The Worst Wing
‘Veep’ dishes up a woman politician who’s just as awful as the men
SOUTH Africa strives for gender parity within its political structures, which should be an unambiguously good thing, although we’re certainly not far along enough yet. But the appointment of women to top ministerial positions over the past two decades has taught us two important lessons. The first is that female politicians can be just as effective as male politicians — or better. The second is that female politicians can be just as ineffective as male politicians — or worse. It’s a liberating realisation, and it’s exactly the notion that HBO’s show Veep has at its heart, too.
In more than 220 years, there has never been a female vice-president of the US. This being the case, the premise of Veep — that one is at last in office — could easily have meant a deathly serious political drama wrestling with the unique challenges facing a woman in that office. But Veep is very different — a comedy which does not seek to present its female protagonist as any more noble or worthy than the slimebucket male politicians in Washington.
Veep has been a slow burner, with its first season debuting in 2012 to good-ish reviews but not a particularly passionate response from viewers. But now in its third season, it’s picked up pace, and it’s funnier, tighter and darker than before. For viewers who are accustomed to TV about American politics being cast in the mould of The West Wing — as feel-good liberal dramas featuring characters making impassioned speeches about idealism — Veep can be a shock to the system.
If you’re already cynical about politics, Veep can seem like a comforting confirmation of your worst fears. These are politicians in politics not to serve, but to be served by power. They are slippery, expedient, and will do almost anything to get elected and stay there.
Considering an important Senate vote in the first season, main character Selina Meyer — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, best known as Seinfeld’s Elaine — tells her staffers she will vote “the way my principles and conscience tell me to go”. “OK . . .” an aide replies nervously. “Which way do you think that should be?” Meyer asks.
But the ideological ambivalence of the politicians involved is not even the most hilariously disheartening aspect of the glimpse into politics presented by Veep . More so is the sheer amount of bungling involved. Though the show is set in Washington, it will ring depressingly true for anyone who’s been following South African politics closely in the run-up to elections. The botched DA-Agang merger could have been a plotline straight out of Veep , where harassed junior staffers run around frantically trying to fix messes caused by narcissistic politicians.
Vice-President Selina Meyer is, objectively speaking, not a likeable woman — vain, self-important and armed with a snarling sense of condescension towards the people she is paid to represent. In episode two of the currently airing season, she rants about the fact that she will have to consult special interest groups on the issue of abortion. “We’ll have to get them all in and listen the shit out of all those morons,” she fumes. But Louis-Dreyfus is one of the most formidably talented comic actresses of our time, and her performance is a delight if you like your humour dark.
Veep is not for everyone. F-words come thicker and faster than politicians’ broken promises, and the show doesn’t shy away from the skewering of serious moral issues. If you’d like to keep believing that politicians have your best interests at heart, it’s to be avoided. But by that reckoning, so’s the news.
’Veep’ Season 3 broadcasts on M-Net Series Showcase on Fridays at 20:30