This was my first time watching Orange is the New Black and it was
interesting, to say the least. The main concepts of Marxism that I found in the
first episode, “I Wasn’t Ready,” were ideology and class conflict.
Ideology was present from the very
beginning because there is an ideology or set of beliefs about Piper Chapman
(and the two other newcomers in the prison) and the already existing members of
the prison. Chapman gets categorized the new girl who doesn’t know anything and
who really does not belong in a prison while the other members that have been
at the prison longer, are characterized as being tough and knowing way more
than Chapman and the other women.
Class conflict occurs when the
ruling class (or the prisoners that have been there longer) shows the newcomers
the ropes of being in the facility. This is more specifically seen when Morello
tries distracting the newcomers from the harsh realities of the prison. For
example, she tells Chapman to not look so bummed because it makes you have
wrinkles – as if it was strange to look worried in a prison. Here, Morello
tries to act like the prison is normal because to them, it is their normal and
to the newcomers, it’s a foreign land. Another example of this occurs when
Chapman is supposedly taking too long in the shower. Piper is new so she
obviously doesn’t know the proper amount of time to be in the shower until the
other character basically kicks her out.
Almeida and Paes-Machado in their
article, “No Place To Run, No Place to Hide” study inmate victimization at a
prison in Bahia, Brazil. Like class conflicts that occur during the first
episode of Orange is the New Black,
their study looked closely at victimization rates of inmates. They divided the
victimization into categories: physical, psychological, and the type caused by
the prison itself. They found that “while the levels of physical (38.0%) and
psychological (22.1%) victimizations among prisoners are greater than those
caused by the institution (10 and 4.8%)” (de Almeida 179). These results point
to tensions that arise among inmates themselves possibly due to class conflicts
while in the prison. This could possibly relate to the struggles Chapman faces
in the show.
Works Cited
de
Almeida, Odilza Lines, and Eduardo Paes-Machado. "No Place To Run, No
Place To Hide: Socio-Organizational
Processes And Patterns Of Inmate Victimization." Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Criminology (Sage
Publications Ltd.) 48.2 (2015): 175-199. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 June 2015.
I think it is interesting that you looked at the class conflict between the inmates because most everyone so far has looked at the conflict between inmates and correctional officers. Although there really are three classes present, the newbies, the inmates that have been there for awhile, and the officers. I agree on the ideology, I don't think anyone thinks Piper should be there and she really is pretty clueless.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good post. Class conflict is a definite concept in all of these episodes. If you continue to watch, it is interesting to watch how there is continual class conflict but changing rules for individuals and groups. It seems like the stories all rely on a certain level of conflict though to work.
ReplyDelete