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Laura Prepon (L) and Taylor Schilling (R) in a scene from Netflix's "Orange is the New Black" Season 2. Photo credit: JoJo Whilden for Netflix
(JOJO WHILDEN)
KOCHVILLE TOWNSHIP, MI — Piper Chapman has taken the pop culture world by storm.
Now the character who leads the cast of the Netflix original series "Orange is the New Black" is also making a splash in academia.
Piper and her fellow female prison inmates at the fictional Litchfield Prison are the focus of a course offered at Saginaw Valley State University during the winter 2015 semester.
Kim Lacey
Assistant Professor of English Kim Lacey is teaching two sections of the Writing about Oppression on TV course that centers around "Orange is the New Black."
The show is based on the real-life story of Piper Kerman, who spent a year in a federal minimum-security prison in Connecticut.
The course, centered around the popular show, makes up two of 28 sections offered in the line of general education courses labeled Topics in Critical Writing.
According to Lacey, professors teaching the class get to pick the topics they delve into. She decided on the Netflix series, based on Kerman's memoir of the same name, for several reasons.
"I love it, and I wanted to keep talking about it," Lacey said.
More specifically, Lacey explained that she will dive into issues relating to race, gender, class and sexual orientation that are addressed in the plotlines of the show.
"I don't think we know how to have conversations — or more intelligent conversations — about those types of issues," she said.
Along with watching the two currently available seasons of the show in and outside of the classroom, students will use a textbook titled "Media Messages: What Film, Television, and Popular Music Teach Us About Race, Class Gender, And Sexual Orientation."
Both sections of the course, starting the week of Jan. 12, 2015, are filled.
Lacey has talked to some of the students who have registered for the class, most of whom are freshmen or sophomores.
"A lot of them really love the show," Lacey said. "They want a better understanding of what's going on."
Other Topics in Critical Writing Courses this season will focus on the Holocaust and fairy tales. Lacey is teaching one focused on detective fiction. In the past, zombies and happiness have both been popular topics, Lacey said.
Coincidentally, one of the stars of "Orange is the New Black" is scheduled to speak at SVSU during the winter semester.
Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset on the show, will speak Feb. 17, 2015, on campus.
"It actually happened separately," Lacey said. "It worked out perfectly."
Cox is a transgender woman who plays a transgender character in the show. Burset was named one of the most influential characters of 2013 by Time magazine.
"We'll be able to go to her talk," Lacey said. "She'll be talking about her transition."
At the end of the course, Lacey said she anticipates students will walk away with increased critical thinking and analysis skills.
"They'll be able to watch shows and have a greater understanding or a greater vocabulary to discuss them intelligently," she said. "These shows are actually commenting on things that are happening in our society."
Students bummed that they couldn't snag a seat in the course might want to look for Lacey's future offerings.
"Next year, I will be teaching a class on selfies," she said.
— Jessica Shepherd is an entertainment reporter with MLive/The Saginaw News. Contact her at 989-996-0687, email her at jessica_shepherd@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter or Facebook. You can also hear her Fridays at 8 a.m. on 102.5 WIOG's Nate and Rachel in the Morning.