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RACHEL ALICIA GRIFFIN

3. OLIVIA POPE AS PROBLEMATIC AND PARADOXICAL

A Black Feminist Critique of Scandal’s “Mammification”

Moving into its fourth season, ABC’s Scandal (Rhimes, 2012) has flourished as a primetime Washington D.C./Beltway thriller that millions watch weekly. Of great significance amid Scandal’s success is that Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, is the first Black female lead character in a network drama since Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love! in 1974 (Powell, 2013). As such, Scandal can be understood as an indication of cultural progress with regard to Black female representation. Conversely, the show can also be troubled as paradoxical given 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) 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, centering seasons one and two, I theorize how Scandal’s storylines and Olivia’s character 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 “demammification” (Omolade, 1994, p. 37). Finally, I reflect on Scandal as a show that, albeit troubling in some ways, 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 (hooks, 1992; SmithShomade, 2002; Squires, 2009). Underscoring media as a means to ideologically denigrate Black femininity, scholars have long challenged negative representations of Black women and girls (Coleman, 2000; Griffin, 2012, 2014; SmithShomade, 2002). Despite such efforts, controlling imagery remains

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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, 2005, 2009; JordanZachery, 2009). While each controlling image is 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 society, particularly in depictions of powerful, aweinspiring Black women like Olivia Pope. As previously mentioned, pronounced traces of the mammy and jezebel are present within Scandal’s storylines and Pope’s characteristics, interactions, and relationships. Relevant to this chapter is how Pope’s character both evokes and undermines the mammy caricature. According to Anderson (1997), “The icon of the mammy is probably the most recognizable and longest perpetuated image of African American women in American society, and it has been reproduced again and again on stage and screen” (p. 9). Historically, the mammy was depicted as an asexual, darkskinned Black woman

of robust physical size and stature who took great pleasure in caring for White individuals and/or families at the expense of herself and her family (Anderson, 1997; Collins, 2009). Committed and confined to servitude, a Black woman as mammy was, thought to be the ideal Black person largely because she was so deathly loyal to the Whites who owned her or to whom she was employed. She was presented as especially loving to the White children she was charged to rear. She could at times be feisty and display a little spunk, but this never interfered with her relationship with her White family (Coleman, 2000, p. 43). In contemporary U.S. American culture, the mammy remains a steadfast

archetype for representations of Black women but has been modernized to mirror societal changes (HarrisPerry, 2010; JordanZachery, 2009). Although portrayals of Black women are no longer caged by legalized slavery or segregation, nor solely confined to White households, Black female characters are still replete with servitude, obedience, selfsacrifice, caretaking, domesticity, and an allegiance to White people and White culture (BeauboeufLafontant, 2009; Collins, 2005). The widespread availability of mammy imagery signifies the omnipresence

of the controlling image. Take for example, the continued use of Aunt Jemima in

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advertising, Nellie Ruth as Nell Harper in Gimee a Break! (1981–1987), Oprah on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986–2011), S. Epatha Merkerson as Anita Van Buren on Law & Order (1990–2010), Jennifer Hudson in Sex and the City (2008), and Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise (Collins, 2005; HarrisPerry, 2010; Merritt & Cummings, 2014; SmithShomade, 2002). More recently, and more explicitly, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were the help in The Help (2011). The continued portrayal and celebration of Black women as mammies, alongside an equally disheartening parade of Black female characters as sapphires, jezebels, gold diggers, Black bitches, etc. (Collins, 2005, 2009; Zook, 2010), indicates the regularity of Black women being stereotypically depicted which signifies our present absence. To clarify, Black women are present in accordance with the dominant imagination but oftentimes unrecognizable to ourselves amid the considerable absence of characters scripted to defy racism and sexism. Since controlling imagery is readily available and dispensed with ease in U.S. American media and popular culture, negative stereotypes maintain a stronghold on how Black femininity is scripted – even in fiery and seemingly progressive shows such as Scandal.

