Brandon Jackson

Shonda Rhimes is a creative genius. She owns a night of the week on one the big 4 network companies. Her 3 shows, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder run from 8-11 on Thursday nights. Almost everything that can be said about of these shows can be said about the other two, but the focus will be on How to Get Away with Murder.

Murder does a number of things that many network shows wouldn’t attempt to do. The first is casting a female lead. The main protagonist (or antagonist depending on how you view things) being a woman is not something network shows usually do. There have been countless strong female characters on television, but not many great female characters in a show that isn’t a comedy. Not only is Murder’s Annalise Keating a famous and powerful defense attorney, she is a law professor who has been granted the ability by her university to basically do whatever she pleases with her defense law class. She is the head of her own practice who commands the respect of her peers. The most important note in all of this is that Keating just so happens to be a woman. It is not a big deal in storyline that she is a woman. That is progress because Rhimes is not patting herself on the back for making this character happen, she just is.

The second thing that Murder does, is having a main character who just so happens to be female, also happens to be black as well. There have been few strong female leads, and even fewer black leads in a non-comedy, so having a black woman is impressive. Once again, the theme here is that in storyline, is does not matter to anyone that she is black. People may not like Keating because she is cold, because she is manipulative, or because she uses people for her various needs, but it is not because she is a woman of color.

Adding to the second point, is Rhimes’ use of stereotypical characters, but slowly peeling off their layers and showing there is more to them, just like any other person. Keating is a black woman whose father left the family when she was younger. There is a white male student who is rich, and a legacy. There is a spoiled rich female student. There’s a Latina female student whose family is involved with crime. One of Keating’s assistants is an Italian man who at first glance looks like he may be a hitman. All of these characters and more are dynamic and not static. The legacy on the surface is obnoxious and entitled, but is truly a good person who just wants to be loved for who he is, and not who his father is. The Latina born into a crime family wants nothing to do with them, and cannot wait to get away from them. The Italian male, while he could actually be considered a hitman of sorts, there is more than meets the eye. His actions come from a place of guilt and sorrow. He does things not because he has to, he does them to try and make up for what he has done in the past.

Another character element that Rhimes has in her shows, especially in Scandal and Murder, are gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual characters. And once again, the theme is that it does not matter to the story. In Murder, it doesn’t matter that one of Keating’s student is gay, and in many ways actually helps matters. Rhimes is in fact so comfortable with having gay characters in her show, that a tertiary character possibly being gay is a running joke. At face value, that sounds bad and disrespectful, but looking into it deeper, it’s actually a wonderful thing that this can happen. If a being gay can’t be joked about, then that means that people should be trying to “protect” gay people. That’s not the case, people don’t need to protected or coddled because of their sexual orientation. They should be accepted, and bringing them into the accepted realm of jokes along with women, people of color, etc. is moving along that road.

How to Get Away with Murder is a show that continues to change what is acceptable on network television. The amount of diverse characters is a sign that television studios and television audiences are becoming more open-minded. It is a sign that going forward, that people can be cast based on merit, rather than what is considered standard. There are so many talented actresses, actors, writers, and producers that might be able to get a fair look at their resumes, when in the past it might not have worked out that way.