After I finished one episode, I immediately queued up the next as if I were a raving sex addict needing to get my porn fix. A few years ago, I did the same thing with Downton Abbey, going through 3 seasons in one sitting on a Saturday...yes I watch it, proudly. As soon as the assignment was given, the connection to Marxist analysis was certainly obvious. My thoughts on the deeper signs, symbols and meaning will be covered in my paper. But let's look at a few Marxist concepts immediately obvious as the text unfolded.
The prison system is dictated and shaped by those with the knowledge. Piper enters from a history of ideas and actions that were her own; she determined the direction of her life. She is now controlled by the Bourgeoisie (ruling class) who maintain the status quo. These "leaders" have the knowledge, the new have what the textbook calls "lack of mental production" and are therefore subject to the ruling class. The relationships are very similar to a person going off to boot camp. Piper is immediately stripped of her identity, she now has to learn the rules for survival.
Examine the very first scene where she enters the room she has been assigned. The women look around at each other, secrets abound, no one is willing to give up their information to help or guide. Each struggles to maintain their position in this caste system. You can witness this throughout the text, side glances and innuendoes, and the illusion of status is maintained as the class struggle continues.
The most interesting idea to explore is the textbook's description of the False Consciousness, "The ruling class make it their chief source of livelihood to develop and perfect the illusions of the class about itself." The concept of illusion is a highly intriguing statement in terms of the text. While analyzing the text, I had to ask myself who is truly the ruling class? How will the social classes destroy each other? Will there be a social revolution leading to socioeconomic cooperative of ownership? What about their life after prison? Undoubtedly the Marxist ideals will clash with the independent world we live in and ultimately destroy the individual. Below is a quote from author Kenneth E. Hartman and his book Fourth City: Essays from the Prison in America. Clearly the proletariat is destroyed by the prison without.
"Most prisoners are uneducated, riddled with unresolved traumas and ill-treated mental health problems, drug and alcohol addictions, and self-esteem issues far too often bordering on the pathological. The vast majority has never received competent health care, mental health care, drug treatment, education or even an opportunity to look at themselves as humans. Had any of these far less draconian interventions been tried… no doubt many of my peers would be leading productive lives. We internalize the separation and removal, the assumed less-than status, and hold up the idiotic and vainglorious pride we pretend to, like clown’s make-up, to hide our shame. In the end, the vast majority of us become exactly who we are told we are: violent, irrational, and incapable of conducting ourselves like conscious adults."Here is a very interesting article from The Guardian that is worth reading. A small snippet below:
"Today, 164 years after Marx and Engels wrote about grave-diggers, the truth is almost the exact opposite. The proletariat, far from burying capitalism, are keeping it on life support. Overworked, underpaid workers ostensibly liberated by the largest socialist revolution in history (China's) are driven to the brink of suicide to keep those in the west playing with their iPads. Chinese money bankrolls an otherwise bankrupt America."
Excellent post title! I liked your analysis of her being "stripped of her identity," and being forced to leave her old self behind. Even in the first episode it is very clear that if she wants to survive, she's going to have to lose a bit of her former self.
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