I've been recently acquainted with the hit series 'Scandal' (yea I'm a bit late I know). During my study breaks I sneak in an episode or two (or 3 or more,I'm hooked okay),anyway as I watch this series I realised/obeserved a few things about it that I wanted to share with you.
(I'll try not to be a spoiler if you haven't watched the series and plan on doing so ). So in the first season the series opened up on a strong note,introducing all the main characters and getting the audience to be familiar with them. I fell inlove with Olivia Pope,not only for her wardrobe (which I'd love to raid) but because she's like the waves of a strong tide,pushing further and further up the shore. She's powerful,driven,ambitious and very good at what she does-And then I'm introduced to her relationship with Mr President(oops just kinda spoiled it now ). At first I partially understood,thought 'Shame,she worked so hard,helped this guy win election,some things happened,she caught feelings and now she can't go back'. What I didn't accept however was the strawberries and cream of love and affection Mr President kept on feeding her. I thought it was crazy that the President was cheating on the First Lady and that he tought it was okay and blah,blah,blah and as the affair progressed to the 3rd season I felt completely outraged to the point where I was skipping all the 'affair' scenes. I fully understood the angle the producers and script writers were going for,no I totally get it,what got me a bit worked up was that they potrayed reality in pure unfiltered HD (well not exactly to those severe extents where our President is being unfaithful to his 'First Ladies'-okay I don't want to go there).
The love triangle that is potrayed in Scandal is pretty much what is happening around us at the moment. Husband cheats on wife,wife founds out but decides to stay in an unhappy marriage for the kids' sake. She has options that she could take but decides to suck it up and live up to her words of 'for better or for worse' because she doesn't want 'The other woman' to win or she doesn't want her family and friends to be sympathetic towards her because she's now vulnerable and broken and couldn't keep her husband on a leash. I don't really want to dwell on Mellie (the wife),I want to address Olivia Pope (The Other Woman). In South Africa we've given titles of 'Side Chick/Dish,Umakwapheni' to The Other Woman because well they exist and to humor ourselves we acknowledge their presence. I felt irrated with Olivia because every time she told Fitz it was the end of whatever they shared she kept going back because 'she loved him,had feelings for him' she said,I'm not going to argue the truth in that statement because I was repeatedly shown these feelings and how deep they were. When they were in the same room Olivia Pope was replaced by a love struck,disorientated ,hot and bothered woman. Her whole demeanour and persona would change and well Mr President wouldn't be almighty and powerful as the whole of America knows him to be . The thing about feelings,emotions and love is that they cant exist without being constantly fed attention. Phone calls,spending time,communication,trust are the kinds of food that love feeds off of and without those things it abruptly dies of malnutrition.
Men are adrenaline junkies,they want the forbidden fruit but because they're told not to have it they don't pursue it until a woman comes and offers it to them(Garden of Eden vibes). Yes I said it,'The Other Woman' wouldn't exist if they weren't consenting females who wanted to create such individuals,they created a supply which resulted in a much greater demand (if only life were something out of an economics textbook). Once the men have a taste they really don't want the grapes they have growing in their garden anymore,they want another bite of the forbidden fruit so they can feed their high. They now know that the forbidden fruit is attainable so they keep going back at it,and like a gift-it keeps on giving. Woman are very dangerous and powerful beings whether they realise it or not,but they depreciate their value time and time again. They become comfortable and settle for what's not theirs-well what's legally not theirs,because that 'something' gets the bills paid,the nails done,the brazillian hair and expensive clothes-talk about being broke with expensive taste.
Since the men are now addicted to the fruit,the other woman is now addicted to the tangible assets and like addicts they keep on feeding their addictions. Now I've reached the point of the post where I don't want to analyse the man or The Other Woman any further. There's still quite a few things I could say regarding this matter but I'll just end it here because well like Mellie you've limited your options,you believe he makes you happy because he buys you the desires of your heart,but honestly honey all that glitters ain't gold. At the end of each day he goes back to his garden and tends to his grapes,he waters them like a husband should. After you're done giving him his fix for the day he can cope until he'll need you to fix him up again and the cycle continues. You're okay with being a secret,an addiction because well you've got your own grapes,a man you call 'yours',someone you claim to love and care for,he gives you your fix of love and affection and well that's just how your life goes,you're quite content with how things are. What an exciting life you have there dear,it's quite a SCANDALous affair if you ask me,I just wonder how long it will take your drug dealer/provider/sugar daddy/the bae (or whatever you wanna call him) to go searching for his forbidden fruit elsewhere. When that happens,what then?
Miranda_deigh x♡
