Orange is the New Black tells stories of corruption, privilege and discrimination in the American criminal justice system. In its most recent season American Horror story tells the story of women rising together and the death of traditional female roles. What is the value or purpose of seeing contemporary issues played back to us in our entertainment? What does this do for us?
Love this! There's lots of other shows you can tap into for examples of this, too, and you can pretty much make a case for most shows having an underlying political or social message. I would encourage you to consider maybe honing in on one specific topic. Focusing on one topic, like the criminal justice system or traditional female roles, would allow for more room to explain the issue and why its being mirrored in entertainment media. I think it's interesting because we often think of television as "escapist" media, when it often comments upon timely social issues. – Eden6 years ago
a media is a reflection of the society its in. its fine to add realistic elements to shows and all forms of art have the right to spread a message and have themes. and for orange is the new black, i mean, the show is about prison, especially its system, in america.....i think its very much natural for them to talk about the justice system and everyone that is affected by it. – jayjayhutch6 years ago
Although it is important for art to represent its contemporary political climate, however, too much of it might be the end call for a piece of art. – AthenDawn6 years ago
An interesting topic. How we may develop attitudes and opinions about problems in real life can be helped along by how they are presented in a fictional way. – Joseph Cernik6 years ago
Media has always been a reflection of the society it was created in, and there have always been media works that held themes of contemporary issues. Unfortunately, with social media and the political climate today, at least in the U.S, there's a lot of people who believe these things are biased towards an agenda or trying to be preachy. I do agree that there's a lot of media that can come off as preachy, especially if not well executed, but having underlying political/social messages in a work doesn't automatically devalue it, unlike what many, many groups see it. If that were the case, then works such as 1984, Brave New World, any Shakespearean work, etc. are all bad. Different audiences have different tastes, and when they encounter a work that doesn't cater to them, that's when you get the complaints, especially from those who want all their entertainment to provide escapism. – ImperatorSage6 years ago