Orange Is the New Black was praised for its groundbreaking diversity, but it's also been criticized for exploiting its minority characters

Vox

There seemed to be a divide between white critics praising the groundbreaking Netflix series and critics of color finding it exploitative, says Emily Todd VanDerWerff. "Few doubted the show had good intentions in its hopes of telling stories about broader, more diverse experiences, but some argued that its good intentions nevertheless resulted in exploitative television that turned marginalized people’s struggles into just another storytelling point," says VanDerWerff. "And given that Orange Is the New Black’s writing staff across all seasons was almost entirely white, that criticism had more teeth than it might have on a show with more diverse representation behind the scenes." As one of OITNB's critics, Ashley Ray-Harris, explains: "It’s like there are two shows within Orange Is the New Black. If you want beautiful, moving character drama, watch the white characters: Elderly kitchen head Red faces dementia, Piper and her ex-fiancée Larry find closure, and lovable reprobate Pennsatucky spirals into a tragic arc. If you want 'topic of the week' political drama, the show uses its characters of colors’ arbitrary suffering to unfurl it, because headlines demand that they suffer in these ways. There are characters like Daya and Suzanne who have been able to bridge the gap between these two modes in past seasons. But the longer the show ran, and in the final season especially, the more it failed to straddle that line."