Discover Top Posts Tagged with #melly grant

We don't touch the first ladies!

What is this MEW shit? It's MILDEW. Stop trying to be politically correct. They are mold this Melly and Andrew. MOLD...Mildew

#Melly Grant #Andrew whatever his name is #Scandal ABC

This is the first week that I've heard the phrase "mellitz" and lets just say I'm not happy

#olitz #mellitz #olake #what is mellitz #melly grant #fizgerald grant #lol no bye

Can the idiot contingent stop smelling themselves and better yet have several seats now please. Mellie wanted to be FLOTUS. That is why she has done everything she has done. She has done nothing for Fitz in fact. She has done this, like Cyrus about POWER. Nothing has changed. Pay attention...who is the only person who really isn't about the POTUS position...why that would be FITZ! Yeah, so spare me your bullshit. Okay? Awesome. Hell she even learnt something from her eldest child's father...I did scope the line about who made Fitz...rather very much like "HE EXISTS BECAUSE I SAY HE EXISTS!" Ooooooooh the love. GTFO!

#Scandal ABC #Melly Grant

Here's the thing about Mellie Grant

*Please note these are just my random thoughts on Mellie that go way beyond the question asked (sorry) and not an essay. Plus, I may or may not have been drinking before writing some of this

From Anonymous:

"I have been meaning to ask this awhile but was too chickenshit as I am just an observer but here goes. What is up with the Mellie “praise" as a feminist or as a woman to look up to? From all I have seen and I have watched all the episodes from the beginning, she to me is the most pathetic character. I don’t get how someone who holds on to a man with her fingertips while he is running towards another woman in her face is actions that one should be proud of. I genuinely do not understand."

First things first: I keep my “anon" feature on for just these types of questions, despite the looming threat of haters. You’re always welcomed in my inbox. Your question is great! I have a lot of thoughts.

Mellie and feminism

Some people praise Mellie as some kind of feminist icon because through their lens, she is. They see Mellie as the reason for Fitz’s success. By marrying someone of her carriage, Fitz was elevated, legitimized by her ‘blue blood’ Mayflower pedigree. To some Mellie, as the woman by Fitz’s side, enabled his success by supporting and shaping his political dreams; keeping him focused; bearing his children (a key part of a successful Republican family image); and tending to home and “soft" politics (benefits and the like). In short, those that hold Mellie up as a feminist icon see Fitz’s success as a product of her efforts. Consider how many political spouses have to portray an image of perfection in the same way that their husbands do. This is especially still true of Republican political couples who often like to convey the ideal ‘traditional’ American family. The wives often have charity projects instead of careers. For me, if a woman chooses that life, then no other woman has a right to call her anti-feminist. Feminism, above all, is about more choices for women.

Having said that, I don’t think Mellie really “chose" the life she has with Fitz. But she was resigned to it in many ways because that’s the life she was ‘bred’ to have. But I am not making her a victim, or martyr. Remember how angrily she spat, "I gave up my law practice for you. I had kids for you" (The Trail, (106)). As a wealthy, well-educated, blue blood gal, Mellie likely went to boarding school and wasn’t around her family all that much. Perhaps her idea of gaining love from her parents was through performing the role of the perfect daughter (getting the right grades, being the smartest girl in the room, being gracious and beautiful, etc.). In families of such wealth and tradition, women don’t go out on their own forging political careers. They achieve greatness on the arms of their husbands. Their success is a consequence of that of their husband’s, or mutual success through partnership. Everybody plays their part. That’s why “performing is what’s real" for Mellie. She likely grew up with these types of marriages to emulate. Mellie very much behaves in this way. Her life was as planned out as Fitz’s life was. Just like Fitz, I think there’s a part of her that resents that planned life, but she’s more disciplined at that life than Fitz is.

Though her marriage with Fitz was on life-support sometime before Olivia entered the picture, that likely didn’t trouble Mellie too much. Of course she would rather feel close to Fitz, and not have him hate her. She’s not completely devoid of feelings. However, I believe that the existence, the public performance of the marriage is what is most important to Mellie. Through that marriage she has access to power. She wants to leverage that for as long as she can. I believe she loves Fitz in the particular way she knows how, but they are clearly no longer on the same page about what constitutes a good marriage.

