A man who isn't President has options. A man who isn't President can divorce his wife. A man who isn't President can have a life. The he wants, the life he's always wanted, with the woman he loves. - Fitz
I'm sorry if the girl you hired, the girl you mentored, the girl you brought in to save the day, your girl, fell in love with me. That must really eat at you, Cy. - Fitz
Olivia’s colleagues look down upon her and find her relationship with Fitz to be her weakness, but at no point do they implore her to end the relationship. On the other hand, Fitz is consistently pressured to cut things off from Olivia, which makes it seem as though he only one in the relationship with the power to do so.
Power is exactly what Scandal relates to Fitz’s masculinity and presence over Olivia.
Because he is a man, Fitz has the power to control Olivia at the most basic level,
which is physically. In the second season of Scandal, Olivia is attempting to cut
ties with Fitz (and doing so poorly, I might add), Fitz manages to force her into a
utility closet and have sex with her. He grabs her by the arm and tosses her into
the closet like a rag doll. Although she eventually pushes him away and slaps
him across the face, Olivia still succumbs to his control. Fitz and Olivia’s
relationship exists as continual reinforcement of the mythical connections
between masculinity and power. Fitz is the man in the relationship, and is
therefore depicted as the one with the most power.
Is Olivia Pope really the strong successful Black woman that Scandal wants us to believe that she is or is she just a minor distraction to real hegemonic norms of masculine power at play?