Sorry but I am just not seeing the racism angle in Suzanne’s story. Her parents not exposing to to “Black culture” is not what made her crazy. She has some kind of mental problem that was there all her life. You don’t become schizophrenic/bipolar/whatever she would be diagnosed as just because you’re a black kid brought up by white parents.
Yeah, I didn’t see racism in Suzanne’s story either. I saw parents who were trying their best with an adopted child who had lots of problems. Their approach, however well-intentioned, probably added to her issues or intensified them, but I think they truly loved her and thought they were doing the best for her. And maybe they were just too close to the problems to see them.
I felt really sorry for Suzanne at the end of the season. V really screwed her up. I hope next season has an arc that shows her getting a handle on her demons somehow.
Perhaps I should clarify. I’m not saying that lack of access to black culture made her crazy. Though it was important and would have been beneficial to her as evident from the fact that she kept the same hairstyle from when she was 4 and it was done up by the black nurse.
What I am saying is that she was always different and emotionally stunted and that wasn’t helped by her family refusing to acknowledge those differences and blaming everyone else for seeing race as the issue. So they kept telling her “you’re perfect just the way you are,” when she clearly wasn’t. She needed help and wasn’t given it. Her parents considered it a problem with society for not accepting her when it was much more than that.
Last night on PBS there was a great piece about the racial divide in Milwaukee. Blacks and whites seemed to be genuinely concerned about the huge disparity in income, access to housing, education, and health services. And yet whites were scratching their heads, wondering why?? Why did blacks do so poorly relative to them and the national average on income and health levels? The answer? According to a black reverend in the community they had no voice. Whenever there was an issue on the table that concerned them, nobody asked how they felt about it, or how they should deal with it. The white population assumed it was their responsibility to tell them what to do. This paternalistic attitude is prevelant not only in a black white disparity, but in hispanic and native communities as well. Paternalism’s roots are clearly racism, sexism, and any other kind of ism.
So, Mummy and Daddy were imposing their will on little black Suzanne because they thought they knew what was best. But they never asked her what she thought. It’s interesting to me that posters assume that Suzanne was fucked up before her white parents adopted her. That’s an assumption and it could be possible, and yet what was demonstrated on the show? What was evident is that everytime Suzanne opened her mouth she was silenced by her white family, and when they pushed to be their dancing bear by addressing the commencement, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t feel worthy.
I agree with all of this.
I think the writers ccould have made all of this a bit clearer by inserting another flashback. Maybe one that showed her parents being urged by a teacher or a school administrator to have Suzanne tested.
No one becomes mentally ill because their parents encouraged them to go to sleepovers or make speeches.
You blame everyone else for making assumptions without evidence in the show, and then you go and say that every time Suzanne opened her mouth she was “silenced by her white family.” Where is the evidence for that?
Yeah, but that’s not racist. That’s just plain old garden-variety denial. Lots of kids of all races, in all sorts of families, don’t get tested for all sorts of stuff because the parents just can’t/don’t/won’t see what’s right in front of them. They think there’s not a problem, or the problem’s not nearly so serious as it is, or that the problem is something completely different from what it is, or that they and only they know the solution to the issue. Sometimes they just honestly don’t see because they’re too close to the issue, sometimes they won’t see because they don’t want their kid labeled, or to accept the reality of what their child’s future is likely to be. I’m watching it play out right now with a cousin who’s fighting tooth and nail to keep her 6 year old who still wears Pull-ups out of a special ed classroom because she just knows that with enough time and patience and interventions he can succeed in a regular classroom.
I’m loving it so far.
So the not knowing which part the pee comes out of…? I’m confused. Really? Pee coming out if the vagina?? One person who doesn’t know seems a possibility, but nobody knowing?
Another thing I found quite odd was the smoking. Smoking reeks. You can smell it miles away and no amount of gum covers up the smell. It doesn’t even seem all that good as a trade because it’s too obvious. But maybe it really does work, somehow. Maybe all the guards smoke and so can’t smell it?
Not criticism, mind. Just stuff I found odd.
