It’s a little shocking to see the back cover of this week’s People magazine (June 8). It’s an ad for “The Third Coming” (third season) of the women-in-prison drama Orange Is The New Black on Netflix. Fifteen female characters (and the faux female played by Charles “Laverne” Cox) are portrayed on Catholic devotional candles...despite the show’s less-than-religious tone. The show’s Facebook page has a version of it.
They also used the Catholic-candle theme in posters released a few weeks ago, and the site Screen Rant supportively wrote: “it plays even more into some of its religious satire that has been prevalent since the first season. However, while the poster keeps a comedic tone, it also speaks volumes in regards to what some of the characters are going through this season, specifically – what or who should they put their faith in?”
Certainly not God. The IMDb website notes the show’s central character is quite a skeptic, as she stated in Season One:
Piper Chapman: I believe in science. I believe in evolution. I believe in Nate Silver and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Christopher Hitchens. Although I do admit he could be a kind of an asshole. I cannot get behind some supreme being who weighs in on the Tony Awards while a million people get whacked with machetes. I don't believe a billion Indians are going to hell. I don't think we get cancer to learn life lessons, and I don't believe that people die young because God needs another angel. I think it's just bulls--t, and on some level, I think we all know that, I mean, don't you?... Look I understand that religion makes it easier to deal with all of the random sh--ty things that happen to us. And I wish I could get on that ride, I'm sure I would be happier. But I can't . Feeling aren't enough. I need it to be real.
The Catholic League recently reported the same tactic used by Comedy Central for their show Broad City. (The image of their two female characters with Sacred Heart images is here.) They've mocked religion as an excuse to get out of work. The Jewish newspaper Forward explained it thusly:
The two slackers’ main ambition seems to be to get money for pot and Li’l Wayne concert tickets. To help raise funds, Ilana places a Craigslist ad that reads: “We’re just 2 Jewesses tryin’ to make a buck.” They’re hired by a gentleman who wants them to clean his home while they are in their underwear — and he’s in diapers.
Their leader William Donohue protested it:
Now Viacom is pushing new buttons: their outdoor campaign in New York City includes a picture of a couple of gals from the Comedy Central show Broad City wearing an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the depiction appears inside votive candles and is posted on the outside of phone booths that line city sidewalks.
I know Viacom's first quarter ad sales are down 5 percent, and that they just laid off 264 employees in New York City, but nothing justifies ramping up their audience by exploiting Catholic iconography.
If they think we are overreacting, and that this is just fun and games, then they ought to demonstrate their much-vaunted fidelity to inclusion by posting Islamic iconography on street corners around the city.