SCANDAL AND OLIVIA POPE

Debuting in 2012 on ABC with a total of 29 episodes during the first two seasons, Scandal depicts shocking storylines immersed in crisis, deceit, and secrets. Early on we learn that Olivia Pope is a fixer who manages the crises of powerful Washington DC elites with the help of her associates. Referred to as “gladiators in suits,” each associate is, knowingly or unknowingly, indebted to Olivia as a beneficiary of her services. The gladiators are Harrison, Stephen, Abby, Huck, and Quinn. Narrating their role in relation to Olivia as their leader, Harrison says, “Gladiators don’t have feelings. We rush into battle. We’re soldiers. We get hurt in the fight, we suck it up and hold it down. We don’t question” (Rhimes, 2012). Drawing upon their individual talents and flaws, Pope & Associates is effective at eluding and controlling a broad range of crises including crime, infidelity, and disaster. Alongside Olivia’s avid leadership, a parallel storyline is her on again—off again affair with President Fitzgerald Grant (hereafter, Fitz). Since Black women are scarcely represented among lead and reoccurring roles

on primetime television series or within key crew positions such as producers and writers (Dates, 2005; SmithShomade, 2002), Scandal is unique. Not only because the Black female lead character was created by Black female executive producer, Shonda Rhimes; equally noteworthy, is that Rhimes’ creation of Olivia Pope was inspired by a Black woman named Judy Smith (Svetkey, 2013). Smith is a lawyer, crisis manager, and founder of Smith & Company, headquartered in Washington DC as a “fullservice crisis management and communications firm” (Smith & Company, 2012). Smith also serves as a coexecutive producer of Scandal alongside Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Tucker, 2012). Therefore, though quite atypical in the media industry, Olivia’s character is directly influenced by three Black women (i.e., Smith,

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Rhimes, and Washington) from multiple angles of the creative process. Spurred by this sadly unique context, Black feminist thought and Black feminist spectatorship are positioned as theory and method to deconstruct the paradoxical representation of Olivia Pope.

U.S. AMERICAN BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT AND BLACK FEMINIST SPECTATORSHIP

Primarily concerned with the oppressive forces of racism and sexism, “Black feminism is a social justice project advanced by African American women and their allies in defense of the interests of African American women” (Collins, 2013, p. 50). The overarching commitments of Black feminist thought (BFT) include: illuminating intersecting identities and systems of oppression, drawing upon individual and collective knowledge, challenging the imposition of inferiority, and exposing the prevalence of controlling imagery (Collins, 2009, 2013). As such, BFT offers a rich theoretical lens for Black women to engage with media and popular culture as Black feminist spectators interested in evaluating representations of Black femininity. hooks (1992) defines a Black feminist spectator as a Black woman who leverages

the “power in looking” (p. 115). To do so, Black feminist spectators engage with media and popular culture using an “oppositional” or “critical” gaze (hooks, 1992, p. 116) that pays “close attention to the intersections of identity, power of representation, and reproduction of domination” (Griffin, 2014, p. 172). Black feminist spectatorship not only fosters liberation from the confinement of controlling imagery, but also exposes how oppressive images continue to manifest despite “postfeminist” and “postracial” fanfare that situates sexism and racism decisively in the past. To learn how historically situated, but modernly meaningful, controlling images continue to manifest, deconstructing shows like Scandal, meaning those that appear to be solely empowering and reformist—is essential. Therefore, as a biracial Black and White, Black feminist spectator, I approach the first two seasons of the show asking: How does Olivia Pope, at the intersections of race, gender, and class, paradoxically reproduce and challenge the mammy as a controlling image? In response, I first deconstruct negative representations of Olivia that mammify her

career as a political fixer. Then, I analyze how the opposing force of demammification undermines Olivia being entirely collapsed into the mammy caricature, and subsequently accentuates her resistant embodiment of Black womanhood.

BLACK FEMINIST ANALYSIS: OLIVIA POPE AS A MAMMIFIED POLITICAL FIXER

At first glance, Olivia Pope’s economic status as an upperclass Black woman working alongside Washington DC’s elite ostensibly challenges the assertion that the mammy archetype shapes her career as a political fixer. On the contrary, “Irrespective of setting and job title, the mammy legacy continues to weave itself

