Notes on a Scandal

On my lunch break, I caught up on the latest episode of Scandal and the more I watch this show, the more I'm considering giving it up for lent. Shonda Rhimes is starting to bother me with her choices in men for Olivia Pope. We live in a world where people claim race doesn't matter, but it does. If I were to get involved with a white man, more than likely, we may encounter some opposition from his family/friends/outside world. And with Olivia being involved with the President of the U.S., there are various factors you have to take into consideration, such as her race, his being married to another woman, and what the world would say if he showed up with Olivia, instead of Mellie on his arm at the Inaugural Ball.

Not to say, I'm a part of the camp that think people of color should have a pristine presence on television, but I do think we should have a more realistic represenation. I've been reading online comments about this past episode, and of course there are those people that feel like: Olivia got played by Fitz, but it happens in life, and then there are others that feel like the whole situation is an affront to black womanhood. To be honest, I'm in the middle. Regardless of race -- women get played by men, women get involved with married/involved men, and essentially women make bad choices sometimes when it comes to men -- however, their affair being interracial does add a layer of complexity, whether people want to admit it or not. I understand as a writer, you want to be true to your craft and create characters true to your imagination, but as a black woman, you would think Rhimes would take this huge oppotunity to write a complex, flawed character who fixes elections and covers up crimes, but has the love of a good, black man. Instead she has a character that is morally ambivalent, and has a love life that is a mess. She pushes away a man who is who her equal, to sneak around with someone who is married, and despite saying he loves her, his actions say something else entirely.