{"title":"Scandalous romantic refraction: Reframing rape culture and coercive control on television","authors":"Laurena Bernabo","doi":"10.1177/17496020251320626","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a critical analysis of the Olivia/Fitz relationship in Scandal, exploring their interactions and the program’s treatment of sexual and relational abuse in the context of the popular feminism in U.S. television. Scandal follows Olivia Pope, a political fixer who solves problems for D.C. elites while navigating a tumultuous personal life including an on-again/off-again affair with Fitzgerald Grant, the U.S. President. Olivia and Fitz join other TV couples that normalize abusive romantic relationships by failing to meaningfully problematize them despite Scandal’s feminist discourses. After reframing their relationship to demonstrate how this abusive relationship illustrates the continuum of sexual violence, I theorize a narrative strategy of “romantic refraction” which narratively privileges a romantic interpretation of this relationship through distinct representational patterns.","PeriodicalId":51917,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies in Television","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical Studies in Television","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251320626","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article provides a critical analysis of the Olivia/Fitz relationship in Scandal, exploring their interactions and the program’s treatment of sexual and relational abuse in the context of the popular feminism in U.S. television. Scandal follows Olivia Pope, a political fixer who solves problems for D.C. elites while navigating a tumultuous personal life including an on-again/off-again affair with Fitzgerald Grant, the U.S. President. Olivia and Fitz join other TV couples that normalize abusive romantic relationships by failing to meaningfully problematize them despite Scandal’s feminist discourses. After reframing their relationship to demonstrate how this abusive relationship illustrates the continuum of sexual violence, I theorize a narrative strategy of “romantic refraction” which narratively privileges a romantic interpretation of this relationship through distinct representational patterns.
期刊介绍：
Critical Studies in Television publishes articles that draw together divergent disciplines and different ways of thinking, to promote and advance television as a distinct academic discipline. It welcomes contributions on any aspect of television—production studies and institutional histories, audience and reception studies, theoretical approaches, conceptual paradigms and pedagogical questions. It continues to invite analyses of the compositional principles and aesthetics of texts, as well as contextual matters relating to both contemporary and past productions. CST also features book reviews, dossiers and debates. The journal is scholarly but accessible, dedicated to generating new knowledge and fostering a dynamic intellectual platform for television studies.
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