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into the lives of nearly all Black women workers” (Omolade, 1994, p. 51). Echoing Omolade (1994), bell hooks reminds us that “the proverbial “mammy” cares for all the needs of others, particularly those most powerful” (hooks & West, 1991, p. 154). Cueing Olivia’s mammification at the root of her character development is her character biography on ABC, which reads: What makes Olivia Pope the best is that she doesn’t fix problems. She fixes

clients. She fixes people. They come to her at their lowest moment. On the worst day of their lives. Covered in blood, on the verge of conviction.when rock bottom is in sight and there’s nowhere left to turn they come to Olivia Pope for salvation. (ABC, n.d., http://abc.go.com/shows/scandal/cast/oliviapope) Read critically, ABC’s framing of Olivia as a fixer who delivers “salvation” clearly

aligns her with the societal expectation for Black women to serve as caretakers, which has been and remains a definitive feature of the mammy archetype. Building upon Olivia’s mammified foundation, in the paragraphs that follow, I highlight how her relationship with her gladiators, profession as a fixer, interactions with White clientele, and confinement to her professional life serve as additional sites of mammification. Reflecting on her team, Olivia is mammified via her role as their surrogate mother.

Interpreting Olivia in this way is supported by her compassionate rescue of each gladiator from dire circumstances. Olivia rescued Harrison from a prison sentence; Abby from her abusive husband; Huck from desolate homelessness; and Quinn from being framed, and then tried and convicted for the deadly Cytron explosion connected to rigged voting machines. Therefore, her gladiators’ secrets, struggles, and salvation are all beholden to Olivia’s care. Exemplary of the pressure and responsibility Olivia feels to lead and care for her team, at the end of season two, she remorsefully tells Fitz that she took them too far into the peril of covering up his rigged presidential election. So far, that she is unsure of their individual and collective recovery, and therefore unwilling to disband Pope & Associates despite Fitz’s desire to forgo a reelection campaign in order to ensure their future as a romantic couple. In this context, although Olivia deeply loves Fitz and is visibly pained by her choice, she chooses her team and his opportunity for presidential redemption over herself and their relationship, which reflects selfsacrificial mammification via the emphasis on others and work before herself and pleasure. While Olivia bearing heightened, selfsacrificial responsibility toward her team

does not singlehandedly beckon mammification, when interpreted alongside her role as their rescuer and her refusal to accept their support in return, a relational imbalance emerges that is consistent with Black women serving as selfless mammies. Calling forth both the mammy and superwoman as controlling images, on multiple occasions when Olivia communicates vulnerability via emotionally distraught facial expressions, she verbally insists upon her independence and declines the fixing that she prioritizes for others. For example, when First Lady Mellie Grant announces to the press that Fitz is having an affair but refrains from naming Olivia as his mistress, Harrison staunchly says, “The First Lady just put you on notice…You’re not the

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fixer here, Liv. You’re the problem. You’re the client” (Rhimes, 2012). After a fleeting pause and despite the truths in Harrison’s assertion, Olivia firmly denies his offer to help and indicates that she can and will take care of herself. Intensifying the mammification of Olivia as a surrogate mother who refuses

the support she delivers, she also protects members of her team from themselves, outsiders, and, at times, each other. For instance, Olivia orders her team to clean the murder scene of Quinn’s romantic acquaintance to protect Quinn’s true identity, and the underlying scandal of the Cytron explosion, from being discovered. Under Olivia’s command, they guide a grief stricken Quinn through removing her blood spattered clothing, eliminate fingerprints and DNA, and remove everything with a connection to Quinn that cannot be wiped down including the bed sheets and the victim’s phone. Unbeknownst to everyone except for Huck, Olivia’s decision to help Quinn avoid being suspected of murder and exposed heightens Olivia’s personal and professional risk. Thus, up to this point, Olivia has illegally helped Quinn evade being framed and falsely convicted for the Cytron explosion. However, once she gave the command, Pope & Associates destroyed evidence and consequently mislead Assistant State Attorney David Rosen’s murder investigation. Olivia’s mammification via the Cytron storyline is additionally solidified by her

