TV Cultures: 'Orange is The New Black'

(2013; USA)

RELEASED ON NETFLIX

DRAMA/COMEDY SET IN A WOMEN’S PRISON

BASED ON A NON-FICTION NOVEL OF THE SAME NAME

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

⤷ Genre• OITNB as a comedy/drama hybrid

• OITNB in context of other women’s prison shows

⤷ Netflix as a new television distribution model

⤷ Narrative form in OITNB⤷ Discussion of key themes

(race, gender, sexuality, prison)

⤷ Close analysis of episode and excerpt

GENRE

Drama?Comedy?Jenji Kohan?

GENRE

“… People use humor to cope.  That is how we deal with things.  In the darkest situations, there’s humor. And if you don’t show that, you’re not being true to real life.  I think it would be exhausting and depressing, to write, to watch and to live, if it was just focused on drama.  It’s heavy.  Also, I think the humor really highlights the pathos and the struggle.  You can slam it up against drama, and it makes both shine…”

- Jenji Kohan, creator of Orange is The New Black GENRE

GENRE

Examples of more dramatic moments in OITNB

GENRE

And some lighter moments...

GENRE

⤹ The Jenji Kohan genre

WOMEN’S PRISON SHOWS

BEFORE OINTB, THERE WAS:

Bad Girls(UK; 1999-2006)

Within These Walls(UK; 1973-8)

Prisoner(AUS; 1979-86)

These shows share:⤷ An interest in the de-traditionalisation of femininity⤷ A challenge dominant gender roles⤷ Common elements of the ‘women in prison’ film genre, and television soap opera

WOMEN’S PRISON SHOWS

STOCK-CHARACTERS IN WOMEN’S PRISON TELEVISION SHOWS :

(Zalock and Robinson, 1996)

THE INNOCENTNEWCOMER

THE CORRUPTAND REPRESSED WARDEN

THE MAD/BAD CON

THE ‘HOOKER WITH

A HEART’THE BUTCH

THE WISE AND WORLDLY ‘TOP-

DOG’

THE GOVERNORCRIPPLED WITH

ANGER ANDREPRESSION

WOMEN’S PRISON SHOWS

STOCK-CHARACTERS IN ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK :

WOMEN’S PRISON SHOWS

THE INNOCENTNEWCOMER

THE CORRUPTAND REPRESSED OFFICER

THE MAD/BAD CON

THE ‘HOOKER WITH

A HEART’THE BUTCH

THE WISE AND WORLDLY ‘TOP-

DOG’

THE COUNSELORCRIPPLED WITH

ANGER ANDREPRESSION

WOMEN’S PRISON SHOWSIN WOMEN’S PRISON, YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DROPPING THE SOAP

Hard prison environment +

⤷ Emphasis on emotional relationships⤷ Attempt to show perspective of a number of characters

Multiple POV shots are used in our chosen excerpt to foreground each individual’s importance in the discussion

37 million streaming members in

40 countries enjoying more than

1 billion hours of movies and TV

shows per month.

NETFLIX

NETFLIX: TV, BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT(IT’S NOT TV OR HBO, IT’S NETFLIX)

The Netflix team set out to challenge an established industry and ‘…forced movie studios into the digital age.’ In 2011 Netflix announced that its subscriber base had ‘…surpassed that of number one U.S cable provider Comcast.’ (Netflixed, 2012)

NETFLIX

NETFLIX

The Netflix model as a restriction on transnational television

ANALYSING OUR EXERPT

WAC PACK(SEASON ONE, EPISODE 6)

RACE, SEXUALITY, CLASS

BLACKS

WHITES

HISPANIC

OTHER

RACE, SEXUALITY, CLASS

“You’re not going to go into a network and sell a show on really fascinating tales of black women, and Latina women, and old women and criminals. But if you take this white girl, this sort of fish out of water, and you follow her in, you can then expand your world and tell all of those other stories… The girl next door, the cool blonde, is a very easy access point, and it’s relatable for a lot of audiences and a lot of networks looking for a certain demographic. It’s useful.

- Jenji Kohan

‘…the rules about what inmates are allowed to do with their clothing, what they can purchase at the commissary and what hours of the day that they can wear certain things.’

- Jennifer Rogien, Costume Designer

COSTUME/APPEARANCE

COSTUME/APPEARANCE

GENDER

GENDER

SOPHIA BURSET(played by transgender actress Laverne Cox)

GENDER

VAUSE MORELLO NICKY

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS IN OITNB:

BRUTISH MALE CHARACTERS IN OITNB:

GENDER

‘PORNSTACHE’ HEALY

REFERENCES

Ball, V 2012, ‘The “Feminization” of British Television and the Re-Traditionalization of Gender’, Feminist Media Studies, 12, 2, pp. 248-264, Routledge, viewed 4 September 2013. Charlton, T.F 2013, ‘‘Orange Is the New Black,’ and How We Talk About Race and Identity’, RH Reality Check, published September 3, 2013, http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/09/03/orange-is-the-new-black-and-how-we-talk-about-race-and-identity/, viewed September 4, 2013 Herman, D 2003, '"Bad Girls Changed My Life": Homonormativity in a Women's Prison Drama', Critical Studies In Media Communication, 20, 2, pp. 141-159, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 4 September 2013. Keating, G., (2012). Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America’s Eyeballs. Penguin, New York.

Mau, D., (2013). Costume Designer Jenn Rogien on Dressing Female Inmates for Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. Fashionista, accessed 2nd September 2013; <http://fashionista.com/2013/07/costume-designer-jenn-rogien-on-dressing-female-inmates-for-netflixs-orange-is-the-new-black/>

Tierney, C., (2013). Netflix outshines TV with original shows, convenience. The Breeze: James Madison University, accessed 2nd September 2013; http://www.breezejmu.org/opinion/article_089c3476-134f-11e3-bd6b-001a4bcf6878.html

Zalcock, B & Robinson, J 1996, ‘Inside Cell Block H: Hard Steel and Soft Soap, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 9, 1, pp. 88-97, Routledge, viewed 4 September 2013

REFERENCES