Under all that bluff and bluster

We have seen threats from Mellie on Scandal numerous times. She’s threatened to blow Fitz away on her way to pursuing her bright, political future (204?). She’s even threatened to dance on his grave on her way to the top (Nobody Likes Babies (213)). These threats are usually made in the context of Fitz endangering their marriage by being in a risky situation with Olivia (Hunting Season, 203); Fitz threatening her with divorce (Nobody likes Babies, 213); or Fitz openly and unabashedly humiliating her by choosing Olivia (219, 220, 221). All of this leads back to my theory that the appearance of the marriage is what is most important to Mellie. As brilliant and politically talented as she believes she is, Mellie holds on to her marriage because the end of it would completely upend all that she’s worked for and leave her in uncharted territory.

If she was so independent-minded, so sure of her success without Fitz, she would have left him a long time ago. She could have outed Olivia through outside sources a long time ago. Yet, she has not done this. This is not about her love for Fitz. It is about her fear of a life without Fitz. A life that she would have to build. Ultimately she thinks her chances with Fitz are better than without him. The only time she thinks she’s better off without him is when public opinion is against him (see Amanda Tanner revelation in "Grant: for the People (107)”). Remember in "White Hat’s Back On" (222), how she rushed to the hospital for appearances sake after finding out, via the news, that the public was turning against her for “airing her dirty laundry on national television"? Her approval ratings were going downward. See how she needed the appearance of the marriage then? Yeah.

Above all, I just think Mellie is a little afraid of the practicalities of her life without Fitz after giving him so many years of her life. She’s come to depend on him in many ways. I don’t think she wants to admit that to herself because she would interpret it as a weakness. But in long marriages like that, it happens. Hell, it happens even in non hetero-normative marriages. For at least a part of that life, they had the same goals. Fitz changed. He saw the light of baby Jesus in the form of Olivia and his world could never be the same. Mellie needs to find her own version of baby Jesus. I mean that in a symbolic sense, not a romantic sense. Although…

Her behaviour towards Olivia

Let’s circle back around to feminism. Mellie’s jealousy over Olivia has less to do with the fact that Olivia makes her husband’s toes curl and more to do with the fact that Olivia is actually in charge of her own life. And let me be clear: being in charge of one’s own life does not mean one is invulnerable. Olivia is an entirely different kind of feminist figure than Mellie is. Olivia is independent, owns a business in which many depend in her (including Mellie), and she’s a beautiful, fully realised sexual being to boot. In that way, she’s better off than Mellie. No wonder Mellie tries to denigrate Olivia with lines like, “Your precious Olivia Pope doesn’t have the secrets of the universe between her magical thighs" (Snake in the Garden (217)). Olivia has chosen her life. She may feel emotionally arrested by her romantic entanglement with Fitz, but that is also her choice. She could have been in a country manor home with little Edisons running around at her feet, but she said hell to the naw with that. She’d rather bide her time waiting for her man’s independence day. Unfortunately, we know what happened after that.

Anyway. Whereas we have seen the brilliance of Olivia’s political strategizing, Mellie pays lip service to her purported political brilliance. But we have only seen her fail, or try to emulate Olivia:

201: In the Kimberly Mitchell interview revealing the sex of their baby, Mellie put Fitz in a politically difficult spot by selfishly slipping in unapproved comments about East Sudan. Don’t try to come at me with some bullshit about her right to speak. No. She has a role in the administration where everything is carefully orchestrated. She had no right to make her comment that the WH then had to fix.

210: She “broke the Constitution" by illegally signing Fitz name to a re-instatement letter. Despite using her gender as evidence that her decision was well thought out,

she didn’t think about the details (Fitz being left-handed), or the consequences. She needed Olivia to rescue her ill-formed cabal.

214: She lies about Cyrus leading the charge on Defiance. Then she tried to use Olivia Pope-like tactics in the limo to build up confidence in Fitz.

But what about Mellie wanting to have a role in Fitz’s administration?

First, the position of the First Lady is not an elected office. She has no mandate to be a part of the administration ("No one elected you!", 201). First Ladies stick to soft politics/side issues of a domestic nature. This is still what First Ladies are expected to do in 2013. It’s an office that embraces very traditional gender roles. We see Mellie trying to fight against that because she believes she’s capable of more.

I’ve said enough yet I feel this is incomplete. Others, please feel free to add!

#melly grant #scandal #thoughts on feminism #ready for your flames #mellie grant