MEST4 Critical Investigation
‘Notes & Quotes’
"To what extent does OITNB promote a
liberated representation of women in society?", Kishan Pandya
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Online articles (news/blogs)
- “I have a deep voice, I have broad shoulders, I have big hands, I have big feet. I don’t think any of those things make me less of a woman”
Suggests that gender isn’t arbitrary – reinforcing transsexual ideologies of ‘feeling like a woman’
- “It’s presumptuous to think that anyone should model their life after you, but I do like the term possibility model.”
Retorts traditional social stance to gender-based expectations of etiquette
- “…first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy Award[…] Newspapers and magazines have since devoted countless column inches to transgender issues while TV and film appears equally fascinated…”
“But, as the Time cover implied, if any one person was responsible for triggering this shift in popular culture’s understanding of the transgender community, it was Cox.”
Exemplifies revolutionary standards encouraged by the show. The move has thus henceforth inspired liberated approval from mainstream media.
- “When I asked my brother [M Lamar, who co-stars in OITNB as Sophia pre-transition] if I should be political as an actress, he said, ‘What’s the point of being famous if you can’t use it for something that matters?’ That’s the approach I’ve tried to take with it."
Demonstrates intentions for socio-political endorsement; adopted role as opinion leader
- “Pretty was never the point”
Disregards focus on physical appearance of women.
John Berger’s Ways of Seeing: “Men act and women appear”
- “has already toppled all notions of what a television series about women looks and sounds like.”
Acknowledges speciality of the show; revolutionary standards of socio-political transgression in the media.
- “has already toppled all notions of what a television series about women looks and sounds like.”
Acknowledges speciality of the show; revolutionary standards of socio-political transgression in the media.
- “the demonization of black women acts as a “a long racist tradition of white media centering the stories of whites and using people of color as colorful minstrels.”
While women may be presented more liberated as a whole, WoC are yet demonised - still displaying flaws of society in this crafted representation.
- “Moreover, the hyper-sexualization of WoC in “Orange” feeds into an already existent fetishization and pathologization of African American and Latina sexualities.”
Particular marginalisation of WoC - male gaze and discriminatory hegemonic beliefs which are prejudiced against ethnic women.
- “Some are one-dimensional and dull, simply “there” to fulfill a role as wife or assistant to the main character.”
Highlights typical role of women characters in television.
- “diverse and unique as Orange Is the New Black comes along, it seems like a step toward more inclusive media”
Acknowledges OITNB as a unique show - revolutionary ideologies.
- “Orange also highlights the rich, diverse experiences of women through all walks of life; not just behind bars.”
OITNB exhibits the realistic multi-dimensional composition of women - differing from traditional/stereotypical background/surface representations of women in the media.
- “We already know that the representation of women, especially women of color and LGBT women, is vastly outnumbered by the white, male perspective in the media. To ensure meaningful participation in the bigger, cultural conversation, a wider range of voices must be heard in the dialogue. We can only hope that three-dimensional female experiences will continue to spread through mainstream media.”
The show is celebrated as a flagship step towards achieving a liberated representation of women in the media.
- “the show attracted critical acclaim and a huge feminist following for the challenge it mounts to dominant media representations of women.”
Boldly claims that the show subverts the constraining typical media representations of women.
- “Orange is the New Black is to bask in something very different from mainstream TV’s portrayal of women and LGBTQ people. “
Marginalised groups are represented in a liberated manner like never before in mainstream TV - highlighting social change/revolution in the representation of traditionally discriminated groups.
- “it doesn’t look or sound much like anything else on US television. In a world saturated with banal, airbrushed images of women, this is a treat.”
Recognises the distinction of this show to be acknowledged for its largely idiosyncratic representation of women - celebrates this.
- “Cox has consistently questioned the popular notion that visibility in itself is enough to bring about social change, instead using her position to publicise LGBTQ activism and to call attention to issues of inequality and injustice.”
The first trans actor to win an emmy proposes social activity zealously to promote awareness of marginalised LGBT communities. She also raises the flip-side to celebrating OINTB’s success in promoting a liberated representation of women (and marginalised groups) as she is demonstrated reflecting on news stories which reflect a subversive and conservatively ‘backwards’ representation of women.