desire to protect Defiance, a code name used in reference to the election rigging that put Fitz in the White House. Although Fitz is unaware of Defiance throughout the first season and most of the second, and subsequently unaware of Olivia’s tremendous risktaking to protect his presidency; billionaire businessman Hollis Doyle, Supreme Court Justice Verna Thorton, Cyrus Beene as the White House Chief of Staff, and Mellie as the First Lady all benefit from Olivia’s amplified risktaking. All five, as members of Defiance, made the joint decision to rig Fitz’s election, which led to the Cytron explosion as a cover up for Defiance. However, although Olivia reaps personal and professional benefits from using her skills as a fixer to keep Defiance a secret; as the main character of Scandal, her fixing becomes mammified given its’ standing as an inherent characteristic and expectation of her role. This interpretation is bolstered by Olivia’s presence as the only person and woman of color involved in Defiance. Moreover, also key to mammification, is Olivia feeling obligated to independently take the added risk of protecting a childlike (i.e., naïve and innocent) Quinn from Hollis’ efforts to have her framed for the Cytron explosion. In addition to Olivia’s character biography, role as a surrogate mother, and token

status as a naturalized fixer, her interactions with her predominantly White clientele also signal mammification, despite and via her many talents. A critical interpretation of Scandal’s overarching plot reveals that Olivia spends the majority of her time rescuing and responding to her predominantly White clientele and protecting White interests. Seemingly easy to dismiss given the indications that Olivia is handsomely compensated for her labor (i.e., she lives in a spacious apartment with posh décor, wears designer clothes, etc.), of importance to recognize is that her class status is usually dwarfed by that of her clients. This is not to decry the significance of

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Olivia’s class privilege; instead, it is key to underscore that privileged class status does not function as a barrier to mammification. hooks reminds us that while “Black women are no longer forced by racist exploitive labor practices to “serve” solely in jobs deemed menial, they are still expected to clean up everyone’s mess” (hooks & West, 1991, p. 154). With hooks’ guidance, I interpret Olivia as an upperclass Black woman—privileged by class and simultaneously marginalized by race and gender— who is mammified via her sharp flair for cleaning up after people with more money, status, and power than she has. Exemplary of Olivia being a wellpaid yet mammified fixer is when she is called

upon by millionaire CEO Sandra Harding to find her son Travis when he is late for his rape trial. Interactions between Sandra and Olivia reveal that Sandra feels Olivia can help Travis in ways that she cannot, which is strongly reminiscent of Black women stepping in to care for White women’s children when they are unable and/ or unwilling to do so themselves. Signaling the magnitude of the mess Olivia has to clean up, when she arrives to 27yearold Travis’ hotel room, he is naked, in bed with a random woman, and groggily hung over from the night before. Faithful to her client, Olivia sneaks Travis out the back to avoid the press. Conveying mammification further, beyond being hired to in effect babysit a

27yearold White male, we watch and listen throughout the episode as Olivia clues Sandra in to Travis’ depravity. Although he did not sexually violate the woman he is on trial for raping, Harrison brings to light that Travis did pay off a past victim who eventually committed suicide. As Sandra dismally comes to grips with her son’s depraved and unpunished behavior, it is Olivia who offers loyal counsel and comfort in response. Additionally, for Sandra and Travis both, Olivia exudes the tough love expected

from mammified Black women employed to take care of White children and their parents. This is particularly clear when Olivia shows up on Sandra’s doorstep to tell her the hard truth about her role in her son’s depravity. Soon after Olivia’s grim insight that Sandra has spoiled Travis and continually let him evade responsibility for his mistakes, we watch as Sandra insists that he turn himself in for rape with Olivia, stern and satisfied, nearby. Bolstering my interpretation of Olivia as a mammified fixer, her fixing falls even further in alignment with the oppressive roles reserved for Black women when we understand her as the conduit through which Sandra effectively mothers her son. Lastly, it is important to realize that our knowledge about Olivia’s life is limited

to the myriad of ways she is useful to the White House, symbolically and factually an echelon of domination, and White people. More specifically, not only is Olivia’s career largely in service to “White supremacist capitalist patriarchy” (hooks, 1995, p. 29) given her labor on behalf of DC’s elite, but this “matrix of domination” (Collins, 2009, p. 21) is also the lens through which Olivia’s visibility, value, and status are secured. Moreover, in alignment with the mammified role the dominant imagination bestows upon Black women, Olivia unswervingly puts the needs and interests of her clients, gladiators, colleagues, and lover far above her own, as mammies are

