![\"\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/OITNB-Fantasy-Inmate.png\" "\\"\\"")
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Netflix’s flagship original show, Orange is the New Black<\/i>, returned for its sixth season – this time withthe women of Litchfield now in maximum security prison facing the prospect of additional time due to last season\u2019s riot. \u00a0Bonds that were formed in MCC\u2019s minimum security prison are broken as \u201cfamilies\u201d are divided into warring blocks with deep and long standing factions. Upon arriving in their new \u201chome\u201d the women are forced to decide between accepting trumped up charges as penance for the riot, or providing false, scripted testimonies against their friends. \u00a0This season acts as the culmination of a tonal shift that slowly progressed over the life of the show. Whether this shift is intentional or not, Orange<\/i>, has gone from a semi-comedic trauma porn that sought to critique the American prison system to a satirical parody that (somewhat) does.<\/p>\n
Understanding the show as exaggerated satire is seemingly the only way viewers can accept the clean dovetailing of its multithreaded storyline. \u00a0Daya\u2019s mother, Aleida, has been out of prison for an entire season and unable to find the employment she needs to save money and rescue her other children from foster care. \u00a0A guard at the prison takes a liking to her and she seizes the opportunity to secure a place for her to live and to generate income. After unknowingly transporting drugs into the prison, Aleida preys on her guard boyfriend\u2019s insecurity and in a two minute conversation where s<\/span>he basically calls him a coward, she convinces him to willfully participate. \u00a0This entire scenario does not feel realistic and reads from the writing standpoint as convenient. However, when looked at through the lens of parody and\/or satire it highlights what appears to be the unfulfilling nature of working as a prison guard.<\/p>\n This satirical lens also helps us to make sense of the oversimplification of the characters – especially the prison guards. \u00a0While it makes sense that years on the job may result in increased levels of desensitization, the guards with their game<\/span>of Fantasy Inmate, seem to be completely heartless. \u00a0Modeled after fantasy football, guards draft inmates to their teams and win points (and hopefully money) based on their experiences – crying in the shower, sickness, assaults. \u00a0The majority of the guards participate in the game and use their power and position to instigate and secure more points. They respond to stabbings and suicide attempts with cheers as it increases their chances of winning. \u00a0By accepting this as satire, the show illustrates the deep-rooted cruelty of capitalism and it relationship to and dependency on the prison-industrial complex. It highlights how this mentality is embodied and enacted on the ground with the guards, as well as with the executives who attempt to evade public criticism through rebranding.<\/p>\n It is not certain whether this satirical parodic tone is effective or if it further problematizes representations of the nature of the American prison system. \u00a0But one thing is for sure – Piper, the epitome of white privilege, is still annoying. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Netflix’s flagship original show, Orange is the New Black, returned for its sixth season – this time withthe women of Litchfield now in maximum security prison facing the prospect of additional time due to last season\u2019s riot. \u00a0Bonds that were formed in MCC\u2019s minimum security prison are broken as \u201cfamilies\u201d are divided into warring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,180],"tags":[313,314,255,309,315,316,317,318,319,320,321,322],"class_list":["post-3147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-tv","category-comedy","tag-injustice","tag-inmates","tag-netflix","tag-new-season","tag-parody","tag-prison","tag-prison-industrial-complex","tag-private-jails","tag-riot","tag-series","tag-streaming-shows","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}