The Shonda Effect

I am a long-suffering fan of shows made by Shonda Rhimes. And although I think her writing prowess is weakening, and she needs to put down Grey’s Anatomy while it sill has three likeable characters left, and that maybe she struggles to differentiate between personal and professional issues  *cough* Katherine Heigl *cough*; her contribution and impact to diversity for women, people of colour and queer people has been undoubtedly impressive.

I have (some would say unfortunately) seen every season of Grey’s Anatomy; which honestly was a really good show once upon a time, but my loyalty is starting to waver now that I have had to suffer through a beloved character from another Shonda show (Amelia, Private Practice) marry the most boring white male character on earth, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Shonda’s shows are some of the most successful and long-running shows on television.

Grey’s Anatomy, the show that shaped me into the intersectional feminist I am today, gave us determined and headstrong women, who were passionate about their career above all else. Among these women were some of the most iconic, complex and loveable women of colour I have ever seen represented on television, including Cristina Yang and Miranda Bailey. And in the third season, Callie Torres, a Mexican orthopedic surgeon, who also happens to be the longest running queer character of all time, with 240 episodes under her belt. In its 12 season run, Grey’s Anatomy has had many different people of colour in main roles, playing complex characters with diverse upbringings and perspectives. The show itself has been noted to be more diverse than the city it is set in, as Seattle is acutally 70% white.

Next came its spin-off, Private Practice, one which was cut short and thus did not suffer the same slow and painful demise (writing quality wise) of its predecessor. Whilst Private Practice also had a white woman as the protagonist, the cast boasted the likes of Audra McDonald, Taye Diggs and Benjamin Bratt (who has Indigenous South American heritage), the latter of which both played the love interests to the protagonist.

 Then Shonda created Scandal, starring the unequivocally talented Kerry Washington; the first of her shows to star a woman of colour as the protagonist (which could be surprising considering that Shonda herself is black, or totally unsurprising considering that Grey’s Anatomy was created in 2005 when Shonda was just finding her footing in the TV world, and Scandal in 2012 when she already had two very successful shows under her belt). Although Scandal can be criticized for the fact that Olivia Pope is endlessly at the mercy of her sickly, pathetic, white republican president lover Fitz, its messages of feminism and black empowerment are delivered without hesitance or fear of controversy.

Lastly comes How to Get Away with Murder, which aired in 2014. This cast features Shonda’s most diverse to date. The main character, Annalise, is a black, bisexual defense attorney, played by Viola Davis. Within the rest of the main cast, there are two black men, one black woman and one Mexican woman, not to mention more gay characters.

All through this post I have attempted (and obviously failed) to find a word other than diverse to describe Shonda’s shows and the implications they can have in terms of normalizing different representations in television and to audiences. This is because she herself rallies against the narrow implications of the word diverse; saying that it suggests something Other, “as if there is something unusual about telling stories about women or people of colour or LGBT characters on TV.”

Instead Shonda prefers the term “normalizing”. She is “normalizing” the representation of people who are not white in and industry that has been historically and still is predominantly very white. And since her time at the top, many other shows that are normalizing this representation have emerged, particularly on the network where her shows have found their home, ABC, which now boasts shows such as Quantico, Black-ish, and Fresh Off the Boat.

No matter what you call it, Shonda’s work in television, her casting choices, and the way she writes for those characters, is important. Whether its implications be in the casting and writing of consequential television shows, or simply in empowering and educating the huge audiences that watch her shows.

In the words of Shonda herself, “The goal is that everyone should get to turn on the TV and see someone who looks like them and loves like them. And just as important, everyone should turn on the TV and see someone who doesn’t look like them and love like them. Because, perhaps then, they will learn from them.”