Well, yeah. Here on this very board we once had an established poster ask how the kidneys sort the solid waste from the liquid waste. Hell, just a couple years ago I had to draw a diagram for an intelligent, reasonably educated 22-yo because she wasn’t really clear on what and where stuff was. You gotta keep in mind that the age and SES of these women who were confused, they probably either didn’t have sex ed, or got the abstinence only version, and they may well have not paid attention in class even if the did have comprehensive sex ed. My gut says they’re probably not the type to thoroughly read the tampon insert, either. If you don’t learn at school, and your parents don’t know or won’t talk to you about your crotch, and you don’t read the little bit of information that comes your way, and you’ve never been face to face with a vulva…how are you gonna know? It’s not like most people are going to stick their hand into the pee stream to figure out where exactly it comes from.
And some people did know–Poussey, Crazy Eyes, and Sophia. The first two had a middle-class upbringing/education and active, involved parents, so they were far more likely to have gotten comprehensive sex ed at school and had moms who could and would teach them about their bodies. And they’re also gay, so they’ve actually seen female genitalia. The last one got to custom-order her own lady junk, and even if she didn’t already know all the details, she would have learned during the lead-up to her reassignment surgery.
I suppose… I was thinking more, though, that when you stand up suddenly you can feel your period blood moving down. That feels really different from peeing and pushing or holding up does very little. How do you not notice that?!
Oh well, I’m sure you’re right! Fighting ignorance eh, you’ve got to start fighting ignorance about what ignorance there is in the world… :eek:
As a smoker, the tobacco smuggling also seemed odd to me, but then if you think about it the powers that be probably just don’t give enough of a fuck even if they know there’s some contraband coming in, as long as it’s not hard drugs or weapons. Everybody knows there’s some “illegal” mascara & similar coming in somehow, too. Who cares ?
Why would mascara be illegal anyway? Is it breaking the prison commissary’s monopoly on mascara sales? Or is it … weapons-grade mascara?
Oops, double post.
Suzanne could have been a crack baby. A friends brother and sister in law fostered a crack baby. They were white, Christopher was black/hispanic. Eventually, they adopted him. He was different, but very sweet. How many 3 year old boys, still in diapers, come up to give a good night kiss to a man they don’t know, but he’s visiting at grandma and grandpa’s, so he gets a kiss like all his aunts, uncles, and cousins do?
Yes, season 2 the black inmates were more human then they seemed at the beginning of season 1. I figure that’s because at the beginning of season 1, Piper was the protagonist and we were seeing the others through Piper’s filters.
I wonder how much of Daya’s stuff was due to her being moody because of her pregnancy or was she playing the CO father? Or some combination of the two?
As for makeup being contraband, why not? I guess a mascara wand could be sharpened into a shiv and a lipstick tube might have alternative uses. And the COs not enforcing the ban? That makes sense. It means to them that when they feel the need to, they’ve got an infraction they can use to pressure an inmate or an excuse for a shakedown (as if they really need one.)
I like the way Lorna sort of set it up so Rosa could go out in her Blaze of Glory. Taking out Vee was just icing on the cake. And I liked the way Healy helped to exonerate Suzanne from the killing. Seemed out of character for him. He’s confusing.
Glad I’m not the only one finding Healy to be confusing. I’m feeling like he’s a good guy at his core, but his personal life definitely affects his work life, and he can’t seem to separate them. I don’t want to hate him - that’s what Fig and Pornstache were for!
How much longer till season 3???
It’s all down to his anger issues. All he was doing was lashing out at people for no reason, or over-reacting to small things. I don’t think he was any more confusing than that. He still had that resentment towards Chapman for her rejecting his crush so cruelly.
The way I figure it’s not so much that mascara or Lorna’s crimson lipstick are verboten per se, it’s just that the commissary probably only stocks a limited range of beauty products, probably no name brands, and presumably gouges prices since it’s the only game in town. So girls who want to get real purdy for one reason or another represent an untapped market.
Same probably goes for all small comforts - you want a shitty toothbrush that’ll disintegrate in a week, go to the commissary and fork out 20 bucks. You want a nice one that goes into every nook and cranny and lasts a while, you go see Red.
But maybe Healy actually banned make-up at some point in the past. Could lead to lesbian activities, dontchernow :p.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term “lipstick lesbian.”
Well that and he’s a homophobe, and like a good number of homophobes gets incredibly uncomfortable and insecure when it happens. Kind of a testament to the show that even a homophobe can be put in a good light.
Where the fuck are all the guards?: An Ex-Con Reviews Orange Is the New Black
I enjoyed reading this review. More like commentary, I’d say. Thought I’d share it here. It links to more commentary on later episodes, but I haven’t read those yet.