As the clock ticks, let’s take a look at how fiction gave way to reality with some of the most memorable female US presidents in film and television.
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The US election is less than a week away. We don’t know about you, but we’re trying to stay sane and keep our stress levels low by rewatching Veep, the great HBO political comedy created by Scottish satirist Armando Iannucci.
The show is about the fictional Vice President Selina Meyer, who eventually becomes president, and Louis-Dreyfus won six Emmy Awards for the role. Although it ended in 2019, the comedy’s ratings have skyrocketed since Harris announced her candidacy.
Louis-Dreyfus said the show highlighted the fact that female candidates are consistently scrutinized more harshly than their male counterparts. She told the Times: In one episode, a character suggests Serena start her speech by saying, “As a woman,” and she says, “I don’t identify as a woman!” People can’t know it! Men hate it, women hate it, women hate it. I think that’s most women. ”So we used that as a lot of fodder. ”
Although the United States has yet to have a female president, fiction long ago surpassed reality.
The earliest example dates back 100 years to the 1924 silent science fiction comedy The Last Man on Earth. This movie depicts a woman becoming President of the United States. This movie depicts how all adult men behave. He died from a disease called “androgenitis.”
Since then, numerous movies and television shows have been made depicting female presidents. Among them is Ernestine Barrier in the 1953 science fiction film Project Moon Base. Polly Bergen in Kiss the President (1964). Patty Duke in the 1985 sitcom Hail to the Chief. Teresa Barnwell plays Hillary Clinton as President in an episode of the science fiction show Sliders (1995). Natalie Portman at the end of Tim Burton’s 1996 science fiction comedy Mars Attacks! Glenn Close technically played the acting president on Air Force One in 1997. Christina Applegate played the American head of state in the 1998 comedy film Mafia!
To be sure, there is still a disproportionate number of men compared to the (predominantly white) women who occupy the fictional Oval Office—in recent years, they have appeared mostly on television, and each male president has Many people take on that fictitious job after they resign or die. And given that sci-fi movies have more female presidents than any other genre, and science fiction is often a precursor to real life…maybe reality will finally catch up next month?
See how fiction gave way to reality for some of the most memorable female American presidents in film and television since 2000.
President Mackenzie “Mac” Allen (played by Geena Davis) in “Commander in Chief” (2006)
Mackenzie Allen, played by Geena Davis, was a former congressman and political independent who was nominated for vice president by Republican Teddy Bridges, but died of a brain aneurysm shortly after. Davis won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as the first female president. Throughout the show, several powerful people try to bring her down. She remains steadfast and stands as one of the best female presidents on screen. Davis feels it’s important for both girls and boys to see powerful women on screen, and playing such an iconic role “meant a lot” to her, according to Hollywood.・Told the reporter.
President Caroline Reynolds (played by Patricia Wettig) in “Prison Break” (2006)
Caroline Reynolds is a pretty evil president. Played by Patricia Wettig, she is the Vice President of the United States and tries to frame one of our heroes, Lincoln, for the (fake) death of her brother. She remains a veep until the president is assassinated. As you can imagine, she poisoned the president to get the top job. She’s not a huge supporter of a female president, but she shouldn’t be blamed for a lack of ambition. Or to get her hands dirty.
President Alison Taylor (played by Cherry Jones) in “24” (2008)
While Fox’s popular TV shows have featured a number of presidents, the TV movie “24: Redemption” chooses Alison Taylor. She continued in the position in seasons 7 and 8. Actress Cherry Jones says that the hard-nosed president, who refuses to give in to the demands of terrorists despite killing his son, is not modeled after Hillary Clinton, but rather “a combination of Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meier, and John.” He told Vulture: Wayne. ”
The President of the United States (played by Stephanie Paul) in “Iron Sky” (2012)
In this Finnish sci-fi comedy, the Nazis return to Earth in 2018 after hiding on the moon since their defeat in 1945. Yes, that’s the synopsis. This is a ridiculous movie and one of the most expensive Finnish films ever made, the premise is great but the execution is below average. Still, Earth’s unnamed president is a woman, and New Zealand actress Stephanie Paul played her in a parody of Sarah Palin. It’s not a must-see movie, but it’s a fun enough comedy with an attempt at satire.
President Constance Payton (played by Alfre Woodard) in “State of Affairs” (2014)
NBC’s Situation ran for just one season, following Charleston (Katherine Heigl), a CIA analyst who gives daily briefings to President Constance Payton, the first African-American female president. Woodard brought great weight to the role, telling HuffPost: “Together with Constance Payton, we had this huge challenge of figuring out how to have an African-American president after the first African-American president and how we can have an African-American president. “Faced with Challenges” We haven’t voted a woman into the job yet, so we needed to find out the backstory, the real potential, and the political reality of how she got the job. ”
President Selina Meyer (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in “Veep” (2014)
Selina Meyer’s presidency began in season 4 of Veep after the president resigned to care for his wife. Her turbulent tenure in the White House didn’t last long, and she was replaced in the season 5 finale by Lola Montez, played by Andrea Savage. Yes, two female presidents! However, Meyer becomes president again during the final season. Meyer is not a great example to emulate, as he is more obsessed with his accomplishments in the history books than actually doing any good. However, Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays the role perfectly, making Meyer perhaps not the best female president, but certainly the most entertaining.
