Piper Chapman

Piper Chapman
Orange Is the New Black character

Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman in a promotional poster for Orange Is the New Black
First appearance "I Wasn't Ready"
Season 1, episode 1
July 11, 2013
Portrayed by Taylor Schilling
Clare Foley (young Piper)
Information
Family Carol Chapman (mother)
Bill Chapman (father)
Cal Chapman (brother)
Celeste Chapman (grandmother)
Significant other(s) Larry Bloom (fiance)
Alex Vause (lover)

Piper Chapman is a fictional character played by Taylor Schilling on the comedy-drama Orange Is the New Black. A bisexual woman (and eventual inmate), she is engaged to Larry Bloom (played by Jason Biggs), has a lesbian past with Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) and is based on Piper Kerman.[1] Schilling was nominated for awards in both comedy and drama categories for this role.

Basis

Boston-bred and Smith College grad,[2] Kerman got involved in a lesbian relationship with an international drug smuggler who lured her into the life.[1] Chapman's fictionalized lesbian lover Alex Vause is based on Catherine Cleary Wolters whom Kerman met in approximately 1991 in Northampton, Massachusetts.[2] Eventually, 24-year-old Kerman flew a suitcase of money from the United States to Belgium for a West African drug lord and was named 5 years later as part of the drug ring.[1] In fact, as part of her plea bargain, she has declared that she made three overseas trips on behalf of the drug ring.[3] After years of lesbian lifestyle Kerman met Larry Smith and got engaged before being charged by the feds in 1998 and striking a deal. She spent 13 months in a Danbury, Connecticut women's prison.[2] Kerman actually had a six-year delay between being sentenced to prison and entering prison in 2004. The show is based on Kerman's 2010 book Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison about her year in a minimum security federal women's prison.[1] Chapman's fictionalized fiance, Larry Bloom, is based on Kerman's real life love interest and eventual husband, Larry Smith.[4]

Fictional background

Chapman is a WASPy Connecticut former debutante who is sentenced to prison.[5] Prior to prison, Chapman was a 32-year-old Yuppie artisanal bath soap business owner in Brooklyn who had a cozy life with her nice guy fiance.[6]

Storylines

Season 1

Chapman, who is engaged to Bloom, is sentenced to 15 months in prison for a crime committed 10 years earlier with Vause. She leaves behind her comfortable lifestyle and fiance. At Litchfield Prison, Chapman is at odds with prison matriarch Red (Kate Mulgrew) who leads a faction at the prison cafeteria. She also discovers Vause is sentenced to the same prison. As Red starves Chapman, the other inmates are too intimidated to help except for Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba). Nonetheless, Chapman resists Crazy Eyes' subsequent advances. Chapman is assigned to the prison electrical workshop and accidentally steals a screwdriver. A nervous Miss Claudette (Michelle Hurst) helps her evade the guards' searches. Chapman gets felt up by George "Pornstache" Mendez (Pablo Schreiber) and offers to review appeal letters of other inmates. While in the prison yard, Chapman spots a chicken that becomes a focus of the inmates. Although Bloom learns that Vause was the informant who gave Chapman up, he does not share this information with Chapman. Chapman then rekindles her relationship with Vause. Meanwhile, writer Bloom pursues good stories about Chapman's incarceration as their relationship fades. Once Chapman gets elected to the prison council, she finds that the only change she is able to make is to get the track reopened for Janae Watson (Vicky Jeudy) who was put in solitary confinement during the screwdriver incident. Vause keeps the peace between Chapman and Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett (Taryn Manning). When Bloom's article about prison life gets published, Chapman is not happy. Prison guard Sam Healy (Michael J. Harney) begins to treat Chapman harshly. Vause and Chapman become intimate. Doggett reports this to Healy, who puts Chapman in solitary and seems to inform Bloom. Bloom gives an NPR interview that is harsh on Lichtfield. He reveals that Vause was the informant and Chapman reveals that she is back with Vause. Vause says that she gave Chapman up because of their breakup and now that they have rekindled she forces Chapman to choose between her and Bloom. Chapman evades Doggett's attempt to baptize her, which causes Doggett to view her as an anti-Christ-loving foe. Chapman chooses Bloom, but Vause breaks them up and spurns Chapman. When Doggett attacks Chapman with a shiv, Chapman beats her down.[7][8]

Season 2

Chapman was flown to Chicago to serve as a witness against the drug lord who had been her and Vause's boss.[9] There, she spends time in a maximum security prison with dangerous violence.[10] Also in episode 1, "Thirsty Bird", we see Chapman as a young girl (Claire Foley) in a flashback.[11] Vause managed to get in Piper's head and mess her up. In episode 3, "Hugs Can Be Deceiving", we find out that Crazy Eyes had run outside and knocked Chapman unconscious after she had beaten Doggett unconscious at the end of season 1. In episode 6, "You Also Have a Pizza", Chapman is tasked with starting a newsletter and investigating the financial goings on at the prison.[9] Chapman earned a furlough. At home in New York City, she realized that Larry had lost interest in her. She also had developed compassion for Red and when she discovered that Red's business on the outside had closed down, decided not to reveal it to her. Chapman mingled with Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne). Chapman was also able to get Larry and Polly Harper (Maria Dizzia) to expose Vause to her parole officer.[12]