- “Initially encouraged to laugh at “Crazy Eyes”, who seems like the caricature of a predatory prison dyke in search of a “wife”, we quickly come to empathise with her in a way that forces us to reflect uncomfortably on our own collusion in reductive stereotypes”
The development of this character throughout the show presents a moral message for audiences to also be empathic towards marginalised women. The show slyly urges viewers to look deeper into the multi-dimensional characteristics of people who are usually subject to ‘reductive stereotypes’.
- “it also has life-affirming things to say about female friendship: the beautifully written and performed banter of Poussey and Taystee, for instance, is a bond deeper than any romance.”
Contrasts with misogynistic representations which suggest women to be constantly in competition with another for male partners - a hegemonistic ideology formed in order to reduce the worth of women to dominating and glamourised men.
- “From the sleazy women-in-prison paperbacks published by Naiad Press in the 50s and 60s, to 80s and 90s dramas like Prisoner: Cell Block H, Women in Prison, and especially Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus’ gritty British soap Bad Girls, prison has been a rich site of feminist pulp, fusing serious messages about the lives of marginalised women with pure melodrama.”
References to these publishments highlight a historical allegory with the exhibited narratives.
- “We need popular culture to disrupt this and reclaim marginalised people’s experience from the erasure that prison imposes. Ultimately, Orange is the New Black is great feminist television because it brings these culturally invisible women to unignorable, vivid life.”
Highlights necessity for popular and mainstream culture in the media to offer a fair representation of marginalised groups. Also brands OITNB as a pro-feminist show which liberalises women.
Films/documentaries
- Miss Congeniality
"Taming of the Shrew" type story
- “As a female member of an otherwise male FBI team, she is certainly subjected to some sexism, and a lot of it is laughed off, but she proves herself to be good at her job not "in spite of" but as it turns out "because of" being a woman, and, in a very romantic comedy way, it seems to be ultimately empowering.”
Producer demonstrates an unconventionally feminist narrative which shows that women can also ‘act’ beyond appearing. The characters reinforcing misogyny are villainised as a result whereas the female protagonist is presented as a heroine.
- “With some intensive work, she'll be ready for the world's finest trailer park.”
This quote reinforces patriarchal ideologies which demean women to merely sexual objects as the only form in which they are worthy of social validation.
- “Do all the women in the Bureau have to wear those really masculine shoes?”
Stating hegemonic control of normal fashion - gender stereotypes attached to professional fields. Agency work is associated traditionally to masculinity.
- “Agent Matthews! This woman has no talent!”
Implies that women are only to be deemed talented if they can flaunt their physicality. - link to Mulvey’s: ‘Men act and women appear’
- “Hey, you also said you couldn't make her beautiful in two days, and look at her now, look how gorgeous she is. I mean, compared to the car wreck she was before... “
Women are credited for their physical appearance, flaunting their sexualised body parts, appealing to men - only way of achieving validity - or else they are ‘car wrecks’.
- “I think any women that do this are catering to some misogynistic neanderthal mentality. “
The female lead forthrightly acknowledges the traditional misogyny surrounding the ‘backwards’ society she is in. Suggests an urge for change.
- Miss Representation
- “The media can be an instrument of change. It can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of the society or it can, hopefully, awaken people and change minds. I think it depends on who’s piloting the plane.”
Hegemonic control - glamourising the white man in this patriarchy. Women’s representation is key as it reflects AND affects society.
- “There is such a thing as a media bias. For example, media will write in the same way about a man and a woman. Senator X, who’s a woman, complained that - and in the same thing, Senator Y, stated that - so the man will get a ‘stated’ and the woman will get the negative verb, ‘complained’.
Double standards of a patriarchy, inflicts negative ideologies in socio-political matters - applied to professions and social reception too.
- “Women hold only 3% of media decision-making ‘clout’ positions”
- “97% of everything you know about yourself and your country and your world comes from the male perspective. It doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, it just means that in a democracy where you talk about equality and full participation, you’ve got more than half of the population not participating.”
Producer’s impact on audience’s beliefs, Perkins theory of power to the producer - exemplifying hegemony in the media.
Academic texts
- The Media Student's Book (5th Edition) – Gill Branston & Roy Stafford
- "Gender roles in magazines and advertising, for example, show that women are still represented according to long standing cultural stereotypes" (95)
Acknowledges persistent residue of traditional patriarchal standards in modern advertising/commerce of the media.
- "Women were repeatedly represented shown as housewives, mothers, home makers while men were often represented in situations of authority and dominance" (95)
States a global resistance against revolutionary equality in gender roles - women are subservient as they remain in their maternally associated roles.
