Sorority flashback enforces clichés
The show: Orange Is the New Black, Season 5, Episode 3 The moment: The sorority shaming In a flashback, Linda from Purchasing (Beth Dover) is berated by Megs, a blond she-wolf sorority president, in front of the sisters. “Of course this ID didn’t fly at Liquor Barn,” Megs sneers. “It says you weigh 180. Any idiot knows Alpha Zeta Delta won’t consider girls above 135.”
Tearfully, Linda apologizes: “Your love and respect means everything to me.”
Megs stands on the coffee table. “All right, beeyotches,” she brays. “I’m still seeing a thousand N-O’s around this room. No hideous puffy coats. No pants. No flat-ass hair. I want to see volume when those Phi-Sigs walk in tonight.”
Her tone grows serious. “This is the meaning of sisterhood, right? We owe it to each other as strong, independent women — to maintain this chapter’s reputation as the raddest chicks on campus!”
Please tell me this is a j-o-k-e. Why does marginal Linda merit her own flashback during a serious, seasonlong prison riot?
And why is it so terrible, full of demeaning caricatures and ludicrous wigs?
In the prison scenes, meanwhile, the inmates learn that if they want to effect change they must work together. Democratically, they draw up a list of reasonable demands that focus on legitimate rights.
So is OITNB positing that Litchfield women possess a Nelson Mandela-like stoic grandeur, while women on the outside are hissing cats? I hope not.
Until now, the flashbacks have served to peel back layers of our prejudice, to show us that the inmates’ stories are more complicated than we thought. They’re supposed to blast clichés, not enforce them. Orange Is the New Black streams on Netflix. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on popculture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.