Imagine a President

Ros Pritchard, a supermarket manager in Britain, Stéphane Blé, a social worker from the Banlieue of Paris, and Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, a high school history teacher from Kyiv, have no political aspirations. But through twists of fate, these three will become presidents of their own countries, at least in the fictional worlds they live in. Their political ascent is triggered by a dissatisfaction with the political system that fails to represent them. Pritchard, Blé, and Goloborodko are angry, and their anger is not theirs alone—it reverberates far beyond the screen.

In this post, we discuss how the political becoming of these three protagonists—featured in “Servant of the People” (“Слуга Народу”), Volodymyr Zelensky, UKR Kvartal 95 2015-2019; “Represent” (“En Place”), Jean-Pascal Zadi & François Uzan, FR, Netflix 2023–; and “The Amazing Mrs Pritchard”, Jane Featherstone, UK, BBC One 2006—are part of a recent wave of European fictional shows that imagine political alternatives to traditional political parties. A forthcoming MORES working paper will contain a thorough analysis, which follows the project endeavour to shed light on the larger cultural context of today’s politics-emotions nexus.

Each show depicts an “innocent“ outsider candidate who, propelled by anger, symbolises an answer to the general perception that contemporary democracies face a crisis of representation. They are also examples of how emerging narratives in popular culture acknowledge the perceived demand for populist leadership that has increased in Europe and overseas. While the term is often used deploringly, we use it descriptively: it captures a wide range of different political ideologies that build upon an antagonism between positively valued “the people“ and a denigrated “the elite“ (Stanley, 2008). From that perspective, populism may even be good for democracy if its leaders or movements are able to bring alienated people back into politics (e.g.: Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser, 2013).

A common thread in these shows is the exploration of an outburst of anger as the impetus for the protagonists’ political careers.

Even if these shows do not claim to be populists, our analysis shows that a cultural imagination of populism manifests itself in them: politics are divided, and citizens are deeply frustrated with the elites. These two factors create an environment where a new kind of political leader emerges: someone who is relatable, “one of us”, unlike the out-of-touch elite representatives. These three shows explore the idea that ordinary people, and not the elites, may offer better solutions to societal problems, each experimenting with populist themes in its own way—and each going beyond the illiberal nationalist-identitarian ideologies so characteristic of their real-world equivalents.

Another common thread in these shows is the exploration of an outburst of anger as the impetus for the protagonists’ political careers. These outbursts, amplified and disseminated by various forms of media, resonate with the public, making holding political office a plausible goal. That anger serves as the affective foundation upon which the shows build their unique interpretations of contemporary populism.

Anger, as a moral emotion, plays a crucial role in politics. It arises when people believe that someone has acted unfairly or harmed others in a way that violates their sense of justice or ethics. This judgment can be based on personal values, social norms, or cultural standards. Communities sharing moral anger may start actions or demonstrations against perceived injustice. But moral anger also has downsides. For instance, political leaders or groups exploiting anger in their messages may create an “us” versus “them” mentality, fuelling aggressive rhetoric, conflicts, and sharpening divides between political groups. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the community represented by the “we“ in these shows’ fictional populist movements, and how they relate to our times.

A White, Middle-Class, Entrepreneurial, Feminist Populism?

The supermarket owner Ros Pritchard, the protagonist of “The Amazing Mrs Pritchard”, begins her unexpected political journey after witnessing a heated brawl between Conservative and Labour candidates outside her supermarket. Stepping in to intervene, her sharp public criticism of the state of politics—broadcast on local TV—thrusts her into the political limelight.

This moment not only marks the political becoming of Pritchard. It also serves as a metaphor for the realities of modern politics: male-dominated, deeply divided, and lacking a centrist voice. Visually, the scene underscores this reality, with each candidate’s entourage positioned to the left and right of the screen, while Pritchard delivers her impassionate, morally charged speech from the middle, symbolizing her role as a voice of moderation against the entrenched political elites.

As the show unfolds, Pritchard’s populism is characterised as white, middle-class, entrepreneurial, and feminist, stemming from a frustration with toxic masculinity in politics and a perceived lack of representation and result-oriented pragmatism that block overdue common-sense decisions. An all-female party is set to win the election under her leadership and management style, first introduced as she heads a supermarket branch.

Pritchard’s platform also champions some entrepreneurial pragmatism that she believes will fix a messy government, just like she does in a profitable business.

No longer confined to radical feminist circles within left-wing academia, this viewpoint, as “The Amazing Mrs Pritchard” might have foreseen, had become visible in conservative centre-right groups in the 2020s (see image below). This position is not rooted in fears for democracy or a questioning of the system from a marginalised perspective; rather, it is a common-sense answer to voter apathy.

Pritchard’s platform also champions some entrepreneurial pragmatism that she believes will fix a messy government, just like she does in a profitable business – an approach popularised by figures like former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and tech mogul Elon Musk, whose business-first ethos now influences politics from the White House.

The show weaves together themes of the underrepresentation of women in leadership, the business-minded approach to governance, and deep public dissatisfaction with elites who overlook ordinary citizens. The result is a nuanced populist stance—one that forges unlikely alliances between societal groups as a counterweight to those in power.

The crisis of democracy as a gender crisis. Ros Pritchard with her all-female entourage in the House of Commons. “The Amazing Mrs Pritchard”, episode 2, TC 48:09 (left). Cover of the German magazine DER SPIEGEL on the dissolution of the government coalition, in November 2024, showing ex-chancellor Angela Merkel commenting on the government crisis: “MEN!”

A “Majority of Minorities“ Populism?

