Question Why are we fascinated by "Women in prison" tales?

Anyanka Bunny Slayer

Anyanka Bunny Slayer

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Black Thorn
I've never watched Orange is the New Black, but I have seen Prisoner: Cell Block H and a film called Born Innocent. Which leads me to the question of why are so many of us fascinated by tales of women in jail?
While I'm not at all familiar with Orange is the New Black, I do know that Prisoner: Cell Block H was extraordinarily popular back in the '70's. (Frankie!!!)
Also in the '70's was a tv movie called Born Innocent, which starred Linda (The Exorcist) Blair. It was the tale of a teenage troublemaker's experiences as the new inmate in a jail filled with really...unpleasant women. (The plumber's helper scene was quite disturbing!)
What is it about females in jail that draws in such an audience?
 
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It's probably a mix of media under-representation and genuine fascination. Not many people have been to prison, so that's intriguing in itself; what's prison life like for inmates and in addition there aren't as many female prisons as male prisons.

I think prison drama as a whole is popular because people want to know what it's like. Is it really as corrupt and hierarchical as its made out to be?
 
Well, there are plenty of 'men in prison' tales as well- though they tend to be grittier; Oz, Prison Break, a ton of movies of all styles and types.

Prison is just an available dramatic setting to focus on certain themes- exploration of imprisonment, a society within a society that has different rules, etc,
 
I love horror and exploitation movies, especially from the 70s, which is when a lot of the sleazy women in prison movies came out. I love them; they are right up my alley. They have sex and violence and depravity and shower scenes, chick fights, lesbians...stuff I love! Now Orange is the New Black is totally different, I love it because it's exciting and has really good characters and relationships, and talks about important issues. It's in no way exploitive. There are a lot of lesbians though😉 which can get graphic haha.
 
I LOVE prison stories. I don't really know why I have such a fascination with it, there's something quite unique about feeling compassion or empathy for a character that you should normally hate. Yes I do prefer the women genre, Wensworth (the remake of Cell Block H), OITNB, Unite 9 (quebec show, which is by FAR the most realistic take on the women in prison theme).

But I don't just watch fiction, I've seen probably 20+ documentaries about women and men in prison. I've also read books about people in prison. The best I've read was Enchanted, about prisoners on death row. I find the world inside prison is just really interesting to explore.

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I think people tend to like the theme because it plays to their subconscious preference to see women being controlled and restricted. Obviously a lot of the Western World is heading in the direction of freedom and equality and this genre speaks to a desire to see a return to more traditional values.
 
The Bronze said:
I think people tend to like the theme because it plays to their subconscious preference to see women being controlled and restricted. Obviously a lot of the Western World is heading in the direction of freedom and equality and this genre speaks to a desire to see a return to more traditional values.
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That couldn't be more untrue for me. It's quite the opposite, it makes you realize how different the system is for women compared to man. Most women that are in there are actually there because they come from a background where they were abused and used by men, so dealing with these women is a completely different world. What I've seen from documentaries is that dealing with women is less about control, and more about trying to deal with very broken individual, and it's that human aspect that I'm attracted too.

Now shows like Orange is the New Black aren't very representative, it's more so just a fun show with good diversity. But shows that try to be more realistic show a whole other side of the medal for women's prison, and a lot of what we see is the result of a man dominated world when women are pushed to do what they did by a man. It's not always the case, but it's still accurate for a large amount of the female population in prison.
 
It's not just women in prison, but prisons in general. That's partly why Alcatraz is so famous, people are just fascinated by prison life and the people that are locked up. Prison movies have been around for a long time. Escape from Alcatraz, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Last Castle, and the shows that were already mentioned. I think it's just the popularity of Orange Is The New Black that has made the prison genre popular again, it just happens to be the female perspective. I think it's like Blaze said. You can do different things and explore other stories in a women's prison, that maybe you can't do in a men's prison.
 
Never seen Orange is the New Black, but I loved Bad Girls as a teenager!

I do however also like watching the documentaries of things like that, Women Who Kill etc
 
Bluebird
Bluebird
I forgot all about Bad Girls until you mentioned it, I used to watch that too!
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