Interrogating Neoliberalism and Postfeminism in the Home: A Textual Analysis of Orange is the New Black
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Abstract
This paper intends to analyse the different ways Orange is the New Black (OITNB) engages with postfeminist and neoliberal ideas around the subject of domesticity. I will argue that when it comes to representations of the domestic worker and the housewife, neoliberal and postfeminist values conflict, thereby disrupting the notion that neoliberalism and postfeminism operate coherently. The paper will begin by mapping out some of the feminist debates around domestic labour, from the second wave to our current postfeminist culture. I will then analyse how this labour is represented in the show, OITNB, by focussing on the characters Miss Claudette and Lorna Morello as specific examples. I will conclude by asserting that the show complicates the relationship women can have to the domestic, and that this is a site where the relationship between neoliberalism and postfeminism is understood to conflict, thus disrupting previous assertions that the two consistently work in tandem.
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