- "What is needed are more realistic portrayals of women since the media are said to reflect society, and such reflections should always be accurate" (96)
This antagonises the media as perpetrators of misogynistic hegemony as it persistently reinforces traditional portrayals of submissive women, even though modern society entails a reverse of gender roles in professions as well as domestic and romantic relationships.
- "The term post-feminism suggests that we are now beyond the need to struggle for gender equality" (96)
A revolution isn’t just imminent, it is compulsory.
- The Will To Knowledge (The history of sexuality vol.1) - Michel Foucault
- “ literature by feminist writers on the issue of empowerment which, I argue, serves as a more viable basis for feminist work on the themes of freedom, power, and empowerment. “
Effects of agonistic pluralism - granting a schema for women to uprise in the media.
Foucauldian feminism, radically criticised by Sandra Lee Batky:
- “The disciplinary project of femininity is a ‘set-up’: it requires such radical and extensive measures of bodily transformation that virtually every woman who gives herself to it is destined in some degree to fail.”
Batky advocates the oppressive nature of society (reflected in the media), as the image of an idealistic woman is unrealistic and radically subservient to the man’s desire.
3. Women, Culture, and International Relations - Vivienne Jabri, Eleanor O'Gorman
- “the allocation of women’s roles has involved the politicisation of women’s “traditional” roles, such as mother, wife and food producer. The motives for such a strategy include a commitment to agendas for social change as well as the requirements of military effectiveness.”
The revolutionised socio-political consensus in allocating jobs for women provides difficulties between simply hiring the best person for the role and yet remaining desolate from androcentrism.
- “In the pursuit of such effectiveness, strategies of allocating roles according to generation and marital status can perpetuate a gendered and generational division of labour as roles and political space become coterminous when ‘homefront’ support tasks are carried out by married women”
Highlights a sense of inevitability associated with gender divides in the numbers of employees in professions as well as even in the military: “Women can act, but only as far as their autonomy allows”
- “for the most part, unmarried women in the camps ‘performed militarised though still feminine tasks, serving as cooks, nurses, and laundresses for the guerrillas.”
Ultimately, women end up occupying typical roles attributed to women due to simple unsubstantial worth in particular military fields.
- “this reflects tensions concerning the degree to which such generational allocation of tasks for women actually operates within an unspoken division.”
The gender divide in professions, although attemptedly minimised, is yet subject to the simple physiological constraints of women to be able to occupy particular military roles.
4. The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature - Bourdieu J.
- “The meaning of a work (artistic, literary, philosophical, etc.) changes automatically with each change in the field within which it is situated for the spectator or reader" (30).”
Fundamental to Bourdieu’s view of the reception of art (“or literature or philosophy or science, by implication”) being futile for an audience to discern without analysis of the intellectual and practical context of the producer.
5. Art as a social system. Luhmann, 2000
- “..media raise significant ontological and epistemological questions about the nature of the social world. How should we conceptualise the contribution of society’s central media to social reality and how, in particular, are we to model the long-term impacts of the complex feedback loop they represent?”
The implication of social knowledge in daily life may be formed by ideas presented by the media which, intends to affect and procreate a reality rather than reflect it. The application of this in terms of the socio-political complex of OITNB proposes the potential of the show to be influential in affecting the nature of women’s treatment and perception of the group in social reality.
6. MEDIA, SYMBOLIC POWER AND THE LIMITS OF BOURDIEU’S FIELD THEORY
- “An influential British and American tradition of media sociology has approached the media’s contribution to social reality through the concept of ideology (for example, Hall, 1980; Morley, 1980, 1992; Kellner, 2 1995), arguing that the media reproduce ideological contents originally generated elsewhere (in essence, a Gramscian model of hegemony, as the mediator between base and superstructure).”
The reproduction of ideologies is attributed to a development of social treatment in regards of social groups - hegemonic control is a determinant in the actualisation of this from an analysis of media consumption because representations of women are seen to be subjected by a patriarchal regulator in order to conserve male dominance.
7. Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
- “
8. Unruly girls, Unrepentant mothers - Redefining feminism on screen
- “These scenes show a sensitivity to the stifling of a girl’s spirit that cuts across class lines. However , a more subtle feminist analysis would not evade the ways class complicates women’s oppression, for these girls are learning rituals of their social class”
9. Feminist Television Criticism (2nd Edition)
Sex and the City and Consumer Culture (Remeditating postfeminist drama)
- “These are dramas that in the wake of second-wave feminism selectively deploy feminist discourses as a response to cultural changes in the lives of their potential audience, an audience that is addressed as white, heterosexual and relatively youthful and affluent”
Television selectively restricted to its zeitgeist nature - instead of revolutionising.
- “They emerged out of a hybridisation of genres driven by a desire to maximise audiences by creating drama that appealed to both men and women”
Institutional intent for maximising revenue. Capitalism influences the choices of corporations who can profit from recognising and thus exploiting the requirements of an audience. Hegemonic ideologies which are deeply instated within society are thus reinforced in order to maintain a reception of comprehension - people like what they are familiar with and will continue to consume media which is within this consensus.
10. Interrogating Post-Feminism - Gender and the politics of popular culture
- “
11. Saussure - Course in general linguistics
12. Hall - Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices
13. Mulvey - Visual and other pleasures - (Male gaze)
14. Doane - Femmes fatales: Feminism, film theory, psychoanalysis - (Masquerade)
15. Dyer - The matter of images: Essays on representations
16. Baudrillard - Simulacra and simulation
Media Magazine
The article subverts typical criticisms of misogyny towards renowned auteur Tarantino.
- "My reading of Tarantino’s women is that they are fully three dimensional and realistic in that they show all of these stereotypes as aspects of a more rounded character”
Which counters the argument that “women, in any fully human form, have almost been completely left out of film.”
- “Tarantino challenges these assumptions most obviously by allowing her to use her brains rather than her body without denying her sexuality”
Acknowledges a very strong debate behind the sexualisation of women - as this is a realistic representation and a director should not outwardly disregard these stereotypes which are in fact true. - in Jackie Brown
- “Tarantino strongly goes against this by giving Jackie a strength that is not present in the blaxploitation films.”
States producer’s intentional positively revolutionary representation of women in his films - said to derive from incentive of praising motherhood and appreciating as a maternal role worthy of “the greatest respect” as in Kill Bill.
Tarantino demonstrates his view on motherhood as a primal urge - as a title card at the end of the film reads:
“The lioness has rejoined her cub and all is right in the jungle.”
which is credited further with multiple roles intentionally as the credits show: “Beatrix Kiddo AKA The Bride AKA Black Mamba AKA Mommy.”
Tarantino - Influenced by his mother who raised him as a single parent - contributed to auteur status.
Demonstrated in Reservoir Dogs - women are spoken of respectfully, and the male characters acknowledge the dominative influence women have over them.
3. Engendering change: looking at representations of women
- "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female."
Mulvey's traditional view has come a long way through post-feminism.
- "Although there has been change in the way women are represented, since the 1960s, it appears that the difference may be merely cosmetic. This suspicion is not new: In 1990, many women sense that women’s progress has stalled; there is a dispiriting climate of confusion, division, cynicism and, above all, exhaustion. Older women are burnt out; younger women are showing little interest in seizing the torch. (Wolf 1990:1)"
Illustrates yet persistent struggle for women to be liberated when represented in the media.
4. "Female chauvinist pigs: woman and the rise of raunch culture"
- "Female chauvinist pigs of today are doing them one better making sex objects of other women and of themselves they think they're brave"
Demeaning stance for women is shown repeatedly as they are minimised to their reproductive value - patriarchally derived.
5. Romantic Comedy: The genre’s representation of gender over time
- "the 'damsel' is no longer distressed."
Highlights typical misogynistic ideology of masculine superiority, to which women are dependent on.
Textual analysis
- This scene casually intervenes mid-way through a laborious lingerie manufacturing session for the prisoners of Litchfield penitentiary. Immediately, this establishes a sense of comic relief as the scenario subverts common expectations of prison demeanour. This is achieved by distancing away from the anticipated severe atmosphere of a prison, which would be seen to restrain prisoners to the extent of even their amusement. The frame pans across Piper Chapman, the blonde-haired protagonist, as she approaches her work station with bright pink underwear in her hands, the colour of which contrasts the dullness of the surroundings, possibly in order to reinforce this sense of absurdity for comic effect. A personal discussion of bedroom etiquette between Piper and an elder inmate emerges to gratify viewers with voyeurism. Audiences are granted a peek into the ideologies of women (represented by the general layout of the WIP show), who are exhibited advocating opinions on personal matters on issues involving sexual engagement which would otherwise be subdued to a level of censorship (content control) in the media. The conversation is then intervened by Stella Carlin, a young short-haired brunette played by LGBT activist actress Ruby Rose. She laughs at Piper’s claim that wearing lingerie during sexual encounters “can make you feel powerful”, which immediately unravels a socio-political discussion among the women. Debating whether many physically attractive woman (such as Piper is represented) faces the “burden of genetic perfection” and must hence strive to attain self-worth by attaining academic qualifications to credit their value, as exemplified by Piper’s retorting declaration of her “double major in communications and comparative literature”. Extracting this conversation from its entertaining standpoint provides audiences with reasons to consider the reception of women in daily life in first-world capitalist societies.
