The Well of Snarkiness: The Color....Orange?

You Guys....

There's this show, on the internet machine and it's about prison, and the color orange--I guess, and the racial-dynamic power-role inter-workings of a broken judicial system due to the socio-economic instability of a capitalist.....

Ya, never mind.

IT'S ABOUT A BUNCH OF WOMEN IN PRISON! WUUTT....!

First thing's first,
Orange is the New Black.
(lame title, I know)
But there's actually nothing else lame about this show. Everything else is perfect. No, I'm serious.

The theme song is Perfect

hey Regina, heyyyy

The cast is all women save one dude, the writers are almost all women, the creator is the lady who created WEEDS. So, Perfect.

There's lesbians, there's bisexuals, there's a trans M-to-F who's story will make you cry and squeeze your girl-friend....or, pillow.

So we're off to a good start, right? Oh, speaking of starts, this is one of the opening scenes of the first episode.

Is that a salt shaker tattoo? Weird.

But who cares!?

Because this!

hhho-man....
*ahem*

But I digress...

The show is about this pretty, seemingly naive, suburban blonde who's got the man of her dreams and wants to make artisanal soaps and lotions. Yay fun timezz. But then the law finally catches up with her (I won't tell you why) and she 'surrenders' so she only has to do 15 months in prison, instead of like, 10 years.

Shit....I'm missing game of thrones....

And she has to try and serve out her time without going nuts, basically and learn to deal with the crazy cast of characters that is Lady Prison.

And then there's this girl, former star of "That 70's Show,"

What's hotter, my glasses or pompadour?

And there's this girl, who you might recognize

from this gay-movie-classic

There's so many other characters I'm already starting to love. Mostly because they crack my shit up. But the drama aspect of the dramedy is solid too. The writing is real good.

But what I like most about this show (because I'm gay and biased and needy) is how well developed these queer, racially diverse characters are. There isn't even a gay relationship in this show and I still feel the queer characters to be more genuine than most queer-relationship-plot-lines you'll see on T.V. The transgender female character is portrayed realistically with bravery and honesty while the former lesbian relationship of the main character is portrayed as natural and real and well..... normal?
Maybe it's due to the writing, but there's certainly a strong undercurrent of realism behind all of this dramedy. And I can't wait to keep watching.

However, I'm curious to know what others may think of this show--others with a deeper understanding of the U.S. prison system. Is this an accurate portrayal of a women's prison? The comedy of the show opaques the more gritty and depressing aspects of what I would think prison is really like....which is likely misleading to many American viewers. Should this be entertainment? If you can see past the comedy, the show seems to illuminate some of the horrors of prison...the racism and white privilege and patriarchal structuring. I guess I'm wondering if comedy has a place in the serious subject of the judicial system that is so so broken in this country.

I think the show balances well between comedy and realism. The homophobia and transphobia of some of the inmates and the warden, for example, is real. It's expressed realistically. Same goes for the race divisions in the prison. And the issue of fair sentencing and solitary confinement is discussed seriously by the characters and expressed through some of the plot developments. So I personally don't feel offended by the sometimes light-heartedness of the show....yet. Because lez be honest, I'm white and middle class and privileged and I don't know what prison is about, really.

The internet machine is a-buzz with positivity and I'm trying to not read too much BuzzFeed or Tumblr because the spoilers be everywhere.

Now if you'll excuse me.... I have some binging to do.

Because I'm an American.

And because this.