Abstract
Since its debut on April 5, 2012, ABC’s Scandal has become one of the most popular, mainstream dramas on television. Scandal features on of the only, African American female lead characters on network television, Olivia Pope. This paper utilizes scholarship regarding intersectionality and stereotypical representations of African American women to analyze the character of Olivia Pope. I argue that Pope’s education, confidence, and boldness help to confront the lack of complex African American female characters, but her affair with the president simultaneously reinforces negative stereotypes regarding African American women’s sexuality.
Faculty Advisor
Sarah Stone-Watt
Recommended Citation
Evans, Lydia
(2014)
"Representations of African American Political Women in Scandal,"
Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research: Vol. 2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/pjcr/vol2/iss1/4