President Olivia Marsdin (played by Lynda Carter) in “Supergirl” (2015)
The original Wonder Woman played the president… Indeed, Lynda Carter was a symbol of female empowerment as a DC character in the 1970s, and she did the same with tactical president Olivia Marsdin. are. But (spoiler), she is revealed to be an alien and has to resign. During her time in the White House, she has used her experience as a foreign refugee to seek to protect both other refugees and American citizens from foreign attacks and other threats. “I used Hillary to prepare,” Carter told Variety in a 2016 interview. “I found her to be warm, funny, charming, and serious.” It’s unclear who she asked for the alien part.
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President Elizabeth Langford (played by Sela Ward) in “Independence Day: Resurgence” (2016)
The sequel to 1996’s Independence Day, Independence Day: Resurgence, stars Sela Ward as Elizabeth Langford, the American president who loses her entire family in the first alien attack. As fate would have it, she must lead the country in a second invasion, but sadly (spoiler) her character does not go all the way. It had very little screen time, and while it seemed like a decent enough female president, it wasn’t the best ending.
President Charlie Roan (played by Elizabeth Mitchell) in The Purge: Election Year (2016)
In the dystopian horror thriller The Purge: Election Year, Elizabeth Mitchell plays a Purge survivor who is elected president on a platform of ending the annual genocide festival. She is portrayed as a noble and stubborn person, but in 2021’s The Forever Purge, she is a former president of Charlie Roan, who served two terms as president, and was successful in stopping the purge during his eight years in power. , you can see that she was successful. Please be more like her. It’s not unlike the decline in quality in The Purge movies. thank you.
President Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) in “House of Cards” (2017)
At the end of season 5 of the Netflix drama, Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire Underwood run for the White House, and Claire becomes president after Frank resigns amid a scandal. This storyline was introduced because the show needed to be rewritten in light of Spacey’s scandalous exit from the show. Still, Claire is such a powerful and confident woman that no conspiracy can be imagined, making her a worthy president.
President Elizabeth Keene (played by Elizabeth Marvel) in “Homeland” (2017)
In the Season 6 finale of Homeland, New York State Senator Elizabeth Keene is elected president. After surviving an assassination attempt, she becomes suspicious of the CIA and is forced to leave the show in the next season, which makes sense. Marvel told The Wrap in 2018 that “with everything going on in our world, it’s an honor to play a female president.” She was a very complex person they created. ”
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President Mellie Grant (played by Bellamy Young) in “Scandal” (2017)
At the end of season six of the ABC drama, Mellie Grant, played by Bellamy Young, loses the presidential election, but her opponent is assassinated before she can be sworn into office. After much intrigue, Grant becomes the 45th president. Described as a fighter and champion of women, she has appointed Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) as her chief of staff, and it has been suggested that Pope will replace her after her term ends. Needless to say, she would make a much better president than the real-life 45th president.
President Charlotte Field (played by Charlize Theron) in “Long Shot” (2019)
In this surprisingly decent 2019 odd-couple romantic comedy, Seth Rogen plays a journalist who reunites with the now-Secretary of State he used to babysit as a child. She is everything he lacks (sophisticated and successful), but still decides to hire him as a speechwriter after reading some of his columns. All goes well as Field is elected president and the two marry. When she becomes the first female president, he takes her last name and becomes “First Mr.”
President Ellen Waverly Wilson (played by Jodi Balfour) in For All Mankind (2019)
Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama follows an astronaut (Balfour) who becomes a NASA administrator, senator, and later president. And she’s also a gay woman, making it the first fictional female president to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. “As a lifelong member of the ‘second gender,’ standing, sitting, and acting in that Oval Office served as a reminder of the truer, more beautiful world that so many of us yearn for.” I felt like that,” Balfour told The Hollywood Reporter.
President Johnny Orlin (played by Meryl Streep) in Don’t Look Up (2021)
In Netflix’s clumsy but entertaining post-apocalyptic political satire Don’t Look Up, Meryl Streep plays President Janie Olin, who doesn’t want to believe that a comet is headed for Earth. Apparently modeled after both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, she would rather rake in millions of dollars commercially exploiting comets in the face of global catastrophe than listen to scientific facts. Because of this, he is far from a noble person. The moral of the story at the end of Don’t Look Up – Facts matter, and in some cases presidents (male or female) should remember that.
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It’s done.
While on-screen female presidents don’t always have the best writing teams and still have a ways to go, perhaps life imitates art and the United States will soon have its first female president.
6 days left until we find out…
