Orange Is The New Black: Character Analysis

1225 Words3 Pages

Orange is the New Black is a Netflix original series, which premiered in July of 2013. At the time, and continuing 3 years later, the show has been considered ‘groundbreaking’ for its portrayal of the LGBT community as well as racial and class minorities. The center focus of Orange, however, happens to be an upper-middle class white woman named Piper Chapman who has just been sentenced to time in a women’s prison. As the story is based off a novel of the same name, written by the title character, Piper’s identity couldn’t be compromised without losing the integrity of the story; however, the show’s creator, Jenji Kohan, has spoken out on the topic stating how she believes Piper is the perfect character for the show to center on as she provides an opportunity for contrast. Each character on the show is witnessed in relation to Piper, which allows for the diversity surrounding her to be made more prominent.
First, Piper is a woman, and second, she is bisexual. Orange is the New Black has been both praised and critiqued for its portrayal of bisexuality on the show. What’s significant about Piper’s character is that she knows exactly who she is and doesn’t ever feel the need to apologize for it. What this means in terms of her sexuality is that she knows she is attracted to both men and women but doesn’t appear to have a desire to state it explicitly. This notion is both progressive in the way of looking at a person for who they truly are beyond their sexual preferences, but also regressive in its connotations relating to

Open Document