"During its seven-season run, Scandal has dramatically altered the television landscape and become a cultural phenomenon. This collection gives students the ability to examine the relationships, politics, and techniques utilized within the show."—Stef Woods, American University
"Given the popularity of Scandal, given its place in the history of television, given the ways it has ushered in paradigmatic shifts, and given the ways that it interfaces with myriad discourses and lived realities, the work is quite significant. It has great potential to advance critical conversations about television, new media, black feminism, and so much more. A must read for #Gladiators."—David Leonard, Washington State University
"An expertly curated collection of exemplary, original scholarship. . . . It presents wide-ranging themes—American politics, identity politics, respectability, liberalism, and national violence—to reveal how Scandal is more than soap-opera entertainment. Rather, the work in this volume evidences how Scandal is a touchstone for a complex engagement with issues and ideologies that grip the US."—Robin R. Means Coleman, professor of communication, Texas A&M University
"A selection of essays which examine the highly successful series, Scandal. . . .The ABC show which ran for seven series is of course notable for featuring the first black female lead on prime-time American television since the 1970s and also for the role of Shonda Rhimes, a black woman, as the showrunner. This collection is thus of particular value for scholars interested in representations of black womanhood and is highly stimulating for the sheer diversity of views it presents on Scandal’s representation of its ‘flawed’ black protagonist, Olivia Pope."—Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies
Description
One of the most popular shows to come out of Shondaland, Shonda Rhimes’s production company, is ABC’s political drama Scandal (2012–18)—a series whose tremendous success and marketing savvy led LA Times critic Mary McNamara to hail it as “the show that Twitter built” and Time magazine to name its protagonist as one of the most influential fictional characters of 2013. The series portrays a fictional Washington, DC, and features a diverse group of characters, racially and otherwise, who gather around the show’s antiheroine, Olivia Pope, a powerful crisis manager who happens to have an extramarital affair with the president of the United States. For seven seasons, audiences learned a great deal about Olivia and those interwoven in her complex world of politics and drama, including her team of “gladiators in suits,” with whom she manages the crises of Washington’s political elite.
This volume, named for both Olivia’s team and the show’s fans, analyzes the communication, politics, stereotypes, and genre techniques featured in the television series while raising key questions about the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and viewing audiences. The essays range from critical looks at various members of Scandal’s ensemble, to in-depth analyses of the show’s central themes, to audience reception studies via interviews and social media analysis. Additionally, the volume contributes to research on femininity, masculinity, and representations of black womanhood on television. Ultimately, this collection offers original and timely perspectives on what was one of America’s most “scandalous” prime-time network television series.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One. Politics Death, and Protecting the Republic.
1. Olivia Pope, Citizen of Empire: Gendered Duties and Sacrifical Violence on Scandal
Catherine R. Squires
2. Olivia Pope: "Fixer" of Necropolitical Fallout
Nicholas Manganas
3. Scandal: A Melodrama of Social Death
Patricia Ventura
4. The Power of Whiteness: Disciplining Olivia Pope
Shantel Gabrieal Buggsa and Ryessia Jones Russell
Part Two. Romance, Race, and the Erotic
5. "Tangled Skeins" Scandal's Olivia Pope and the Counternarrativizing of Black Female Enslavement
Ernest L. Gibson III
6. "You're Nobody's Victim Liv": The Scandal of Black Love and White Hegemony in Scandal
Christopher A. House and Sean Eversley Bradwell
7. Insider/Outsider: Olivia Pope and the Pursuit of Erotic Power
Kadian Pow
8. #Olitz: The Erotics of (E)Racing in Scandal
Kavyta Kay
Part Three. Sisterhood, Feminism, and Female Body Politics
9. A Sisterhood of Strategic Convenience: Olivia Pope, Mellie Grant, and Their Scandalous Entanglements
Tracey Owens Patton
10. Female Gladiators and Third Wave Feminism: Visualizing Power, Choice, and Dialogue in Scandal
Lara C. Stache and Rachel D. Davidson
11. Nimble Readings: Black Women, Meaning Making, and Negotiating Womanhood through Scandal
Timeka N. Tounsel
12. Good Black Girls Wear White: Olivia Pope and Conflicted Constructions of Black Female Personhood
Kimberly Alecia Singletary
Part Four. Race, Gender, and the Politics of Respectability
13. "It's Handled!": Critiquing the Politics of Respectability at the Intersection of Race and Gender in Scandal
Tina M. Harris, Myra Washington, and Diamond M. Akers
14. Advocacy and Normalcy: The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in Scandal
Will Howell
15. "He Exists Because I Say He Exists": The (Un)Making of Fitz's Manhood and the Enduring Adaptability of Hegemonic Masculinity
David Ponton III and Kelly Weber Stefonowich
16. "I Can Fix This": Reflections on Scandal's Racial Commentary in the "Lawn Chair" Episode
Ronald L. Jackson II, Kimberly R. Moffitt. and Simone Adams
Appendix: Complete Episode List, Scandal
Contributors
Index
About the Author
Simone Adams works at the Center for Digital Teaching and Learning and teaches American studies at the University of Graz, Austria.
Kimberly R. Moffitt is associate professor and chair of the Language, Literacy, and Culture PhD program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Ronald L. Jackson II is professor of communication at the University of Cincinnati and past president of the National Communication Association.
August 2019