OITNB: The Prison They Created by Abigail Rogers *final draft for portfolio*

 After a long day most people like to sit down, kick their feet up and enjoy watching their favorite TV series. With the help of Netflix, the viewer can now watch basically anything they want. As Netflix has gained more and more popularity in recent years, they have started producing their own TV series.  The series that has gained the most attention and fan base would have to be Orange is the New Black, or OITNB for short.

The show focuses on a privileged white woman named Piper Chapman, who was convicted of a felony charge ten years after committing the one crime.  She faces many obstacles while serving her time in prison and meets many prisoners while trying to learn how to survive throughout her sixteen-month punishment.

Although the show gained popularity very quickly, many people have trouble getting on board with the show because of the unrealistic portrayal of what prison is like for the women in OITNB. Former prisoners, ex-guards and even government officials have openly talked about the many differences between the TV series and real life prison.

Jenji Kohan, creator of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black, has never been to prison, has never been convicted of a crime and grew up in a wealthy family in Los Angeles, California. Many viewers blame Kohan for creating these impractical representations of prison.  Kohan has a rare talent for creating strong independent female characters, which are the most brutal and self-centered people on this earth, in her series.

For example, in her first TV series she created and produced, Weeds, the main character was a young widow named Nancy who supported her two children and their lavish lifestyle by becoming a drug dealer. Throughout all nine season of Weeds Nancy continuously made horrible decisions for her family based on her needs and wants. Although Nancy was completely immoral and selfish, the viewer had an emotional connection with her.

With what Kohan is doing in her work with Orange is the New Black, she changes the perception of how you view the characters by making them likable and giving them a more emotional view than prisoners have been perceived before, which happen to be prisoners in Orange is the New Black. 

Orange is the New Black presents the prisoners in a different light than has been done before. Kohan introduces them as people, instead of criminals. The viewer sees the background story of the character. When you are introduced to the character, the show makes you feel sorry for them, because you see inside their life outside of prison. She creates an emotional bond with the character and the viewer. Many of the women depicted in the show were caught committing the crime, but they weren’t doing it for themselves.  Many of them were stealing to provide for their families, selling drugs to make ends meet for their family, etc.

The penitentiary that the women are sentenced to is what raises the most problems for people. In many interviews for former prisoners they explain how it is considered to be a fairytale. The living conditions do not seem too unbearable in Orange is the New Black. Their dorms are spacious and semi-private. The jobs they are assigned do not require any serious physical activity. It appears that they have a large amount of free time and it almost comes across as a summer camp.

The food prepared is often made with fresh vegetables, the meat isn’t solid frozen and the women working in the kitchen actually get to prepare the meals in Orange is the New Black. The male guards hang around the dorms and monitor the living situations. Former prisoners have commented on how unrealistic it is for the male guards to be there. In actual prison, the males only came around to escort someone to solitary or to make big deliveries.

But why would Kohan and those working on/with the show create an unrealistic depiction of prison when they have a great opportunity to show the world how undesirable prison really is?

Well many factors play into this. The show is not a documentary and never claimed to be. Although the story is based off real events and real people, it is media. And the main purpose of any form of media is to entertain. So instead of putting a lot of work into the showing the real life prison conditions, the show connects with the prisoners on an emotional level, making the viewer see them differently.

Most shows about prison and those who spend time there make the prisoner out to be a monster and take away their human qualities. OITNB shows how they struggle on a level just like we do and it makes them more likeable.  The show plays with your emotions instead of informing you, which is what the show was created to do. 

Below is the Season 2 trailer for the TV series. The second season was released in the summer of 2014. In the trailer, you can see many of the living conditions for the prisoners. You can see a good view of the dorms that they live in, the relationships between the inmates and the guards and the war that goes on between the different races.