Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It makes sense that our current pop culture scene would reflect America’s current uncertain political state, but things have taken a term for the extreme these past couple months. Unprecedented news reports fill our news feeds right along stories about which celebrity has taken what stand against the Trump administration, and as the Oscars and the Golden Globes have shown, awards shows have turned into ceremonies where it’s not only acceptable but expected that stars will criticize the Trump. 2017 is unquestionably a politically decisive year, and almost all of Hollywood has made its position on the left known.
The way this overwhelmingly liberal-leaning pool portrays the other side has always fascinated me. It’s an interesting dynamic. One industry, which is dedicated to portraying some version of the world’s truth, has largely united around the fact that they strongly oppose a major political party. When you really dislike an element of life, do you dutifully portray it or do you let your disapproval seep into your work? This isn’t by far a comprehensive list of every fictional Republican that has ever been on television. However, I thought it would be interesting to examine how TV as a whole has handled the elephant in the room from the Obama administration to today.
Our Political Shows Are Surprisingly Nonpolitical
When portraying conservatism on TV, the rule seems to be you can have political characters, but they can’t be political. Though two of television’s biggest heavy hitters, HBO’s Veep and Netflix’s House of Cards, have everything to do with politics, they’re largely bipartisan. Both Selina Meyer (Julia-Louis Dreyfus) and Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) are Democrats, but you would think in two shows that take place in the White House, their oppositional party would at least be connected to some notable guest stars. However, every politician in these fictional Washingtons is so wrapped up in their own world, that’s rarely if ever the case, which underscores these two shows’ brilliance. The message behind Veep and House of Cards isn’t that one side is better than the other. It’s that all of politics is messy and corrupt. By focusing on D.C.’s manipulation, both series have managed to turn potentially the most devices shows out there into bipartisan watches.
ABC’s Scandal largely follows this same rule. Possibly the most powerful (and frustrating) man in all of Shondaland is a Republican — President Fitz (Tony Goldwyn). Fitz is an emotional nightmare for many, many reasons, but his politics rarely fit that description. Not only is Fitz portrayed as Republican, but as Olivia Pope’s (Kerry Washington) unwavering support shows, he’s supposed to be the man who can fix America. That’s pretty powerful. By the transitive property, this would likely make Olivia a Republican as well. That’s where things get a little murky. Most of Scandal’s Republicans act like Democrats. For example, Fitz is pro-choice, and Olivia supports gay marriage, has hard opinions about institutionalized racism, and is incredibly progressive. It’s a combination that doesn’t really make sense, but I think we all let it slide because Shonda Rhimes is amazing.
For all of its its soapbox monologues and media inaccuracies, Aaron Sorkin‘s The Newsroom is one of the few shows on TV that captured how important political parties are in day-to-day life. During one of Will McAvoy’s (Jeff Daniels) many unplanned on-air rants, he revealed that he was a Republican. Will claimed he was a “new” Republican, meaning that he was in support of returning to the party’s roots and pushing for the party of take a more middle-of-the-line approach — an opinion shared by many. The Newsroom never shied away from politics, almost to a fault, and its anchor to this world was through an intelligent and impulsive Republican.
Comedy, the Great Equalizer
As much fun as dramas are, two of the best known fictional Republicans of all time had comedic slants — The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert and 30 Rock’s Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Though both of these characters were overtly Republican and overwhelmingly ridiculous, they were sympathetic and appealed to both parties. A huge part of the success of Colbert’s first talk show was that both sides thought he was making fun of the other, and making fun of any and everything was a skill 30 Rock perfected. This is where comedies have an advantage over dramas. These characters were able to directly address their policies and beliefs while both being the joke and in on the joke.
This approach has changed a bit in recent years. New Girl’s Schmidt (Max Greenfield) is a staunch Republican, but that detail is presented more as just another ridiculous fact about this character than as an actual discussion point. Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s other series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt also features a seemingly right-leaning character in Season 1, Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski). However, much like Krakowski’s Jenna and Schmidt, Jacqueline is far too ridiculous to be taken seriously. For these characters, being a Republican is the joke. Baskets’ Christine (Louie Anderson) was a delightfully nonpolitical and sweet inverse of this trend. Sure, she’s a Republican, but that isn’t a defining characteristic nor is that a reason why she’s funny.
There is a third way mainstream television like to portray conservatism — through blistering attack. Last season, South Park took aim at Donald Trump, and this season Saturday Night Live has gleefully gone after the Trump administration. Results have been mixed. SNL has been praised by critics and criticized by the president himself, and though there were some shining moments during Season 20, South Park was largely uneven. However, these are both shows that specialize in political satire and have established themselves as willing to make fun of everything. This is to say that those some of those comedic punches may hurt, neither show is remotely out of line.
“Who voted for Trump?”
Because we’ve just entered the Trump administration, it’s hard to say how our TV will reflect Trump and conservatism moving forward. However, the new administration has already started to influence 2017 television. Over the weekend, CBS All Access’ The Good Fight asked the above question in an attempt to make their firm seem bipartisan. It was a funny moment, but it led to an interesting development. Julius (Michael Boatman) privately revealed that he voted for Trump but doesn’t want to publicly announce his vote for fear of being ostracized. Not only is Julius one of the year’s first characters to support Trump, he’s the first person of color to do so. It’s a smart storyline that captures some of the anxieties Trump voters are experiencing now.
It’s far too early to say how TV is going to portray today’s modern political climate. After all, all of these shows were on the air when a beloved Democrat was in office. Will we see a return to the nonpolitical storylines and winking jokes we’ve grown accustomed to, or will pop culture follow SNL and South Park’s no-nonsense approach? Whatever happens, it’s going to be interesting.
