Shonda Rhimes and Complex Black Women in Media
“I’m going to be totally honest with you, I completely deserve this. I have against the odds, courageously pioneered the art of writing for people of color as if they were human beings. I’ve bravely gone around just casting parts for actors who were the best ones. I fearlessly faced down ABC when they completely agreed with me that Olivia Pope should be black. And I raised my sword heroically and then put it down again when Paul Lee never fought me about any of my storytelling choices.” — Shonda Rhimes (PGA Award Acceptance Speech 2016)
Unapologetic. This is what Shonda Rhimes is, and what she helps create in her characters. In this quote Rhimes unapologetically states what she has accomplished, and why. Rhimes’s creation of strong, vulnerable, sexual, and unapologetic black woman has helped create a culture in which black woman aren’t always put into stereotypical roles. The roles many black women have been and still are being put into today are the roles of the Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel. These are the ways in which black woman are perceived in society, and the ways they are normally cast in media. The Mammy stereotype is famous for its appearance in “Gone With the Wind” and many other TV shows and movies. The image of the Mammy is harmful as it perpetuates the idea that black women serve white families and are content, and even happy in that role. These roles put black women into boxes of their perceived qualities.
Shonda Rhimes has helped create and produce both Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder
One criticism of Scandal is that Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) does not deal with issues of race. While this is a valid argument it is important to have shows that feature complex black women who don’t base every action on their race. One scene in which Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) does deal with racism is when she is told by her father that she has to work twice as hard as white people to accomplish anything. This is something many black people know, and can relate to through the show. Scandal also features a black woman playing a role in which she isn’t strictly playing the Mammy, Sapphire, or Jezebel. While qualities of all three caricatures are found within Pope, there are other qualities that make her who she is, and these other qualities are explored. Pope is allowed to be sexual, vulnerable, strong, and other qualities that add to her complexity.
Annalise Keating, played by Viola Davis is a smart, sexual, strong, and vulnerable lawyer and law professor. Keating does not alway make moral choices, but she does what is best for herself and her students. Throughout the show, Keating tries to act strong, but eventually it becomes too much and she breaks down. It is important to see this side of Keating as it shows that a black woman does not always have to be strong. There is also a scene before her breakdown in which Keating is preparing to go to sleep and takes off her wig. This scene is important for many reasons. Whatever a black woman decides to do with her hair is great, but the media rarely portrays black women with their natural hair. For this scene, Viola Davis asked to take off her wig instead of just her makeup stating,
“’Shonda, Pete, Betsy, I’m not gonna do this unless I can take my wig off’… I wanted to see a real woman on TV. I wanted to see who we are before we walk out the door in the morning and put on the mask of acceptability” — Viola Davis
This scene was met with praise as it showed something that is rarely shown on TV.
Black women can be portrayed in many different ways. There isn’t just one way in which a black woman can be perceived as complex. The problem arrives when the only black women characters portrayed on TV fall into the same tropes over and over again. Shonda Rhimes has accomplished so much by creating shows that not only entertain but also complicate the idea of who a black woman is.
