The Daily Star - Stay Tuned
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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 24, 2015 18 By Jacqui Wiens TV Media P ower corrupts and abso- lute power corrupts abso- lutely. So what happens when you are in the position of helping the United States' most influential politicians bury their skeletons? Kerry Washington ("Django Unchained," 2012) headlines the cast of "Scandal" as crisis management specialist Olivia Pope. While running around D.C. helping her clients hide or overcome their own less-than- exemplary behavior, Pope also has to keep her own discre- tions under wraps. She's an in- fluential character not only in the show, but also in the eyes of TV audiences, and it's prov- ing to be rather revolutionary. Catch a new episode of "Scan- dal" airing Thursday, April 30, on ABC. Washington is the first black female to have a lead role in U.S. prime-time network televi- sion since "Get Christie Love!" in 1974, and she's bringing a character into the public spot- light who, while she has her own personal issues, is a strong and powerful role mod- el. But while the show itself is groundbreaking in a sense, the world within "Scandal" is oblivious to Olivia's skin color, and the fact is rarely if ever brought up by any of the char- acters. In fact, the entire world in which "Scandal" takes place is, on the whole, a more inclusive and less judgmental one than the world we live in. At the start of the show, there was a female vice-president (Kate Burton, "Rescue Me"), and the president's chief of staff, Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry, "Grey's Anat- omy"), was a married gay man who had adopted a child. Addi- tionally, Republican President Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant (Tony Goldwyn, "The Last Samurai," 2003) tried to pass an act that would ensure permanent resi- dency for certain people who immigrated as minors. The real question, though, was if this was something viewers would be ready for and willing to ingest on a regu- lar basis. In speaking with the "New York Times" in 2013, Washington said the show's success answers this question with ease and also shows the general trend towards our so- ciety becoming more accept- ing. "The question was: Are au- diences ready to have the sto- ries that we tell on television to be more inclusive? Are we ready for our protagonists to represent people of all differ- ent genders and ethnicities?" she said. "I think the success of the show speaks to how we have become more inclusive as a society because the fans of the show span all different rac- es and ages and genders. It's very exciting." Having a woman of color in such a prominent role and playing such a powerful char- acter is definitely influencing popular attitudes as "Scandal" continues through its fourth season. A couple months after her "New York Times" inter- view, Washington sat down with "Vanity Fair" to discuss how her role is proving to be an inspiration for the show's fans all over the world. "One of the most profound things for me about the show is the number of white women of all ages who come up to me and say, 'I want to be Olivia Pope,'" Washington said. "It is especially profound in a place like South Africa. It's called 'The Fixer' over there. ... The fact that white women can see this woman of color as an aspira- tional character is revolution- ary, I think, in the medium of television. I don't think white women would feel that way about Olivia if her identity as a woman, period, wasn't first in their mind." It helps, too, that the real person on whom the character of Olivia Pope is loosely based, former press aide Judy Smith, is also a black woman. Serving as deputy press secretary under former president George H.W. Bush, Smith reportedly played a key part in the handling of several scandals and problem- atic PR issues, such as the Gulf War. For someone who spends so much time covering up other people's mistakes, Olivia's own life is surprisingly full of mis- steps. Perhaps the most poten- tially problematic of these is her on-again, off-again affair with Fitz. The president's mar- riage to Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young, "Last Day on Earth," 2012) was never really a mar- riage of love. The match was set up by Fitz's father for politi- cal convenience, and the cou- ple's icy interactions were hampering Fitz's run for elec- tion until Olivia stepped in and coached them. Washington leads the charge in this high-octane po- litical thriller, and she's making waves. Her strong, powerful character Olivia Pope is influ- ential on screen, and Washing- ton is proving influential off screen, too. See what all the hype is about when a new epi- sode of "Scandal" airs Thurs- day, April 30, on ABC. Kerry Washington stars in "Scandal" Taking charge ABC's hit political thriller boasts a powerful lead character Featurestory