Choices are inevitable in human life. There are always several options from which people must choose one. Fate determines the outcomes of choices-whether they will be good or bad. In Jenji Kohan’s movie; Orange Is the New Black, most decisions that characters make cause them many problems. The main character and her friend Alex, however, get into trouble despite working hard to avoid problems. Kate Zernike argues that no one could save these characters from their fate (Par. 1). The court gives her a jail term she had wanted to avoid.
Piper Kerman, the protagonist, gets a fifteen-month jail term for an action she did ten years ago (Goldberg Par. 3). At the beginning of the movie, there is a sex scene involving Piper and Alex. According to Stuever, this scene is only a flashback meant to inform the audience about the homosexual relationship that existed between them ten years before (Par. 5). Piper has moved on and is planning to have a good future with his boyfriend, Larry.
Alex reports to the authorities that Piper had taken part in transporting drug money (Stuever Par. 3). The authorities arrest her, and she suffers for her choice; doing an illegal business. The decision to sentence her is not fair. The judge does not consider her current situation. Stuever admits that judges make such decisions all over the world (Par. 6)
Piper also faces stigma and a jail term because of homosexuality. A prison guard, Sam Healy, tells her, “…You do not have to have lesbian sex.” This statement is sarcastic. It mocks her former life as a lesbian. The lesbian relationship with Alex also lands her in the problems she faces (Stuever Par. 3). She had met Alex ten years before the beginning of the movie and had an intimate relationship with her. Alex introduced her to drug trafficking. However, when Alex goes to court, she reports Piper to the authorities, and she is also arrested and sentenced to fifteen months in jail.
There are other minor but equally costly choices that inmates make. They go through difficult moments because of such choices. When Piper, for example, dances with Alex, she is put in a solitary room for some time (Goodman Par. 3). When she leaves this room, she goes to Alex, and the two have sex straight away. This choice forces her to go against her vow to begrudge Alex for telling the authorities that she was a drug mule. Other characters also make their bad choices. Candace Jackson hopes that Poussey and Taystee will reconcile after choosing to confront each other in the library (Par. 16).
In summary, all decisions that people make in life always affect their future lives. However, it is not possible for people to only make the right decisions. Sometimes, they make decisions that cause them pain. Characters in Orange Is the New Black go through many problems because of their choices. Society is partly to blame for their predicaments because it treats them very harshly. It is, for example, unfair for an inmate to report Alex and Piper to the guard when they are not having sex as she alleges. 90% of the respondents in a recent survey think that Orange Is the New Black is Kohan’s most relevant movie series. Piper Kerman, for example, says that she and most Americans detest the use of solitary rooms in prisons (Cabrera Par. 4).
Works Cited
Cabrera, Marquis. “Obama and Tumbulr’s Karp Avoid Orange is The New Black.” Huffpost. 2014. Web.
Goldberg, Lesley. “Netflix Sets Premiere Date for Jenji Kohan’s ‘Orange is the New Black”. The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter Mag. 2013. Web.
Goodman, Tim. “Orange is the New Black: Review.” The Hollywood Reporter. The Weekly Report Mag. 2014. Web.
Stuever, Hank. “Netflix’s Orange is the New Black: Brilliance behind bars.” The Washington Post. 2013. Web.
Zernike, Kate. “Orange is the New Black Recap: Taystee! How Could You?” New York Times. 2014. Web.