Standing in the Sun: Scandal and the Messages of Representation to Women of Color
Standing in the Sun — the truth — is the strongest weapon a gladiator could ever get. (Originally published in Kahuna Printed, May 2018)
In the silver screen’s 80-plus years in American households, the ability to transcend boundaries between the television reality and that of our own is rare because what’s seen on TV has become what we want in the real world, but far from reality. Ever since its premiere on April 5, 2012, Scandal, which forged a previously unpronounced message into television history over its 6 year-run, managed to do what seemed unlikely: be both far and close to reality.
Just like in the Scandal Universe, the timeline of events surrounding the show are important to analyzing how the trailblazing series came to be. The idea came to development from a meeting between Shonda Rhimes and Judy Smith, then VP of Communications at NBC, in 2009. Up to that point, Shonda already had an illustrious career in film directing and writing for the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith, Julie Andrews, and Britney Spears; and in television, as the creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and executive producer of Off the Map.
Outside of her work at NBC, Smith was best known as the “fixer” that guided George H.W. Bush through many issues he faced in the second half of his presidency, and then becoming a professional ‘fixer’ by founding the crisis management firm Smith & Company. Smith’s straightforward and honest reputation became the basis of the beloved lead character, Olivia Pope.
In the 1990s, while Smith was fixing the controversies around Washington’s elite, Kerry Washington was starring in commercials and taking dance lessons from fellow Bronx native Jennifer Lopez, making her onscreen debut in 1994 on an ABC After-School Special. Washington’s first significant role came with her guest appearances on Law & Order and NYPD Blue, both in 2001, by which time her cousin Colin Powell was also serving a President Bush, but instead as the first African American Secretary of State under the junior George W. Bush.
Fast forward nearly 10 years, when Washington is auditioning to play a Washington insider, just like her cousin Powell and Judy Smith; she began a journey of unprecedented leadership as not only her character Olivia, but as an African-American actress that would become the leader of her peers and the fulfilled dream of the many who came before her. While having starring roles in Ray, Fantastic Four, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and appearances on 100 Centre Street and Boston Legal on her resume, Washington was competing with the likes of Gabrielle Union and Taraji P. Henson for the dream role of black actresses everywhere — the chance to play a woman of color that was, as Olivia is referred to as often in the show, “Command”. A role of that magnitude came with unquestioned importance and leadership, and I believe it can be said that the power of the series’ top tagline “It’s Handled” would have had an altered effect coming from a non-black woman or even a black man.
But beside the stories of the women of color that preceded Scandal’s creation, the stories told by each episode dismiss the perception of their nature, and that of most African American women. Yes, Olivia Pope is power hungry, she is scornful, she is defiant, she is corrupt, as you would expect a person in her position to be; but she is also reasonable, emotional, rational, and honest — Olivia’s multidimensional ways show how magical she is while simultaneously humanizing her, coming together to form a female character of color that has never become the focus of a critically-acclaimed television show of this magnitude.
It’s clear that Olivia’s affair-turned-relationship with the show’s President, Fitzgerald Grant, is inspired by a different President-Aide relationship: that of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, which bought the nation to its knees in the late 1990s. Judy Smith personally escorted Lewinsky through press to the capitol during the impeachment trial of Clinton and was part of her immunity deal; now, a character based upon her is the subject of such an improper relationship. Yet, it can be construed that the TV version of that affair was more controversial than the actual one. There were many differences between them — The Fitz/Olivia relationship, colloquially known as “Olitz”, was sustained and played a role in the President’s eventual divorce of his wife, Mellie; as opposed to President Clinton’s denial of a full sexual relationship with Lewinsky, which, at worst, occurred on a number of separate incidents while Hillary and Bill stayed together through this situation and worse scandals. The ‘Olitz’ relationship was also controversial because it was interracial, and until recent times, that itself was socially unacceptable; but the significant component is the dynamic of power between the two. Even though Fitz needs Olivia, and Olivia is considered the most powerful person in the Capitol, behind closed doors her power is only profitable at the mercy of the President. Even at the end of the show, when Mellie gains control of the Oval, she fights for control with Olivia, but firing her proves the first female President couldn’t compete with Olivia Pope’s influence.
The dynamics of the Fitz-Olivia relationship sometimes make the viewer uncomfortable because of Fitz’s controlling ways. He is very controlling and forceful over Olivia as if she were a trophy, a euphemism Olivia and others make note of throughout the series. This goes beyond the usual unequal boss-worker pairing; the ‘controlling white man’/’Amazon Chaser’ allegory is as old as film is, and it is eerily similar to previous, questionable interracial representations (i.e. Monster’s Ball, King Kong) that understandably makes numerous people uncomfortable. During the time when the show was in the Top 20 of viewership during Seasons 3–5, this stigma was debated with a 2013 article in Jezebel labeling the relationship as “more like emotional abuse”. Admittedly, it would have been nice to go more than 2 weeks without their sex life being forced down our throats. I would go as far as to say that their relationship is even Get Out-like, disturbing and maybe nauseating at times; that makes this dynamic even more necessary in present-day television. Representation of black women has become more frequent and, more importantly, more realistic, without the necessity of a white man to co-sign them. For example, the Shonda Rhimes-produced How to Get Away with Murder (HTGAWM), features Annalise Keating, another ‘Command’-like black woman played by Viola Davis, who wields just as much strength and influence after the murder of her white husband, Sam.
Scandal’s cast, with the exception of Columbus Short and Henry Ian Cusick, stayed together for the majority for of its run. The mix of races among the casting took away the idea that a show had to be exclusively white or exclusively black-casted was divested. Without it, we would not have had the casting advances we have made in today’s cinematic industry, or we wouldn’t have a HTGAWM. The biggest message sent from the series is that standing in the sun — the truth — is the strongest weapon a gladiator could ever get; but its biggest reminder is that even when you cross that finish line, there is so much further to go on your journey, just like there is much farther to go on our paths as individuals and as a community. Representation of People of Color, especially women, is still far from perfect, but the increased efforts like Scandal show that we are closer to ‘fixing’ these issues and moving in the right direction.
References
- http://www.judysmith.com/aboutJudySmith.php — http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Scandal
- http://abc.go.com/shows/scandal/news/scandal-sheet/7-powerful-olivia-pope-quotes-its-handled102215
— https://tv.avclub.com/how-scandal-became-the-perfect-distillation-of-america-1798237877
— https://jezebel.com/the-scandal-love-affair-is-more-like-emotional-abuse-1452181910
