"We're making this as entertainment. But God willing, if this show stays on and people see a woman in that office for a while, I think it will help people become more used to it. It's certainly about time that we had a few female presidents"
About this Quote
Geena Davis is doing something sly here: smuggling a political argument into the soft packaging of primetime. By opening with "We're making this as entertainment", she anticipates the eye-roll - the suspicion that celebrity activism is preachy, or that TV is just escapism. Then she pivots, gently but unmistakably, to the real thesis: representation is rehearsal. If audiences can spend week after week watching a woman in the presidency - making calls, taking meetings, absorbing crises - the idea stops reading as a novelty and starts reading as normal.
The key phrase is "for a while". Davis isn't claiming one stunt episode can undo centuries of bias; she's betting on duration, on the slow drip of familiarity. It's a media-savvy theory of change: people don't always revise their beliefs through argument, but through repeated exposure that quietly retrains their gut reactions. That's why the line "God willing" matters too. It nods to the fickle economics of television (ratings, renewals) while framing the project as bigger than any one show - almost a civic wish dressed up as industry pragmatism.
"Become more used to it" is deliberately modest language, but it's also the sharpest point. The barrier she's naming isn't competence, it's comfort - the cultural reflex that a male president feels default. And the closer, "about time", refuses to let the audience treat this as a futuristic milestone. Davis makes the case that a female president isn't an innovation; it's an overdue correction, with TV functioning as the training wheels for a public still catching up.
The key phrase is "for a while". Davis isn't claiming one stunt episode can undo centuries of bias; she's betting on duration, on the slow drip of familiarity. It's a media-savvy theory of change: people don't always revise their beliefs through argument, but through repeated exposure that quietly retrains their gut reactions. That's why the line "God willing" matters too. It nods to the fickle economics of television (ratings, renewals) while framing the project as bigger than any one show - almost a civic wish dressed up as industry pragmatism.
"Become more used to it" is deliberately modest language, but it's also the sharpest point. The barrier she's naming isn't competence, it's comfort - the cultural reflex that a male president feels default. And the closer, "about time", refuses to let the audience treat this as a futuristic milestone. Davis makes the case that a female president isn't an innovation; it's an overdue correction, with TV functioning as the training wheels for a public still catching up.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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