Political Shows Like Madam Secretary Helped Me Better Understand Passion
For the last ten days, I’ve had a different President. If you have the opportunity to give yourself that gift, I highly recommend it.
The first time I ever watched a political television show I was around 12, settled on the couch with my father and deeply entrenched in Josiah Bartlet’s White House. My first political love was Joshua Lyman, with his wild hand gestures and propensity for top-of-his-lungs exclamations. We didn’t talk much about politics in my house, but we watched The West Wing. Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler fueled my love for writing, and CJ Cregg pushed me to be a powerful woman who stood up for herself and others. When I’m sad, the top thing on my list is “The Stackhouse Filibuster” (S2E17). My political involvement in college was deeply motivated by a desire to be the next Lyman or Seaborn.
After falling in love with The West Wing, it was as if political movies and TV were a way of life for me. From films like Dave and The American President to shows like Parks and Recreation and Veep, I’ve devoured everything I’ve had the opportunity to take in, using it to lift me up when I’m struggling, warm my heart when I’m cynical, and inspire me to keep pushing when the days are difficult.
When Madam Secretary started in 2014, I was just out of graduate school and reinvesting in political and community work. Honest to god, I think someone wrote the show for me. The cast included two of my favorite actors — Tim Daly, who my father introduced me to via Wings, and Téa Leoni, who starred in my favorite Christmas movie of all time, The Family Man. Rounding out the cast was a host of Broadway all stars, and the story of a woman as Secretary of State was exactly what I needed at the time. And yet somehow, I only ever got through Season One. That changed recently.
I’ve spent the last 13 years doing political and community work, but nothing has been more intense or chaotic than the last five years. The things that made me happiest (a well-written book, the static of a record, putting my words in the universe, and a good political show) slipped aside for petitions and phone banks and wrangling volunteers. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew art was missing, but I was trying to save the world.
When we went into social distancing, I didn’t know what to do. I am privileged enough to be working from home, but I have been struggling. My depression and anxiety and ADHD tried to consume me. It’s not unusual for them to take over, but a quarantine feels like it was specially designed for people with mental health issues to spiral. And then one day, I hit play on Madam Secretary again.
Instead the show consumed me, enveloping me in the warm writing and the deep intellect of an entire cast of characters. I devoured it, watching as many episodes as I could possibly fit into whatever time I wasn’t working. I found comfort in a world where the President and Secretary of State were capable and intelligent, and I didn’t constantly feel like the world was falling apart.
I’ll freely admit that the amount of time I spent watching a television show in the first few days was not the healthiest, but ultimately I think it kept me standing. Dealing with the uncertainty of our current situation felt impossible, but watching Elizabeth McCord push for a better world took all the anxiety out of my stomach.
It wasn’t until I started drafting a poverty alleviation program that I realized I’d found a piece of inspiration that had been missing for a long time. The way art can do that has always astounded me, whether it’s a piece of poetry or a passionate novel or 45 minutes in a fictional world. Art can truly change everything.
In the first episode of the final season, Dr. Henry McCord (Tim Daly) gives a speech about how art impacted his life. “The way they used words just lit up my imagination,” he said, referring to poets like Dickinson and Hughes and Pascal. “They ignited all my passions and put them in one place.” He said the words I’ve long been looking for — that art can help you put so many of your other passions to work.
I finished the show yesterday evening, coming out of a fictional world with the first woman President to a world where a woman being in the White House still seems like an impossibility. It took me a few minutes to come back to the real world, to remember that the 120 episodes I’d just watched were art and not reality, but once I did I knew something in me was different.
If you need a reminder that art breathes life into things, even when all of the oxygen feels sucked out of the room, I hope this is it. Maybe for you it’s a book by your favorite author or the newest album by your favorite artist. Maybe, like me, it’s watching two real people you admire, whom you’ll never meet, bring a fictional world to life right in front of you. Whatever it is, I hope you find that it brings out the passion in you like it did in me.
After all, I may no longer be able to pretend we have a different president, but I’m already working on ways to change the world thanks to watching this show. I think you can find the art that will help you do that too.
Lots of organizations are in need of donations right now, but if you’re looking to invest in art, check out The Creative Coalition. The work they do to keep art elevated in our world is exceptional.