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expected to do. Fueling her ability to do so is the nonappearance of storylines that center her personal life, beyond her affair with Fitz, up until the finale of season two. The absence of Olivia’s life beyond work fortifies her mammification via the

reduction of who she is to the work that she does. Of great significance is that Olivia rarely stops working, or allows time for relaxation or rest despite the monumental stressors of her profession. Even when we are introduced to her home, it is in service to her work since she brings her White female client, Amanda Tanner, home with her to keep her safely hidden. This is, again, where the mammy and superwoman archetypes merge in that Olivia’s perpetual labor as a fixer is rooted in a seemingly endless supply of “selfsacrificial strength” (HarrisPerry, 2011, p. 21) that functions to her clients benefit, but her detriment in that even her home is invaded by her work. However, we are offered a rare glimpse into Olivia’s home as respite when she unravels during season two; we watch as she protectively folds herself into bed, where she stays for two days until Huck arrives. Although Huck is sincerely concerned for Olivia’s wellbeing, of importance to note is that she gets out of bed not because she has allowed others to care for her, or because she is ready to emerge from the layered crises linked to Defiance, a marriage proposal, and the attempted assassination of the president, whom she loves. Rather, outwardly unconcerned for her own emotional, mental, or physical health, Olivia gets up to, once again, be consumed by her work. In the section that follows the paradoxical nature of Scandal is exposed via a discussion of how Olivia also personifies demammification.

OLIVIA POPE AS A DEMAMMIFIED POLITICAL FIXER

Despite mammification, Olivia also destabilizes the mammy as an allencompassing, controlling image of Black womanhood. From a Black feminist perspective, this does not nullify how Olivia is mammified; rather, demammification importantly humanizes her character beyond the confines of the dominant imagination. To illuminate Olivia’s resistance to being fully encased by the mammy, I center her: authentic and reciprocal relationships with her gladiators; secrets as a means to secure agency and empowerment; embodiment of keen intellect opposed to automated deference; and desirability as a beautiful Black woman. To begin, while Olivia did in fact rescue each of her gladiators, concern and

protection are sometimes mutually exchanged. Thus, although Olivia habitually rebuffs fixing on her behalf, her team often safeguards her—without her request or permission. Huck and Harrison in particular serve as examples of how Olivia is demammified as a recipient of genuine, unconditional support. Signifying the reciprocity between Olivia and Huck that fosters demammification, when Huck faces the danger of being named as a member of B613, a top secret group of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives, Olivia convinces him to let her help. Granting her 24 hours to do so before he takes deadly action, it is clear that Olivia genuinely cares for Huck and he genuinely respects her in return. Additional indications of the strength and sincerity of their relationship include Olivia facilitating Huck’s release

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after being framed for the assassination attempt on Fitz; Huck’s weekly security scans of her apartment to make certain it is not bugged; Olivia ensuring that the team cares for Huck’s posttraumatic stress in her absence; and Huck’s everpresent willingness to kill to ensure Olivia’s safety and protect her interests. A pinnacle scene in which Olivia and Huck’s relationship is authenticated is when

she is able to disrupt his catatonic state prompted by B613 flashbacks. Prior to her arrival, Quinn, Harrison, and Abby unsuccessfully try to do so—it is Olivia’s presence that renders Huck quiet and slows his rocking. Revisiting why she was drawn to rescue him, Olivia narrates to Huck the sadness and loneliness that they each live within and implores him to come back to her. In desperation, she says, “[Y]ou have to come back to me. I need you…I didn’t save you in that Metro station. You saved me” (Rhimes, 2012). Olivia feeling saved by Huck, alongside her articulation of their interdependence, communicates the existence of a concrete friendship between them; a relationship distanced from mammification by mutual vulnerability and respect. Also meaningful is that Huck’s care is never just Olivia’s responsibility alone. Not only did each gladiator aid him during his catatonic crisis, but just prior when Huck returns to the office badly beaten, he is warmly welcomed by everyone and sits among them at dinner. In this context, Olivia is depicted as a Black woman who shares the weight and responsibilities of caretaking. Similarly characterized by authenticity and reciprocity, Olivia’s relationship with

