Essay On Shonda Rhimes

As explained by comedian Dave Chappelle in the quote above, in order to achieve progress in matters like race, it has to be openly addressed, especially by mass media. And this is where Shonda Rhimes has failed with television. Undoubtedly, she has created space for ethically flexible and multifaceted female characters in network television through shows that challenge audiences – something rare outside of cable nowadays. Her protagonists – two of them black – are successful women, which demonstrates she is willing to defy common notions of race and, especially, gender. Nevertheless, in all her shows, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder, race is never a part of the dramatic situations that drive the characters’ narratives.
Since the protagonists of her three popular shows are successful women, she uses them to challenge women’s role in society. In Grey’s Anatomy, Derek Shepherd is offered a job opportunity at the White House that puts a strain in his marriage with Meredith Grey. In a normal melodramatic narrative, Meredith would have chosen her wedding over work and moved with Derek to D.C. But in this case, Rhimes wrote the character to be a strong independent woman, therefore Meredith chooses to stay in Seattle because of her work, since she believes her husband’s work should not be more important than hers, reiterating the values of the century, where women don’t necessarily need to focus their life around the husband to keep family values. Through Meredith’s character, Rhimes creates a reflection of the modern day woman that has to be good at work at the same time as caring for her family. By stressing this out, Rhimes makes a criticism at how men are relieved of this burden of proving themselves as both a caregiver and provider while women are constantly tested to