3. Olivia Pope As Problematic and Paradoxical

RACHEL ALICIA GRIFFIN

3. OLIVIA POPE AS PROBLEMATIC AND PARADOXICAL

A Black Feminist Critique of Scandal’s “Mammification”

For seven seasons, ABC’s Scandal (Rhimes, 2012–2018) flourished as a primetime Washington D.C./Beltway thriller that millions watched weekly. Of great significance amid Scandal’s success is that Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, was the first Black female lead character in a network drama since Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love! in 1974 (Powell, 2013). Articulating the Shondaland show’s significance, Obell (2018) says, “there have been more black women leads on network TV… since Scandal’s debut than ever in history, suggesting that increasing blackness on television may be OPA’s [Olivia Pope & Associates] greatest “fix” of all.” Exemplary of this shift in television are the enduring lead and supporting roles of Viola Davis and Aja Naomi King on How to Get Away with Murder (2014–), Tracee Ellis Ross and Yara Shahidi on ABC’s black-ish (2014–), Taraji P. Henson on Empire (2015–), and Angela Bassett on Fox’s 9-1-1 (2018–). As such, Scandal can be understood as a phenomenal turning point of cultural progress with regard to Black female representation. Alongside Scandal’s trailblazing industry influence, it has also been critiqued as highly problematic insofar as its advocacy for colorblind and post-racial ideology (Chaney & Robertson, 2016; Washington & Harris, 2018). Equally troubling are the pronounced traces of “controlling images” (Collins, 2009, p. 76), such as the mammy and jezebel, which toil to confine Olivia to historically situated and oppressive caricatures of Black femininity. To situate Scandal as emblematic of paradoxical popular culture (i.e., a television show that is both progressive and problematic), I begin with an overview of the presence and absence of Black women in U.S. American television followed by a description of the show focused primarily on Olivia Pope. Second, I situate Black feminist thought (Collins, 2009, 2016) as theory and Black feminist spectatorship (hooks, 1992) as method to foster a critical interpretation of Olivia at the intersections of race, gender, and class. Next,

I theorize how Scandal’s storylines, Olivia’s character, and the series’ finale evoke and undermine the mammy archetype. Embracing the paradox, I first interrogate the “mammification” (Omolade, 1994, p. 54) of Olivia’s career as a political fixer, and then highlight how the personal and professional intricacies of her life incite “de-mammification” (Omolade, 1994, p. 37). Finally, I reflect on Scandal as a show that, albeit paradoxically troubling, importantly challenges essentialist portrayals of Black womanhood.

BLACK WOMEN, MEDIATED REPRESENTATION, AND OUR PRESENT ABSENCE Critical scholars concerned with representations of marginalized identity groups, such as Black women, insist upon the critique of media as a powerful social institution (Allison, 2016; Goldman, Ford, Harris, & Howard, 2014; hooks, 1992; Smith-Shomade, 2002; Squires, 2009). Underscoring media as a means to ideologically denigrate Black femininity, scholars have long challenged negative representations of Black women and girls (Bennett & Griffin, 2016; Coleman, 2000; Griffin, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015; Smith-Shomade, 2002). Despite such efforts, controlling imagery remains customary and profitable. Drawing upon Mullings (1997), Collins (2009) defines controlling images as stereotypical scripts that “not only subjugate U.S. Black women but are key in maintaining intersecting oppressions” (p. 77). Foundationally established via slavery and continually reproduced and repurposed ever since, controlling images function to justify (at minimum) racist and sexist oppression (Collins, 2009). For Black women, such imagery includes the: mammy, jezebel, sapphire, amazon, matriarch, welfare queen, gold digger, Black bitch, superwoman, freak, hoe, and hoodrat (Collins, -RUGDQ=DFKHU\ :KLOH HDFK FRQWUROOLQJ LPDJH LV contextually unique, they are also interrelated and can overlap (Collins, 2009). Of importance to underscore is that they all necessitate culturally deficient representations of Black femininity in that each is characterized by at least one trait that naturalizes Black female inferiority, deviance, and/ or contemptibility. Therefore, when depicted in alignment with controlling imagery, Black women are never fully within reach of dignity, integrity, intelligence, respect, admiration, or compassion. While Black female characters may not be fully confined to any one controlling image, it is vital to expose how controlling images problematically linger in contemporary media, particularly in depictions of powerful, awe- inspiring cisgender Black women like Olivia Pope. Pronounced traces of