Content uploaded by Adelina Mbinjama
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Adelina Mbinjama on Nov 17, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
88
Copyright © 2021, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Chapter 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4778-6.ch007
ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relevance of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative to critique the unintended,
subliminal evil representations in Shonda Rhimes’s work. Kant’s moral theory is used to re-think evil in
the way that Rhimes portrays Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) in How to Get Away with Murder (2014-)
as an influential defense attorney and law professor who goes to extreme lengths to get what she wants,
even if her behavior is considered bad or evil. This chapter argues that Rhimes’s work challenges the
systemic racism and stereotypical portrayals of Black women in television, as she not only focuses on the
bad or evil doings of her Black characters but also on what makes them powerful, good and emblematic
of #BlackGirlMagic.
INTRODUCTION
From a western perspective, Evil has always been a concept associated with Black people (see Zimbardo,
2004; Williams, 2018). Over decades, Black women especially have been represented on television as
evil. In African-American culture and in television, those evils including “black magic” have been writ-
ten on in several texts (see Wanderer & Rivera, 1986; Chireau, 2003; Summers, 2012; Jenkins, 2017;
Williams, 2018). Recently, there has been a change in the way in which Black women are portrayed
on screen; they are now depicted as more powerful, educated, professional and determined to succeed.
Shonda Rhimes’s work has gained much popularity in mainstream media with her first Black female lead
character, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), in Scandal (2012-2018) which was followed by Annalise
Keating (Viola Davis) in How to Get Away with Murder (2014-). Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy as
a philosophical concept on evil is used to interpret some of the misrepresentations about Black women
and how they are connected to evil through a critique of Rhimes’s television shows. The paper briefly
#BlackGirlMagic:
How to Get Away With Murder
Is Not Evil
Adelina Mbinjama-Gamatham
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-0707
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa
89
#BlackGirlMagic
discusses Olivia Pope in Scandal but focuses more heavily on the representation of Annalise Keating,
who draws one’s attention to her ‘blackness’ in her career and love life and how this affects her, as evil.
While the portrayal of Olivia Pope centers on her work as a crisis manager (a ‘fixer’) and the impact
that the men in her life have on her, Annalise Keating channels broader issues related to race, infidelity,
sexual orientation, sexual abuse, alcoholism. Her characterization is not confined by these issues as she
is represented as a strong-willed woman who rejects falling victim to others around her by doing what
she needs to do in order to be respected in both her work and personal life. Annalise Keating represents
particular aspects of Kant’s view of evil which is meshed into his categorical imperative as it relates to
respect for women and humankind. Some authors have discussed Kant’s work in light of the respect one
gives women (see Kofman & Fisher, 1982; Schulzke, 2012). They determine that to respect women is to
obey the categorical imperative which requires reverence with regard to the other as moral personage.
Choices to do what is evil can be attractive, while preserving Kant’s claims that we do not choose to do evil
simply for its own sake (Kant, 1948). These perspectives echo with this paper’s exploration of Rhimes’s
shift in the representation of Black women lead characters in television as highly educated, professional
and overcomers. Especially since endurance and resilience has been part and parcel of Black women’s
representation through the ages, in one thinks of The Color Purple for example. Thus, #BlackGirlMagic
becomes an integral concept in Rhimes’s attempt to address the ascendant nature of modern-day Black
women, and the rejection of their association with “evil”, degradation and humiliation by reasserting the
powerful, strong, opinionated view points and controversial actions of her lead Black woman subject.
BACKGROUND
According to Zimbardo (2004, p. 3), evil is intentionally behaving – or causing others to act – in ways
that demean, dehumanize, harm, destroy, or kill innocent people. The titles of the television shows
Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder imply and carry evil undertones; thus, one would expect
the lead characters, Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating, to be evil women. The so-called “evil” that these
characters exude are somehow “normalized” in other television shows, however, Black powerful women
have never been represented in the way that Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating have. Since Black women
have for centuries been associated with violence, rape and racial segregation, and thus their reactions to
their present circumstances can only be explained by the social ills they have experienced.
Zimbardo (2004, p. 3) asks the philosophical question “Who is responsible for evil in the world, given
that there is an all-powerful, omniscient God who is also all-Good?” That conundrum began the intel-
lectual scaffolding of the Inquisition in the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. Kant’s work is influenced
by philosophers from this era. According to Acton (1970, p. 1), Immanuel Kant, born in 1724, lived and
taught in East Prussia during the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment. From 1755 he
taught various branches of philosophy and died in his hometown, Konigsberg (in East Prussia) in 1804.
Kant’s work was influenced by Wolff and Pietism, a movement that emerged from the Lutheran church
in Germany in the previous century. According to Anton (1970, p. 2), this sect encouraged studying the
Bible, participating in church affairs as well as personal involvement in spontaneous devotion and good
works. Anton (1970, p. 2) explains that Wolff’s account of the natural world seemed to leave no room
for miracles or for free choice, which created some separations between him and Pietism. As revealed
in Malleus Maleficarum, the handbook of the German Inquisitors from the Roman Catholic Church, the
inquiry concluded that the Devil was the source of all evil (Zimbardo, 2004, p. 3). However, these theo-
14 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may
be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage:
www.igi-global.com/chapter/blackgirlmagic/266950?camid=4v1
This title is available in Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts,
InfoSci-Books, InfoSci-Education Knowledge Solutions – Books, InfoSci-
Media and Communications, InfoSci-Social Sciences and Humanities,
InfoSci-Social Sciences Knowledge Solutions – Books. Recommend this
product to your librarian:
www.igi-global.com/e-resources/library-recommendation/?id=126
Related Content
Children in Hospital
Gül Kadan (2020). Handbook of Research on Prenatal, Postnatal, and Early Childhood Development (pp.
98-116).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/children-in-hospital/252646?camid=4v1a
Functional Human Brain Mapping
Shahzadi Malhotra and Gaurav Rajender (2020). Examining Biological Foundations of Human Behavior
(pp. 198-212).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/functional-human-brain-mapping/249995?camid=4v1a
Reconsidering “Evil” Through the Star Wars Films
Alper Erçetingöz (2021). International Perspectives on Rethinking Evil in Film and Television (pp. 38-58).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/reconsidering-evil-through-the-star-wars-films/266947?camid=4v1a
Tackling Police Brutality through Non-Violent Strategies in South Africa: In Search of a Holistic
Approach
Mbekezeli Comfort Mkhize and Phathutshedzo P. Madumi (2017). Creating a Sustainable Vision of
Nonviolence in Schools and Society (pp. 70-94).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/tackling-police-brutality-through-non-violent-strategies-in-south-
africa/175468?camid=4v1a
