Roommates, how many of you binge-watched season four of #OITNB last week? I finished it in a day and by the time I got to the last episode, I had no edges, I was angry, and quite frankly, I was speechless.
This show does a really great job of exploring social justice issues that this country sweeps under the rug such as police brutality, racism, LGBTQ rights and even mysterious, unjustified police killings.
Speaking of the latter, #OITNB’s Samira Wiley, who plays everyone’s favorite character Poussey, spoke to Cosmopolitan about this season’s most gut-wrenching moment. *Spoiler Alert* In the very last episode, Poussey is killed by one of the guards, but the prison acts as if it never happened! The rest of the episode illustrates how easy it is for prison deaths to occur and even worse, how easy it is for people to turn a blind eye to the issue altogether.
When Cosmo’s Bené Viera inquired whether or not Wiley is getting tired of discussing this topic yet, she says no and explains that the conversation is super necessary. “It’s such a powerful story that me and the show are trying to tell, and I’m happy to have the conversation with people,” she said. “It’s a conversation that needs to be had. I knew that people were going to be so affected.”
Viewers were able to connect with the guard that killed Poussey, because he was definitely more kind than the others and that made this scene so much more difficult to digest. Wiley believes that by the writers choosing to construct this scene the way that they did allows for viewers to be more heavily convicted by what they’re seeing.
“I don’t think it would have less of an impact. I don’t. I think the feelings would be less complicated. It would be more cut and dry. I think it would be easier, and probably even [have inspired] more hatred, if it had happened that way. But I think in an ingenious way, the writing staff has made it complicated, as I say, just like life is. It’s not black-and-white; [it’s] all these different shades of gray, which is exactly what life is. And I feel like it’s our responsibility as artists to reflect what life is, and to try to bring truth to our stories.”
The reality is that these things happen all the time and we’d never know. I thought of Sandra Bland, Raynetta Turner, Kendra Chapman, Ralkina Jones and so many other women who have died behind bars with no justification. I personally appreciated that Orange Is the New Black included this scene.
You guys can check out the full interview at Cosmopolitan.com!
TSR STAFF: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on Instagram & @tallyohhh on Twitter!
Source: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/q-and-a/a60507/orange-is-the-new-black-samira-wiley-season-4-interview/
