ScandalousRomantic Refraction: Reframing Rape Culture and Coercive Control on Television

Laurena Bernabo, Lauren (2025). “ScandalousRomantic Refraction: Reframing Rape Culture and Coercive Control on Television.” Critical Studies in Television (forthcoming).

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.  Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/FZD5UUDDXSPJPRDKE74J/full