Harrison demammifies her in different but equally important ways. While Huck demammifies Olivia via devoted amity most often expressed privately between them, Harrison fosters demammification by guarding Olivia’s reputation in public contexts—not for his own benefit, but rather out of profound respect for her. More specifically, Harrison consistently undermines the mammifying forces of racism and sexism by reminding the gladiators that Olivia is a remarkable Black woman who is deserving of trust, esteem, and loyalty. For instance, he highlights her commendable performance as a fixer when anyone dares question her leadership and/or decision making. He also rationalizes the difficult decisions that Olivia makes, many of which can be easily written off as immoral and/or devious, and defends her need for secrecy. For example, when Quinn is troubled by not knowing how or why Olivia fixed her, Harrison says, “Liv’s a good person and if a good person has to do something bad for the right reasons, I am down with that… I don’t want to know the hows. I don’t want to know the whys” (Rhimes, 2012). Interpreting Harrison’s advocacy on Olivia’s behalf as demammification; he challenges the patronizing gleam of racist and sexist caricatures by drawing attention to Olivia’s incessant pursuit of the “white hat” (Rhimes, 2012), which signifies her devotion to justice, integrity, and patriotism. Overall, members of Olivia’s team make profound sacrifices to help and protect

her, despite her shortcomings and, in some instances, manipulation of their lives. Drawing upon the links between Olivia, Harrison, and Abby, when Abby learns that Olivia had Harrison falsify a story about David abusing a past girlfriend to end their relationship, she is furious and does not want to help Olivia retrieve the Cytron memory card that proves Defiance happened. Once again defending Olivia and her

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authority, Harrison abrasively indicates that he did so simply because Olivia asked him to as a gladiator, and he tells Abby that she should do the same in reference to the Cytron card. Despite scoffing at Harrison’s indignation, Abby chooses to manipulate David’s rekindled love for her by stealing the Cytron card to help keep Defiance a secret. When David rightly accuses her of stealing the card, Abby evenly denies it but then sobs because she realizes that he truly loved her before she stole from and lied to him. Although genuinely sorry for Abby’s pain, Olivia is also relieved at the sight of the Cytron card as a symbol of the magnitude of her team’s commitment to her. Indicative of the mutual exchange of risk, protection, sacrifice, and salvation among Pope & Associates, the gladiators’ collective allegiance to Olivia demammifies her because it averts her being perpetually isolated as a selfsacrificial caretaker, risk taker, and/or problem solver. Given that secrets, keeping, leaking, or destroying them, serve as the crux of

Scandal the role that secrets play in Olivia’s professional and personal lives serves as a key example of how her embodiment of Black womanhood is demammified. Historically, mammies who worked in White households as domestics were privy to the private lives of their employers (Thurber, 1992), subsequently their livelihood and safety was dependent upon their silence which mitigated their access to agency. The central difference in Scandal is that Olivia utilizes her agency and power to keep her gladiators’ and clients’ secrets and, occasionally, directly benefits from doing so. Take for example, the backstory behind Quinn’s arrival to Pope & Associates. Although unknown to Quinn during season one and most of season two, it was Huck who drugged her, relocated her to Washington DC, and provided her with a new identity to evade being falsely framed for the Cytron explosion. Of importance to note is that Huck, despite working closely alongside Quinn as a gladiator, never exposed Olivia’s role in Quinn’s rescue. Therefore, the audience can interpret Olivia as someone who keeps secrets, benefits from the secrets kept, and has secrets kept on her behalf—all of which symbolize a heightened level of access to agency and power historically denied to Black women who were fully reduced to mammy archetypes. The role of secrets in Scandal also functions as a form of valuable currency

that Olivia can draw upon to demammify herself. Although her use of secrets as currency functions similarly to that of mammies, Olivia’s calculated audacity often works against mammification. For instance, when Grayden Osborne, Director of the CIA, shows up unannounced to her home, Olivia, having been warned by Huck and Quinn just beforehand, sensibly pauses to gather herself before she opens her door to Osborne barging in and demanding to know who hired her to have him followed. In response, Olivia boldly ignores his questions, reminds him how powerful her clients are, and orders him to leave. Reading this scene critically, Olivia demammifies herself by keeping her secrets and disregarding Osborne’s demands despite his power. In comparison, mammification necessitates Black female inferiority and exhorts “Black women to assume a statusreassuring deference to Whites, particularly in workplaces” (BeauboeufLafontant, 2009, p. 30). While Olivia and Osborne’s interaction occurs in her home, BeauboeufLafontant’s (2009) insight is useful