Critical commentary

According to Todd VanDerWerff of Vox Media's Vox.com Chapman was a character with "tricky contradictions and likability issues".[13] In reviewing season 1, Matthew Wolfson Slant Magazine describes Chapman as "a familiar vessel through which to comprehend prison's unfamiliar terrain".[14] Over the course of the first season, the show becomes less focused on Chapman, according to James Poniewozik of Time.[15] According to Chelsea White of The Daily Mail, Schilling is "believable as a misguided rich girl who becomes an international drug smuggler in search of excitement landing her in jail".[16] The Boston Globe describes Chapman's assimilation into prison as a display of "Martha Stewart-like efforts to survive".[6] At the time of the Golden Globe Award nomination, Entertainment Weekly described Chapman in prison as a woman who was "totally out of her element" and said that the role was dichotomous with demands to "vacillate between being sympathy-worthy and trying fans’ patience with Chapman’s entitlement".[17] According to Tom Meltzer of The Guardian, "Chapman's romantic and rebellious re-awakening drives the show" in what he describes as its "Kafka-esque" setting.[18]

As he reviewed season 2, The Huffington Post Canada entertainment editor Chris Jancelewicz, noted that "Schilling's deadpan expressions and snap comedic timing help us empathize and grow to love her" as her character became more understandable.[19] By season 2, Piper remained a main character of an ensemble cast but not the central character according to IGN's Matt Fowler.[20] According to Liz Raftery of TV Guide says "There's a lot going on in Season 2 of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black, and very little of it has to do with Piper Chapman".[21] Raftery noted that while, Chapman had been the central protagonist by design in season one, the focus of the show was distributed away from her in season 2.[21]

Schilling has been nominated for awards in both comedy and drama categories: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and Best Actress – Television Series Drama at the 71st Golden Globe Awards and won Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy at the 18th Satellite Awards for her season 1 performance.[22][23][24] Her season 2 performance earned a 72nd Golden Globe Awards nomination for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.[25]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Behind 'The New Black': The Real Piper's Prison Story". NPR. 2013-08-12. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Carswell, Sue (2014-04-15). "The Real Alex of Orange Is the New Black Speaks for the First Time: “I Was Not Piper’s First, and I Certainly Did Not Seduce Her”". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  3. ↑ Heinzmann, David (2013-11-14). "'Orange is New Black' drug case still open in Chicago federal court". Chicago Tribune. p. 2 (online). Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  4. ↑ May, Meredith (2014-07-27). "'Orange Is the New Black' TV series reflects couple's reality". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  5. ↑ Stern, Marlow (2013-07-30). "‘Orange Is the New Black’ Star Taylor Schilling on Her Path to Prison". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gilbert, Matthew (2013-07-10). "‘Orange Is the New Black’: Yuppie, interrupted". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  7. ↑ Hooton, Christopher (2014-06-04). "Orange Is The New Black: Season 1 recap ahead of the new episodes". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  8. ↑ Schaefer, Megan (2014-06-03). "'Orange Is The New Black' Season 1 Recap: Everything To Know Before The Season 2 Premiere". International Business Times. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Surette, Tim. "Orange Is the New Black Season 2 Review, Part 1 (Episodes 1-6): Conflict Over Community". TV.com. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  10. ↑ Jancelewicz, Chris. "Taylor Schilling, 'Orange Is The New Black' Star, On Season 2 And Playing The Ever-Evolving Piper". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  11. ↑ "Orange is the New Black Season 2 Episode 1: Thirsty Bird". TV.com. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  12. ↑ Surette, Tim. "Orange Is the New Black Season 2 Review, Part 2 (Episodes 7-13): Fight the Power". TV.com. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  13. ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd (2014-08-25). "Here’s who will win, might win, and should win at the Emmys". Vox.com. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  14. ↑ Wolfson, Matthew (2013-07-16). "Orange Is the New Black: Season One". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  15. ↑ Poniewozik, James (2013-07-25). "Dead Tree Alert: Orange Is the New Black Is the New Way of Talking About TV: Netflix's newest and best series is powerfully about community. But it's also, for better or worse, changing the community of the TV watercooler". Time. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  16. ↑ White, Chelsea (2013-10-02). "Spot the difference! Orange Is The New Black star Taylor Schilling brings the real Piper Chapman as her red carpet date". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  17. ↑ Strecker, Erin (2013-12-12). "Taylor Schilling on her Golden Globes nomination: 'This whole thing feels like a dream'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  18. ↑ Meltzer, Tom (2013-12-17). "The best TV of 2013: No 6 – Orange is the New Black (Netflix)". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  19. ↑ Jancelewicz, Chris (2014-07-03). "Orange Is The New Black Review: Time Behind Bars Shouldn't Be This Fun". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 2014-10-06.
  20. ↑ Fowler, Matt (2014-06-14). "Orange is the New Black: Season 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Raftery, Liz (2014-08-05). "OITNB: Do You Love or Hate Piper? Taylor Schilling Says She’s “Just Being Herself”". TV Guide. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  22. ↑ "Primetime Emmy Awards 2014: The winners list". CNN. August 26, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  23. ↑ Farley, Christopher John (2013-12-12). "Golden Globes Nominations 2014: ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘American Hustle’ Lead Field". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
  24. ↑ Kilday, Gregg (2014-02-23). "Satellite Awards: '12 Years a Slave' Wins Best Motion Picture". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
  25. ↑ Mitovich, Matt Webb (December 11, 2014). "Golden Globes: Fargo, True Detective Lead Nominations; Jane the Virgin, Transparent Score Multiple Nods". TVLine. Retrieved December 11, 2014.