So, I've just binged watched 'Orange is The New Black' on Netflix (I love you, Netflix) in the space of a few days. It's an impeccably written and performed show, I highly recommend it. Writing in TV is surely at an all time high right now. My favourite, writing wise:
1. Justified
2. Breaking Bad
3. Hannibal
4. Orange is the New Black
5. The Killing (The US version, the current season three has really stepped up its game).
I was sceptical at first. A show about a female prison, probably meant it was something like the US version of the ITV show, Bad Girls. Or worse, Prisoner Cell Block H. God, I hated that show, but I also have an irrational fear of Australians too, so there's that.
Of course, when the setting of a show is essentially one building there's always the worry that the stories will become stale quickly with nowhere else to go. And of course, a female cast, convicts, men with power = typecasts galore.
Yeah, OtNB (abbreviations galore!) does typecast, especially with the men, because apparently men just want to screw anything and everything (wait, that one's true? Oh). But show a show that doesn't? This show does a nice job of keeping the inside of the prison claustrophobic without losing the outside world. I also admire how the writing and acting allows us to care for these characters as they try to survive and exist without losing sight of their criminality and so forth.
The main character, Piper Chapman, as the story progresses, I really didn't like her. The more we got to know her and learn of her past, the more I couldn't stand her and I didn't really find her all that interesting. But for some reason, I still found myself routing for her. I want her to be okay, I want her to succeed. I want all of them to be okay, there's humanity shown in each of the characters, even those who appear most evil. As a writer, it's inspiring to see, and I can't wait until season two.
Season one ended on quite a shocking cliffhanger and actually left me feeling quite uncomfortable. Seeing a character pushed to the limit like that. In Orange is the New Black, there is no real protagonist and antagonist. Even the guy who is painted as a bad guy ends up receiving sympathy at one point. It's perhaps the most gray show I've seen in recent memory and not knowing how to feel after the events of the last episode is quite a unique and again, uncomfortable feeling. All I know is - they better release season two soon!
There's an entirely different reason why I feel uncomfortable too. Whenever I become invested in a film, book or show, I try to imagine myself within that world. It's silly, but I can't help it, I become fully immersed in things, it's why you'll never find me doing heroine ... or with a girlfriend, I guess. I always wonder what it would be like being a homicide detective in New York or being Raylan Givens in Justified. I even thought of going to Kentucky to even further my immersion. And so on. But with this show - it's based in a women's prison. I can't exactly relate to anyone in there and I sure as hell don't even want to even think about going to prison. I was forcibly trying to prevent myself from daydreaming about it.
This show has made me feel weird.