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because Olivia’s refusal to cave to Osborne’s threatening disposition is directly linked to their professional roles. Therefore, Osborne’s unsatisfied, resentful exit renders Olivia’s power undeniable and prevents her foreclosure into a mammified temperament that would have conceded to him as a White male authority figure. Mirroring her confrontation with Osborne, Olivia repeatedly draws upon her razor

sharp intellect and brisk communication style which furthers her demammification. Traditionally, the intelligence of Black women as mammies is overlooked if not deemed impossible. However, Olivia’s intelligence and mastery of semantics is on full display in every episode. Absent the obedient and demure temperament of mammies, Olivia never recedes in a moment of professional crises and always radiates palpable confidence. This is not to imply that Olivia is reduced to the binary of being either emotionless or emotion ridden, which signals the underdevelopment of characters that is common to the roles Black women are cast in. Instead, indicative of Rhimes, Smith, and Washington’s artistry, Olivia embodies a broad range of emotions including fear, angst, and vulnerability alongside her staples of courage, composure, and invincibility, but does so in private moments that preserve her professionalism. A final illustration of Olivia’s failure to fully embody the mammy is her

enviable beauty, physique, and wardrobe. Harshly juxtaposed against White women as paragons of female virtue and beauty, Black women as mammies are stereotypically cast as sexually and romantically undesirable (BeauboeufLafontant, 2009; Collins, 2009). However, Olivia offers a sharp contrast as a beautiful Black woman confidently dressed in a parade of elite designers including but not limited to: Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Escada, Dior, Ferragamo, Armani, and Gucci (Galanes, 2013; Mitchell, 2013). Importantly, her wardrobe serves as a testament to her poise, persona, and chic style rather than her being clad in a drab wardrobe or impersonal maid’s uniform typical of mammified characters. Commenting on the empowering significance of Olivia’s beauty, style, and sex appeal, in combination with her professional success, Elisa (2013) says, We’re not accustomed to being wanted. Lusted after, yes. Fantasized about,

no doubt. Objectified, without question. But wanted, loved, dreamed for? Not so much…This, is why Black women love Scandal. Everything about it is against how we’re usually depicted on TV and in movies. Pope is the star of the show. She has not one, but two (and occasionally three) successful and fine men in love with her. She runs her own business. She’s well known for her work and not just her body. (Elisa, 2013)

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: OLIVIA POPE AS PROGRESSIVE RATHER THAN “POST”

From a Black feminist perspective, the wide performative range of Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope reveals steadfast opposition to being confined to the mammy caricature, despite the mammification of her career as a political fixer.

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R. A. GRIFFIN

Importantly, Olivia also fails to be fully confined by additional controlling images including the superwoman, sapphire, and jezebel. For instance, her vulnerability incites care (opposed to dismissing her as a superwoman), her stern poise in the face of chaos incites respect (opposed to dismissing her as a sapphire), and her love for Fitz incites compassion (opposed to dismissing her as a jezebel). In essence, Olivia paradoxically oscillates among myriad interpretations—none of which fully reduce and confine her to one fixed interpretation. When Scandal began, Olivia Pope was the only Black female character to lead

a network drama in my lifetime. Surely the stark absence of women who look like me cast in fierce, diverse, and leading roles on television, signals the impossibility of being a “postracial” or “postfeminist” society. However, the impracticality of “post” logics does not undermine the cultural significance of Olivia Pope’s influential existence in our mediated lives. Personally, when I watch Olivia snap into decisive action in response to any given crises, I want to be like her because I see a real, really complex Black woman. Given the distance between popular culture and reality, more accurately, I want to be like Washington—a gifted Black woman who determinedly chases her professional dreams amid and despite her struggles. Consistently regarded as kind, gracious, passionate, driven, and humble (Galanes, 2013; Powell, 2013), Washington is accomplished far beyond the roles she has played. She earned a liberal arts degree from George Washington University, spoke at the 2012 Democratic Convention, serves on President Obama’s Committee on Arts and Humanities, and accepted the 2013 NAACP’s President’s Award in honor of her public service (Associated Press, 2013; Mitchell, 2013; Powell, 2013). Coupled with Washington’s on and off screen triumphs, Scandal’s (2012) success

