Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
English
First Advisor's Name
Heather Russell
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Ana Luszczynska
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Third Advisor's Name
Steven Ryan Blevins
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Keywords
biopolitics, prison, norms, Orange is the New Black, Media, TV, Prison reform, Carceral, Solitary Confinement, New Jim Crow
Date of Defense
3-20-2015
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to ascertain the ways in which Orange is the New Black uses its platform to either complicate or reify narratives about the prison system, prisoners and their relationship to the state. This research uses the works of Giorgio Agamben, Colin Dayan, Michelle Alexander and Lisa Guenther to situate the ways the state uses the prison and social narratives about the prison to extend its control on certain populations beyond prison walls through police presence, parole, the war on drugs and prison fees.
From that basis, this work argues that while Orange does challenge some narratives about race and sexuality, because of its reliance on “bad choices” as a humanizing trope and its reliance on certain racialized stereotypes for entertainment, the show ultimately does more to reify existing narratives that support state interests.
Identifier
FI15032114
Recommended Citation
Louis, Eunice, "The Prison System and the Media: How “Orange Is The New Black” Engages with the Prison as a Normalizing Agent" (2015). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1916.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1916
Included in
Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Television Commons, Visual Studies Commons
Rights Statement
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
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