Discussion Experience Even though the bulk of the responders to our research question have no real life knowledge about the prison experience, there were a few a people that actually did come into contact with the law. The interesting aspect of these responses is that they come from both a former prison inmate and a former correctional officer in a women’s prison. Since correctional officers and prison inmates are both major players in OITNB we have the interesting ability to see how they perceive reality from both sides of the fence. When we look at Janice’s response it is interesting to see how she relates her 48-hour experience in jail to the minimum security prison portrayed in the series. She notes that even though jail is not the same as prison, some of the habits displayed in the show do relate to her own experiences (using Kool Aid for make-up blush). Andrea used to be a correctional officer and states that “the show is pretty accurate”. She’s another example of someone who uses her own experience to determine the reality of the show. Non-experience Some of the responders felt that they were not in a position to comment on the issue of reality in OITNB, because they had no prison experience in any way, shape or form. These people tend to answer our question in a rather short and factual manner. Examples of this can be found in the answers of Patricia and Melanie. Patricia simply states: “I wouldn’t know as I have never been there myself”, but she does continue to speculate a little when she continues with: “I imagine prison is more guarded though”. Her clear answer definitely falls within the non-experience category, but she sees no harm in uttering an expectation, as long as it is clear that it is just that. Melanie also clearly states her non-experience: “I couldn’t tell you how OITNB is representing prison life because I have nothing to compare it to given that none of us have been to prison”. However, she continues not with an expectation, but with a closing remark: “It’s just a TV show”. To Melanie realism in OITNB does not add or detract anything from the experience of watching the show with her friends. Expectations In the expectations group, most comments are based on the participants’ feelings and beliefs. In a rather generic way, the use the words “believe,” “feel,” and “think” to describe how the series’ represents the prison facility and life within. For instance, Gia, start off her answer with “in my opinion, I feel it is pretty accurate.” There is no real basis for this assertion, but only her personal feeling invites her to respond to the question. The same kind of engagement can be traced back in Piper Vause’s comment. She warrants us that she has no prison experience, but nonetheless attempts to answer the question by mentioning that she “feel[s] Orange is the New Black does a very good job portraying life in federal prison.” The emphasis on feel is important here as it signals that a presumption is being made. Hayleybob approaches the question from a different angle, starting off her answer with quite strong terminology - “well firstly it challenges misconceptions about people that go to prison because it shows that anyone can end up there, no matter their life previously” – but later resorts to a more feeling-based approach when stating that she “thinks” it is the normalcy portrayed that attracts people to the show. Feelings and beliefs are thus a very important factor in describing a series’ representation for many respondents. Furthermore, Marlin’s judgment of OITNB’s representation of prison life is merely based on what she “thinks” and “believes,” which suggests her evaluation of the show is not based on experience but rather on expectations she personally has. Her reference to Piper Kerman’s novel on which the series is based suggests these expectations of prison life are constructed through the consumption of representations. For instance, Marlin says that “you can tell from Piper Kerman’s book that […] in a minimum security prison […] education, emotional support, exercise […] are minimally offered, but in a very limited way.” Clearly, Marlin’s understanding of the prison experience is very much shaped by a book that is in itself a mediation of reality. She is not the only responder who bases her evaluation of the show’s representation of prison life on expectations seemingly constructed by other media presentations. Especially Kerman’s book is often used as a tool to judge OITNB’s accuracy in representing the actual prison experience. Responder Piper Vause says she first read the book, “and although Jenji Kohan [creator of OITNB] changed many events and added some drama, I found the basics of the series to be very true to the “feel” of the book.” She then goes on to describe how she believes the series represents actual prison life, and her rhetoric suggests she regards her belief to be the truth. For instance, she writes “I have no doubt about the corrupt guards” and “[the series’ producers] show us [the inmates] are real people.” Even though Piper Vause recognizes the textuality of OITNB, she regards facets of the series as “real” based on representations within the book she read. Some other responders refer to the book as well, and there are also many responders who refer to other media expressions to base their judgment on. Tina for instance, comments that she watched a documentary on prison life and, based on this documentary’s presentation of prison life, she argues some aspects of OITNB are accurate representations and others are not. Most of the responders base their judgment of OITNB’s representation on pre-established ideas of what constitutes ‘true’ prison life without referencing to actual prison life or facts they know about it. Often, they instead refer to previously consumed media portraying prison life. Even responders who claim to have some actual prison experience base the judgment of OITNB’s realism to some extend on ideas of reality constructed by other media. This suggests that even though fans recognize the series’ textuality and in many cases their own lack of actual prison experience, the judgment of the degree to which the series is representing true prison life is largely based on previously consumed media expressions nevertheless. Apparently, viewers judge the reality of a series with pre-existing ideas they have of prison life in mind that are constantly renegotiated while consuming representations of the prison experience. Clearly, viewers claim to be aware of OITNB’s textuality, even though many of the series’ aspects are still taken as truth if they confirm pre-established ideas of reality. However, these ideas are themselves mostly based on media representations that can never be “direct, immediate reproduction[s] or reflection[s] of an ‘outside world’” (Ang 37). Indeed, viewers do believe that OITNB does represent true prison life to some extent, which suggests they do not fully separate actual prison life in the ‘outside world’ and its representation in various media expressions. This seems to confirm the Debordian notion that the true, observable world is being replaced by a variety of images that are presented and consumed as the observable, as reality. Debord argues that “everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation” (1). According to Debord, we have lost our ability to think critically as we immediately identify with the outer world, which is a world defined by images and is therefore not ‘true,’ for it is a mere representation of reality that no longer exists (9, 12). Viewers, or ‘spectators,’ passively accept the dominant images presented to them by the mass media and ignore that presented messages are very much mediated (12, 24). Our research suggests that even when media consumers are heavily involved and actively think about the accuracy of a given media expression’s representation of reality, they still do not distinguish texts and images from reality. In fact, books, documentaries and other mediations are used to judge other text’s ‘realism’ and are thus quite passively accepted as constituting reality themselves.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 10:56:25 +0000
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