender or an immigrant or gay (and in almost all those non-Piper cases, being more than one of those disenfranchised categories). Piper’s privilege and her own tunnel vision for her concerns probably comes across best in S4 with her (accidental) forming of a Nazi gang. It was done to protect her (ridiculous) business ventures but with heavy overtones of unintentional racism and frankly misogyny.
Season 4 is my favorite because it felt so gosh darn relevant. Obviously it’s tackling the American phenomenon of “Black Lives Matter” but in a way that shows how complicated us vs them mentalities can be. Can we say Poussey was murdered? Accidental homocide? Who’s to blame–the officer who held her down? The rioters? The system that treats criminals like animals so that they must act like animals? The corporate overlords who turned the Litch into a prison for profit? Does that make it Caputo’s fault? Narratives are rarely simply–straight up heroes and villains is child’s play–and when you’re dealing with something as labyrinthine as the American justice and prison system it should never be uncomplicated and S4 did such a great job of of complicating everyone’s narrative for both good and ill. Cuputo–semi good guy who is actually trying to make life at the Litch easier, trying to improve the women’s chances once they leave his facility, but also has little backbone when doing all that conflicts with his own personal love life. One of the most horrifying moments for me in S4 was a small one: it’s Caputo learning that his girlfriend Linda has never set foot inside the Litch, has no idea what it looks like or what the situation is, simply sees it as a place to make a buck for her company, let’s her totally railroad all his good-intentioned education plans…and then goes home with her anyway. Linda, to me, is the real villain of OitNB s4–or at least what she represents, the sort of myopic white privilege that never seeks to examine or question the system that she benefits from. She’s… a stand in for white privilege and institutionalized racism.
What comes next in S5? I suspect it’s only going to get darker. OitNB does a great job or balancing humor and reality–S4 was no exception–but I think the days of laughing more than thinking are long gone. After the death of an inmate, Daya holding a gun to an officer’s head, the riots, the anger spilling out in every direction, I can’t imagine that it’s going to return to Red chasing a chicken for dinner (all time favorite OitNB quote: “All I wanted was to eat the chicken that was smarter than all the other chickens to absorb its power. And to make a nice Kiev.”)
Favorite character: Taystee probably gets my top choice. I think that she’s a leader in her community and I like that she’s actually quite intelligent. Of all the inmates she’s the one I have no doubt will survive once she’s on the outside (she tried once, it didn’t work, but I don’t think that story line will repeat with her). After her, Red, Sophia, Doggett (post S1), Nicky and Suzanne (who broke my heart with her story this past season).
Questions:
Piper and Alex–does anyone care anymore?
Suzanne’s girlfriend–Maureen–why is she in prison? Every time it’s brought up, it’s kept couched in language that lets the audience know it’s a big deal and is worthy of a gasp once it gets revealed
Have we seen the last of Aleida Diaz (Daya’s mother)
Watching Moritza swallow an infant mouse with a gun to her head…I still can’t get pas that image. Nor past the image of the other officers deciding not investigate what happened when it’s clear she’s traumatized because “brotherhood.”
Were you satisfied with the ending of the Doggett and Officer Coates story? I think forgiveness is complicated and I was sorta with Boo about Doggett not letting Coates off the hook, but at the same time, Tiffany is right–you have to try and make peace, even if toast can never be bread again.