I believe that every message has a real meaning behind it, whether the message is important or not. The older I get the more I started to understand the true meaning about the different shows I’ve watched. It’s one of those topics we’re all too afraid to touch, which is exactly why it’s so important to talk about. I still find it very hard to talk about race, and how it is still a very important topic in today’s society especially in criminal justice system. Prison is designed to install fear in us, imagining evil men who were put there for doing crimes unsuitable by law. Prison is known to be the worst place to end up. Orange Is the New Black showed prison all in a new light. Many critics found Orange Is the New Black to be very racist. In …show more content…
The leading character Piper is privileged self-absorption. The very moment Piper steps foot in Litchfield prison she is treated with more respect from the guards. The protective treatment Piper gets from white male prison counselor Healy, and the keen alertness with which Black characters like Taystee Jefferson is direct white power. Piper is rudely awakened to this reality when Lorna Morello, a fellow white inmate, concludes Piper’s orientation with a smiling comment: “We look out for our own.” Piper’s visible horror at this honest statement of racist preference is met with amusement” (Charlton). Showing that all women are divided by race. Taystee in contrast to Piper, many of OITNB’s characters who are people of color recognize and knowingly direct the dangers posed both by white men like Healy, and by white women like Piper. The portrayals of Black and Latina women constantly threaten to turn into all too familiar stereotypes. Orange Is the New Black does give us a lot to talk about the conversations people of color and white folks have amongst themselves. The different identities and experiences shape those dealings. When confided to a certain lifestyle it’s hard for the women to not feel the need to judge each
...misinterpreted the whole problem of mass incarceration by repackaging and augmenting the existing social justice. The critiques have argued that Alexander created a strained similarity to the unique Jim Crow laws, employed a counter revolutionary conceptual framework and marginalized brown and black voices in favor of less radical and more mainstream perceptions. These critics, however approve that mass imprisonment in the U.S. is a disastrous problem, but they say they disagree with Alexander’s argument.
All in all, Kerman’s year sentence in jail opened her eyes to some of the many problems within the federal prison system. She witnessed favoritism, abuse, health violations, etc. that helped her realize that she never wanted to go back to prison, despite all the true friendships she made. Through her use of rhetoric, mainly ethos, Kerman showed her audience a firsthand account of what an actual prison sentence is like. She also explored the idea of how one bad decision can change a person’s life forever.
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
Kathie Snow’s article talked about the power of language and labels, and this reminded me of a project that I completed in my Visual Arts class. The project was created because of research completed by Dr. Caroline Leaf, in which she described how different thoughts and words affect the brain. Another aspect of Kathie Snow’s article in which she reveals that the real problems are attitudinal and environmental barriers, this brought to my remembrance, a paper that I wrote for my English class titled Passion for Prisoners. In my paper, I wrote, “the malicious attitude that Americans have cultivated toward prisoners contributes to the ineffective treatment towards them.” These are just a couple concepts that I have found interesting, but it took a couple times of reading this article to come to this
The story A Television Drama, by Jane Rule is an exciting story about an unusual event, which the main character, Carolee Mitchell, experiences the end of. The story is about her quiet street becoming unusually busy with police officers, and how the man who is being chased by these officers ends up being outside her front door. Through the point of view of the story, the characterization and character change of Carolee Mitchell, and the setting of the story, A Television Drama is an exciting read. The story conveys how important it is to be aware of ones surroundings, and what is happening around oneself through these elements.
Since the beginning of time itself, Television has been one the most influential pieces of media that the world has ever encountered. The beginning days of television depicted stereotypical mothers cooking and cleaning their homes for their husbands and children. Yet, as the decades passed, television took a dramatic turn, leaving the days of drama free entertainment as a vast memory. Now a day, however, when one hits the power on button to Bravo, the screen lights expand to ritzy socialites dealing with their everyday lives as “housewives”. Bravo TV’s hit number one reality television show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, deals with the everyday lives of modern-day housewives. When speaking of these women and their family life, the reality series shows its viewers that family life in modern times is dramatic, full of misrepresentations of how people are perceived, and that fame comes at the cost of family.
