'Orphan Black' is Very Relevant to Women's Issues

BBC America's Orphan Black rocked the world of a lot of TV critics with its first season — from the tour de force performance by Tatiana Maslany, to the ever-unfolding intrigue, the end of the season's 10-episode run left most of the show's audience crying for more. But while we've still got many Orphan Black-less months ahead of us, the meantime can be spent reflecting on what the show's already given us. And according to Maslany, that's a hell of a metaphor for the modern women's right to her own body.

Maslany recently interviewed with TV Guide, talking about the show's second season (which starts filming at the end of September) and what it's like being one of the most talked-about Emmy snubs of the summer. She also discussed the late-in-the-game reveal last season that the clones (of which Maslany plays all) have been patented by their creators. It's a big deal, both in terms of how the characters move forward from that point and in relation to its real-world allegory:

It resonates differently for each of [the clones]. There’s something about that idea of ownership over your body that I feel is quite resonant to women. It’s so interesting that it’s in the context of clones, but it’s all women dealing with this idea of, “Do I own my body? Is my body mine? Who am I if I don’t own my body? Who am I if somebody else has decided all this stuff?” I think Sarah is a fiercely rebellious person, so anybody putting her in a box is when she’ll lose her sh—. Cosima is fascinated with this concept because of the science of it and because of the way that she can break things down and understand them better. Alison bought into it. It’s cool that they all deal with it very differently.

In a society where a woman's ownership over her own body is still being debated so publicly and often, it's interesting to watch the sci-fi version play out in front of us. And given that we've still only seen the first season, it'll probably be even more interesting seeing where this all goes — in the sci-fi world and in our own.