Bravo has elected a female mayor. According to Deadline, the network is developing “Candy,” a drama about the youngest — and first African-American female — mayor in an unnamed city’s history. The series comes from “Insecure” writer Ben Cory Jones and Universal Cable Productions.
The show will follow the mayor, Candy, “as she navigates the treacherous political terrains of one of America’s most violent and poorest cities while balancing her marriage and an illicit affair,” the source summarizes. “The city, the school system, a group of disenfranchised high schoolers, and Candy are all in varying degrees of crisis, putting her and the city’s future in jeopardy. She will either become a player on the big stage, or die trying.”
We love narratives about women in politics. A study from Dr. Martha Lauzen and the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found that male characters on TV are “almost twice as likely as females to be portrayed as leaders.” Only five percent of female characters in the 2015–2016 television season were portrayed as leaders, and that number is even smaller for women of color.
There have been few depictions of black women in politics or public office in pop culture. In 2014 Alfre Woodard portrayed the first prominent black female president in film and TV history as President Constance Payton on NBC’s “State of Affairs.” Other notable portrayals of women of color in politics include “The Leftovers’” Mayor Lucy Warburton (Amanda Warren) and “Veep’s” President Laura Montez (Andrea Savage).