The final theme portrayed within race, crime, and The Wire is the media’s influence on public views. The media plays a large role in influencing the views of the public. What the media decides to air is broadcast to the whole world as what is “right” so discretion should be used in reporting information. Blacks already carry a large stigma for many reasons, however the media should not reinforce this. Anderson (1990) states that many learn to fear minorities based on crimes seen on television as well as in the newspaper.
... model for how the entertainment and media industries depict black people must change. Despite the progress that blacks have worked toward since the days of slavery, society continues to give in to the monetary benefits of producing self-disparaging entertainment and media. It is not only up to the directors, editors, producers and writers to establish this change, but it should also be the demand of the people, or the consumer. If the images of black people in the media are improved the outlook within the community will improve as well. Not only will positive goals and achievements become more realistic for black people if the media outlets discontinue their practice of equating blacks with aggression, lawlessness and violence, but a greater good will also result for whites, which would be represented by a true autonomy and equality in American society.
Alicia Ganza, her close friend Patrisse Cullors and another friend Opal Tometi used a simple slogan to convince people that they should act to change the system. Of course, most of us are on board with the new movement because we get it. We get it because we’ve seen the numbers and we’ve heard the stories. We all sat quietly together and watched the same film 13TH, a 2016 Netflix documentary that highlighted the current state of the mass incarceration of people of color in America. I am sure that after that film some of my fellow students still walked away unconvinced that there is a racial disparity and that statistics lie. I am with Alicia Garza when she says that it makes her angry especially when people try to deny any of this racial disparity is actually
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.
Many Americans pretend that the days of racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history points out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination as well as the discrimination against African American students and their likelihood of going to prison compared to the white student. African American women are also affected by the discrimination in the incarceration rate. Many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates, and that African Americans are more likely to face discrimination from the police as well as being falsely arrested.
The US prisons are filled with mostly African Americans and Latinos. This started because the large amount of African Americans in prison after the Civil War because of the Black Codes. The people of the US thought and still do think that just because more African Americans are in prison that something is wrong with them. I have heard many arguments from mental issues to genetics. Neither of them are the case, clearly African Americans are being targeted and it is not easy to end the cycle. I want to explain a fictional story about a boy named Jamal who is like many young Inter-City kid. Jamal an African American lives in a single parent home with two younger brothers in neighborhood full of gangs and circulation of drugs. Jamal is a drug free and not gang affiliated he also is a straight a student and is headed to high school the next year. He is ten times more likely to go to prison then a white a student who is a drug and gang affiliated with poor grades. Jamal and the white student can both have no father in their homes and even live in the same neighborhood but the probability of Jamal going to jail is just much higher. The prison system is made for the minorities in the society and until the racial attitudes in this country change the mass criminalization of minorities will never
“We fight each other for territory; we kill each other over race, pride, and respect. We fight for what is ours. They think they’re winning by jumping me now, but soon they’re all going down, war has been declared.” Abuse, Pain, Violence, Racism and Hate fill the streets of Long Beach, California. Asians, Blacks, Whites and Hispanics filled Wilson High School; these students from different ethnic backgrounds faced gang problems from day to night. This movie contains five messages: people shouldn’t be judgmental because being open-minded allows people to know others, having compassion for a person can help people change their views in life, being a racist can only create hate, having the power of the human will/goodness to benefit humanity will cause a person to succeed at any cost and becoming educated helps bring out the intelligence of people.
HBO's Sex and the City has become a cultural icon in its 6 seasons of running. Based on Candace Bushnell's racy book Sex and the City, the show exhibits an unprecedented example of the sexual prowess of women over the age of 35. The result is an immense viewing audience and an evolving view on the "old maid" stigma that a woman's chances of finding love are significantly reduced after thirty-five. In this paper, we will closely analyze the characters and themes of Sex and the City to explain the significance of what the show represents in American culture.
In Paul Scheuring’s 4 season thriller there is no Gods you need to sacrifice for but rather the bond of family worth doing anything for. In Prison Break, protagonist Michael Scofield would go any extent for his family. Michael had his life together with a masters as a structural engineer while his brother was just a high school dropout. However when Michael finds out that his brother was accused for killing the vice president’s brother and put on death row, Michael gave up that future of his filled with opportunity to save his brother. How far would you go for others? Michael got a full body tattoo and got himself incarcerated in order to break Lincoln, his brother, out. He did this for him because he loves his family. Although Scofield is