surely signals progress; yet it remains key to distinguish progress from “post” logics that antiquate racist and sexist oppression as past phenomena that contemporary society has effectively transcended. Distancing the show from such logics, Rhimes says, “I don’t think the show is postracial. I’m referring to race every time you see Kerry Washington being the person in charge and solving the crime and kissing the guy” (Svetkey, 2013). Allowing Kerry Washington to have the last word, she notes, “The show isn’t colorblind…I think race lives on Scandal in the way that it lives in the world. Olivia is always Black. She doesn’t ever stop being Black,” optimistically followed by, “The fact that the show could be a success with a Black woman at the center of it says a lot about the kind of world we’ve become” (Leive, 2013).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Do you agree and/or disagree with the assertion that Olivia Pope is mammified? Connecting popular culture to reality, can you think of reallife powerful Black women who have been mammified?

2. From your perspective, how does Olivia positively and/or negatively represent Black womanhood?

3. From a Black feminist perspective, how does Olivia’s access to upperclass status

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OLIVIA POPE AS PROBLEMATIC AND PARADOXICAL

impact her experiences as a Black woman in U.S. American society? 4. Beyond the mammy, are there additional controlling images that you think strongly shape Olivia’s character?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Boylorn, R. M. (2008). As seen on TV: An autoethnographic reflection on race and reality television. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25(4), 413–433.

Coleman, R. R. M. (2011). “ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES!”: Black women, black feminism in feminist media studies. Feminist Media Studies, 11(1), 35–41.

Collins, P. H. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Collins, P. H. (2013). On intellectual activism. Philadelphia, PA: Temple Press. Griffin, R. A. (2014). Black women and gender violence in for colored girls: Black feminist reflections on the power and politics of representation. In J. S. C. Bell & R. L. Jackson (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 169–186). New York, NY: Routledge.

hooks, b. (1981). Ain’t I a Woman: Black women and feminism. Boston, MA: South End Press.

REFERENCES

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Anderson, L. M. (1997). Mammies no more: The changing image of Black women on stage and screen. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Associated Press. (2013, February 2). Kerry Washington wins 3 trophies at NAACP Image Awards. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/02/02/washingtonscandal naacpawards/1885461/

BeauboeufLafontant, T. (2009). Behind the mask of the strong Black woman: Voice and the embodiment of a costly performance. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Coleman, R. R. M. (2000). African American viewers and the Black situation comedy: Situating racial humor. New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.

Collins, P. H. (2005). Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism. New York, NY: Routledge.

Collins, P. H. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Collins, P. H. (2013). On intellectual activism. Philadelphia, PA: Temple Press. Dates, J. L. (2005). Movin’ on up: Black women decision makers in entertainment television. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 33(2), 68–79.

Elisa, T. (2013). Why Black women love Scandal. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tulanielisa/whyblackwomenlovescan_b_4179258.html

Galanes, P. (2013, September 26). For Cicely Tyson and Kerry Washington, roles of a lifetime. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/fashion/forcicelytysonandkerry washingtonrolesofalifetime.html?_r=0

Griffin, R. A. (2012). I AM an angry Black woman: Black feminist autoethnography, voice, and resistance. Women’s Studies in Communication, 35(2), 138157.

Griffin, R. A. (2014). Black women and gender violence in For Colored Girls: Black feminist reflections on the power and politics of representation. In J. S. C. Bell & R. L. Jackson (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 169–186). New York, NY: Routledge.

HarrisPerry, M. V. (2011). Sister citizen: Shame, stereotypes, and Black women in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

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Mitchell, H. (2013, December). Sitting pretty. Lucky Magazine, 138–142. Mullings, L. (1997). On our own terms: Race, class, and gender in the lives of African American women. New York, NY: Routledge.

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Tucker, N. (2012, March 30). ABC bases ‘Scandal’ on D. C. insider Judy Smith. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/dcinsiderjudysmithisbasisfor abcdramascandal/2012/03/29/gIQAbT8JlS_story.html

Zook, K. B. (2010). Has reality TV become Black women’s enemy? The Root.com. Retrieved from http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2010/05/has_reality_tv_become_the_enemy_of_black_ women.html

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