- Extracted from one of the most pivotal scenes in the third season, Ruby Rose’s widely loved character, Stella is represented victim to the “stone-cold” wrath of our developingly ruthless protagonist Piper Chapman. Various medium closeups and closeup shots initiate the evocation to unfold as the two share in a brief moment of private intimacy. The display of what is essentially, a lesbian relationship, demonstrates the unapologetic nature of the show in its decision to present a liberated representation of women who effectively (from a conservative standpoint) choose to break the traditional agenda for heterosexual relationships. Radical feminists may justify this as empowerment of women because of their liberal decision to indulge in non-traditional sexual activity. The moment is rapidly disintegrated when the correctional officers affirm Piper’s “goodbye” after a search for contraband which is to consequently place Stella in a maximum confinement facility. Framing Stella surprises the audience as they witness the unveiling of Piper’s socially divergent intentions, which contradicts common expectations of women to be over-sensitive and overruled by compassion.
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References
Works cited:
- Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Bourdieu, P., & Johnson, R. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Branston, G., & Stafford, R. (2006). The media student's book (5th ed.). London: Routledge.
- Brunsdon, C., D'Acci, J., & Spigel, L. (1997). Feminist television criticism: A reader (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Couldry, N., & London School of Economics and Political Science. (2003). Media, symbolic power and the limits of Bourdieu's field theory. London: Media @LSE.
- Doane, M. A. (1991). Femmes fatales: Feminism, film theory, psychoanalysis. New York: Routledge.
- Dyer, R. (1993). The matter of images: Essays on representations. London: Routledge.
- Tasker, Y., & Negra, D. (2007). Interrogating postfeminism: Gender and the politics of popular culture. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Saussure, & F. (1959). Course in general linguistics. New York: Philosophical Library.
- Simons, M. A. (Ed.). (1985). Hypatia, a Journal of Feminist Philosophy : Beauvoir and Feminist Philosophy. Pergamon Press.
- Foucault, M. (1990). The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Volume 1. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
- Hall, S., & Open University. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage in association with the Open University.
- Jabri, V., & O'Gorman, E. (1999). Women, culture, and international relations. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
- Karlyn, K. R. (2011). Unruly girls, unrepentant mothers: Redefining feminism on screen. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Luhmann, N. (2000). Art as a social system. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and other pleasures. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Webpages cited:
- Rorke, R. (n.d.). ‘Orange Is the New Black’ ignites a TV revolution for women | New York Post. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2014/06/04/orange-is-the-new-black-ignites-a-tv-revolution-for-women
- Ferreday, D. (n.d.). Orange is the New Black is fast becoming a feminist classic. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/orange-is-the-new-black-is-fast-becoming-a-feminist-classic-40353
- Soules, C. (n.d.). What 'Orange Is The New Black' Gets Right and Wrong About | Indiewire. Retrieved from http://www.indiewire.com/article/what-orange-is-the-new-black-gets-right-and-wrong-about-the-criminal-justice-system-20150701
- SWSG Blogging Corps. (n.d.). Orange is the New Black: New Voices for Women - SWSG. Retrieved from http://swsg.org/orange-is-the-new-black-new-voices-for-women/
- The Feminist Wire. (n.d.). Orange is the new black - Feminist analysis. Retrieved from http://www.thefeministwire.com/2013/08/a-critical-analysis-of-orange-is-the-new-black-the-appropriation-of-women-of-color/
- Cosslett, R. (n.d.). Transgender Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox on Caitlyn Jenner and oppressive beauty standards for women. Retrieved from http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-07-26/orange-is-the-new-blacks-wonder-woman-laverne-cox-on-being-a-transgender-trailblazer
