We’re fast approaching the end of presidential primary season: The Republican race is already over, with all the candidates except Donald Trump dropping out and now, as of this week, enough delegates pledged to Trump to make him definitely, for real, absolutely the Republican nominee. The Democratic race continues, as neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders has won enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination. Bernie, in second place, has pledged to give every voter who wants to participate a chance. That means he will stay in the race at least until every state and district has voted; the last primary is June 14, in DC.
As this phase of the presidential campaign moves into its twilight days, candidates are often rehashing policies and talking points we’ve heard many times. Instead of looking over those same points ourselves, why not look at some badass representations of women in the White House? Here are five of our faves for your next binge-watch.
1. President Elizabeth Lanford, Independence Day: Resurgence. Okay okay, so we can’t OFFICIALLY vouch for the awesomeness of the woman president in this yet-to-be released Independence Day sequel. But we’re excited nonetheless. We’re excited that this time around it’s not Bill Pullman leading the free world (although he is in the movie), but Sela Ward. In fact, her speech is the voiceover that guides the trailer above.
2. Madame President, Project Moonbase. This film, which came out in 1953, might be the first movie to portray the president of the United States as a woman (played by Ernestine Barrier). It’s based on a story by popular science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein and tells the story of a mission to find suitable spaces for a lunar landing gone awry. Ernestine isn’t the only woman with a prominent role in this movie, either: One of the three members of the all-important mission is a female colonel.
3. Selina Meyer, Veep. Veep,arguably the best comedy on TV right now, takes its name from the job Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character Selina Meyer occupied at the series’ outset: vice president. In the show’s current fifth season, Selina is the president and fighting to stay that way. The show does a skillful job of portraying some of the image issues that affect women far more than men (a stress-related facial pimple causes huge problems in one episode) while staying focused on its main goal: skewering the political system and the incompetence that runs throughout it.
4. President Constance Payton, State of Affairs. The show that featured Katherine Heigl as a CIA analyst lasted just one season, and received mostly negative reviews. But it gave us 13 episodes to imagine an America that had elected a black woman, played by the incomparable Alfre Woodard, to the nation’s highest office. If nothing else, that kind of representation matters.
5. Acting President Sally Langston, Scandal. For a hot minute in the second season of Scandal, with President Fitzgerald Grant incapacitated after an assassination attempt, Vice President Sally Langston became Acting President Sally Langston. That didn’t last long, as Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope kicked into high gear to keep Sally from usurping the role — even though Fitz was still in a coma so, really, it was probably a good idea to have someone conscious running the country. But Fitz pulled through, and Sally returned to her role as second-in-command.
Who was behind your fave portrayal of the president? Tweet us about it @BritandCo!
(Featured image via HBO)