Is "Scandal" Getting Us Ready to Elect a Female President?

For a lot of the first half of Scandal’s third season I was pretty sure that the show was getting us ready to elect the first female president in 2016. After all, Josie Marcus, played by Lisa Kudrow, was a star on the rise who was not frightened to call out the media on their sexist standards. Then there was the unforgettable moment where President Grant called out the media on another double standard regarding everyone’s favorite jilted first lady, a character who may or may not have some similarities to a potential candidate in 2016. And, of course, it was refreshing to see that Sally Langston’s name was in the running for president, too, meaning that the show did more than give us a token Democratic female candidate.  All of these strong female characters and the focus on the media’s treatment of women in positions of power reminded me what I like about Scandal despite its infractions regarding violence against women, which are in no way excusable, and tired portrayal of Olivia Pope as a woman with very little personal agency.

Let’s start with Josie Marcus. Like many shooting stars, she burned bright and she burned fast. Played by Lisa Kudrow, Josie Marcus was a dark horse Democratic primary candidate, a congresswoman from Montana with down home charm and quite a bit of spunk. In most ways she was a rather unremarkable character on a show filled with such strong personalities, but she still managed to stand out for all the right reasons for a few good weeks. Her determination to remain true to herself and her family in the face of political pressures provided a breath of fresh air when compared with the stories of Sally Langston and Mellie Grant who have both bowed to such pressures throughout the series. However, this was not her crowning glory. That came from two minutes of the most honest television I have seen this year. In a clip that has circulated widely on social media, Rep. Marcus calls out a reporter on sexist standards in the news media and leaves all of us punching our fists in the air on our couches in a moment of feminist glory. (You can watch it here.) Marcus’s observation that reporters are constantly reminding us that female candidates are, in fact, female and by doing so “advance stereotypes that women are weaker than men” calls to mind so many stories about Hillary Clinton’s hairstyle or Sarah Palin’s time as a stay-at-home mom during the 2008 election. Marcus hit the nail on head with that one and, as speculation about 2016 mounts, it came at a great time to call upon Americans to be a little more astute and a little less tolerant of the media’s oft sexist coverage of female candidates as both the 2014 and 2016 elections edge closer.

Despite her strong run, Marcus’s candidacy and time on Scandal was cut disappointingly short by a sort-of scandal involving Marcus’s daughter/campaign manager and a stolen computer. With the exit of Josie Marcus, the focus shifted to the embattled first lady, Mellie Grant, a woman who had been repeatedly cheated on by her husband, the president, and portrayed by the media as a cold and shrewd woman. Mellie has always presented a great example of a dramatic character who has tons of personal agency and an interesting story at the same time. Her agency does not ensure her happiness; it just ensures that she gets to make her own decisions. This is a marked contrast to Olivia Pope who has lost more and more personal agency over the last two and half seasons while remaining professionally savvy, an emerging trope I detail in the post “The Olivia Pope Problem.” Mellie has one of the most interesting stories on the show and is, perhaps, Scandal’s most divisive character. Presented alternately as brokenhearted and conniving, her story is rather unpredictable and she could leave the president at any time and it wouldn’t be a surprise. Despite the prospect of her own political career, Mellie has stuck with Fitz even while being assaulted from all sides. Her sacrifices have been many and remarkable.  In the flashback heavy episode “Everything’s Coming Up Mellie” viewers got to learn more about just what those sacrifices have been. Mellie has become more and more of a nuanced character this season and she continues to one of the show’s strongest female leads, if not its strongest. However, Mellie gets a bad rep both from the fictional American public in the show and from fans of the Olivia/POTUS pairing. It was just this reputation that a stand out moment addressed this season. This time it was the president’s turn to call out the media on their behavior, specifically the way they had vilified Mellie for his wrongs. The way Mellie was depicted a cold and distant as a result of her husband’s actions rather than her own drew to mind the story of another first lady whose name has popped up quite a few times in the conversation about 2016 (I’m sure you know who I’m talking about). When President Grant called out the media for their treatment of Mellie it seemed like nothing short of a direct reference to, and perhaps endorsement of, the aforementioned first lady. Here again Scandal made a deliberate move to expose the double standards of the media regarding powerful women and I have to believe that if any former first lady did decide to run in 2016 she might face a public that’s a little more aware of sexism in the media.

After Mellie’s story had advanced some, Scandal again moved back to focusing on her shrewdness instead of her sacrifice. In the midst of Mellie’s return to a supporting role, another woman of the hour took the stage. This time it was the vice president, the ultra-conservative Sally Langston, who was bent on taking down President Grant as an independent. While Sally Langston would be nothing short of a feminist nightmare if she were real, it was refreshing to see a show consider more than just one female candidate and only Democrats. The focus on Langston’s husband also highlighted another media practice that forces female candidates to defend their husbands and their husbands’ pasts much more than male candidates must do for their wives. Langston’s candidacy added to an array of strong female characters and displayed Scandal’s ability to write women who are nuanced and interesting.

I’m left a little confused as we close out the first half of the season. Part of me wants to hate this show, especially Quinn’s perilous arc and the highly imaginative portrayal of the intelligence community, but the other part of me loves that the show has such interesting female characters and so many fist-pumping feminist moments. This is show is doing better than any form of media I have seen recently on calling out the news media on the treatment of women. I can only hope that come 2016 people will remember Josie Marcus’s tirade and the genuine problems with the treatment of female candidates the show has highlighted this season.  I want to believe that Scandal was trying to do something good for female candidates, but that does not excuse its many infractions in other areas. All I can wish for is that the show improves in its handling of violence against women and the agency it gives Olivia when it comes back in February while continuing to strongly reprimand the media on double standards regarding women in powerful positions.