Mary Helen Porter

The Power of Scandal

 

Scandal, now in it’s fourth season on ABC, rewrites a leading lady’s role as complicated badass in heels and white sweaters. Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, is based on real life political crisis manager, Judy Smith (who co-produces the show). While controversies on the show’s realism has grown over the seasons, one thing is true about Scandal: it wrestles with complicated power struggles in Washington where personal moral and the common good for the nation are central conflicts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scandal's cast and characters are deeply diverse.The main character, Olivia Pope, is a powerful African-American women who remains sophisticated and classy in a world of dirty politics. The Vice President is a women. First Lady, Mellie, is more powerful than her permed hair will lead you to believe and is working her way up to the future first female president of the United States. White House Chief of Staff and Oliva’s long time friend, Cyrus Beene, is gay. All the meanwhile, President Fitzgerald Grant, or “Fitz,” is weaker than his country knows. Created by Shonda Rhimes, Scandal dramatizes the complex workings of power while openly pointing out the fact that all the characters on the show defy social expectations. But instead of just focusing on the color of Olivia’s skin, Cyrus’ sexuality, or Mellie’s and Fitz’s gender, Rhimes gives these characters power in the political atmosphere that is more potent than their demographics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the amounts of political power the characters have in Scandal, they often have to make decisions where they must place the needs of the common people over their own individual beliefs. This is where the personal and professional become entangled and the white hat becomes grey. In the episode, “Lawn Chair,” in season four of Scandal Olivia wrestles with an event similar to Ferguson. On the episode there is an activist, Marcus Walker played by Cornelius Smith Jr., who works against the government to use the situation as a political platform for himself. He acts as an ethical reminder to Olivia, and proposes questions that make Olivia reconsider how she should treat the emotionally complex situation:

 

Marcus: We live in the same city, Olivia, but this is probably the first time you ever stepped foot on this block. Probably never been to this neighborhood except to get grits from Reggie's or chicken and greens off of Wade Street.

Olivia: You have no idea what I'm about.

Marcus: You're about getting a white republican president elected twice. Excuse me if I don't buy you're a real down-ass chick.

Olivia: Big picture you and I want the same thing. You're just taking the path of most resistance to get there. It's not smart.

Marcus: We don't want the same thing. You want to put it to bed quietly, tell everyone on the hill that you came down to the Hood and you saved us. No thanks, Olivia. Your black card's not getting validated today.

 

While Marcus gives Olivia a tough pill to swallow, Olivia also knows that professionally she must defuse the situation so that a riot does not break loose a mile away from the white house. Conflicts like these are given to all the characters on this show, but it seems like Olivia is usually the only character who can successfully balance her morals and her duties. She is not irrational and has the power to fix scandals morally, ethically, and for the benefit of the masses. She is the character all of America wants to be amidst current conflicts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the mastermind behind the weaving of politically and socially current plots is Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes has been incredibly successful in her ability to hold a mirror up to society and paint dramatized situations that cause viewers to truly question their opinions on what is “right.”Along with topics of race, sexuality, and gender, Scandal also strongly promotes girl power and feminism. In all of Rhimes’ work she portrays strong women doing the jobs of men and showing them up in most cases. In Grey’s Anatomy, surgeon Meredith Grey; in How to Get Away With Murder, Professor Annalise Keating; in Private Practice, Dr. Addison Montgomery; and of course inScandal, Olivia Pope. In a magazine interview, Rhimes explains her thoughts when she created her women-driven series:

 

Most of the women I saw on TV didn't seem like people I actually knew. They felt like ideas of what women are.

 

Shonda Rhimes also expressed her strong position on feminism by stating:

 

This moment right here, me standing up here all brown with my boobs and my Thursday night of network television full of women of color, competitive women, strong women, women who own their bodies and whose lives revolve around their work instead of their men, women who are big dogs, that could only be happening right now.

 

Rhimes’ strong interest in social inequalities shines through all of her work, and are part of the reason why all her series are so popular with the common masses.

 

The powerful female personas that Rhimes creates bring rivals and men to their knees, and not just because they are beautiful. Olivia’s essence even caught “the most powerful man in world,” which, of course, caused a very controversial power struggle in the character’s personal and professional lives. This scene during the episode, “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” shows the complicated relationship between Olivia and the President, Fitz:

 

Olivia: Did you need something, Mr. President?

Fitz: The Sally Hemings-Thomas Jefferson comment was below the belt.

Olivia: Because it’s so untrue?

Fitz: You’re playing the race card because I’m in love with you? Come on! Don’t belittle us. It’s insulting and beneath you and design to drive me away. I’m not going away.

And later….

Fitz: You own me! You control me. I belong to you. You think I don’t want to be a better man? You think that I don’t want to dedicate myself to my marriage? You don’t think I want to be honorable? To be the man you voted for? I love you. I’m in love with you. You’re the love of my life. My every feeling is controlled by the look on your face. I can’t breathe without you. I can’t sleep without you. I wait for you, I watch for you. I exist for you. If I could escape all of this and run away with you? There’s no Sally and Thomas here. You’re nobody’s victim, Liv. I belong to you. We’re in this together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People are so obsessed with power, that any and all ideas of stereotype are easily defined when one has it. Olivia Pope has ‘power’ over the ‘strongest’ and most important man in the world, so she is able to do and say almost anything she wants. Olivia’s Sally Hemings-Thomas Jefferson comment really was below the belt because the tables are truly turned. Olivia owns Fitz, as Fitz declares. Olivia owns Fitz, the President of the United States. So in turn, Olivia owns the United States. The world is hers. But there is also responsibility that comes with her power. Whether or not she’s always responsible...well that is what makes Scandal so intriguing week after week.