“Represent“ presents a different form of populism from the outset. In an emblematic scene, Stéphane Blé, a social worker, confronts Andréi, a socialist mayor running as a presidential candidate, in front of the cameras when he visits the Banlieue. In response, Andréi tries different appeasement strategies but, each time, Blé calls him out angrily and argues that his political promises are disconnected from locals’ needs. At the height of their argument, the social worker of African descent reminds the white politician of the core values of the French Republic: “Are you looking for a slogan for your campaign? I’ve got one for you […] It is ‘Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité’ (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity).” This confrontation, broadcast on TV, starts Blé’s unexpected presidential campaign.

It starts when an unscrupulous campaign manager pushes Blé into launching a full-fledged campaign. When one of the teenagers in Blé’s group is arrested in a drug raid, Blé tries to free him so that he does not lose an apprenticeship position, but ends up in jail, too. His campaign manager arrives to help him, seizing the chance to praise his “very Mandela“ attitude. He organises a protest in front of the police station that is streamed live via social media. As supporters arrive, the police escalates the situation and pepper-sprays the crowd. In slow motion, the crowd disperses, and for a brief moment, a young woman in a headscarf appears on screen, waving the French flag. As Blé appropriated the national motto, “Represent” appropriates the painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, another national symbol.

“Represent” challenges the notion of a banlieue patriotism that is promoted by the nationalist-identitarian National Rally party.

In a single first episode, “Represent” reveals that navigating society involves managing the constant friction between different worldviews, embracing the inevitable awkwardness, shame, anger, and frustration. By appropriating the core values of the French republic and claiming them for its grass-roots political movement, “Represent” projects a populism that understands “the people” it represents and what they should be defended against. The people in “Represent” are not homogenous or like-minded but formed by an intersectional majority of minorities that reflect the complexities of contemporary French society, where minorities grapple with both discrimination and relative privilege.

This emblematic scene also illustrates how the show counters the discrimination and negligence of current politics without rejecting the republic and its history but with renewed patriotism—one that insists on the values of pluralism. As such, “Represent” challenges the notion of a banlieue patriotism that is promoted by the nationalist-identitarian National Rally party (Rassemblement National), and proposes that the people, in their multi-layered manifestation, should be both politically represented and empowered.

Appropriating French Patriotism. “Represent”, episode 1, 22:58 (left) and Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, 1830 (right).

An Educated Populism?

“Servant of the People” is set in Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. In the first episode, history teacher Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, played by former actor and now Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, delivers a fiery critique of the political system to a colleague in a private conversation. He draws a straight line between his country’s lack of political culture and its politicians’ disregard for history.

In this scene, like in the other shows we discussed, Goloborodko’s argument embodies the public’s widespread frustration with politics, and the sense that ordinary citizens have been abandoned. His sharp, impassioned speech takes aim at the local elites: “It’s always the lesser of two assholes and it’s been this way for 25 years”, he sums up, as angry as it gets. Unbeknownst to him, a student records his moralised discourse, shares it to social media, and his speech goes viral—launching Goloborodko’s journey to the presidency.

The outburst of anger in the “Servant of the People” is more conventionally staged than in the other shows, thanks to Zelensky’s expressive performance. His portrayal seamlessly shifts from a sensitive teacher to an angry citizen, demonstrating a command of diverse archetypal characters (Kravchenko et al., 2020) while at the same time creating a rich political identity.

However, unlike “Represent” and “The Amazing Mrs Pritchard”, Goloborodko’s fictional rise is not reliant on traditional campaigning. His political career embodies the traditional ideal of a leader who reluctantly accepts power for the benefit of the community: he does not run a campaign, does not concede interviews, or appears in political billboards. His anger takes him into political power by miracle, a president seemingly immaculately conceived, who benefits not from the usual political paths but from unfiltered social media.

The populist appeal of “The Servant of the People“ hinges on themes of modesty, moderation, and a reconnection with the country’s past and its people.

In a decade where populist candidates achieved surprising election results built on their popularity from the entertainment industry—Beppe Grillo in Italy, Donald Trump in the U.S., Slavi Trifonov in Bulgaria, and the list goes on—“Servant of the People” captured this era’s zeitgeist perhaps most outrightly. In the show, an ordinary man rises to power and claims to fix the country not through traditional policy debates or political agendas, but by embodying the core values and rhetoric of anti-corruption movements. Somewhat blurring the line between fiction and reality, Zelensky ascended to the presidency in 2019 by crafting an image that voters believed in—one shaped less by traditional policies than by the scripted success of his on-screen persona, Goloborodko.

As such, the show’s populist appeal hinges on themes of modesty, moderation, and a reconnection with the country’s past and its people. “The people“ Goloborodko represents from the outset are first his students—a future generation of Ukrainians he wants to shape into responsible citizens. The system is irredeemably corrupt, and has always been; therefore, the decent must rise up. But “the decent“ people do not just wait to reveal their political voice, they—the “we“—also need to change in order to carry this transformation. The show embodies the idea that a teacher, who knows well of the country’s history and people, cannot just shed light on the challenges ahead of Ukraine as an independent nation while pushing back against Russia’s annexation campaign; he can also serve as a type of father to the nation. Unlike candidates in uncontested states such as France and the UK, this show’s outsider candidate plays a more prominent populist role.

A modern leader with antique ideals: The introduction shots of the protagonist in “Servant of the People”, episode 1, 04:52 (left). Volodymyr Zelensky after his successful election campaign, in 2021 (right). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

“The Amazing Mrs Pritchard”, “Represent”, and “Servant of the People” tackle themes of morality, emotion, and the feeling that the elites have left the people behind. By focusing on ordinary citizens who unexpectedly rise to political prominence, each show offers a fresh, populist perspective intended to combat political apathy in their respective countries. Through the imagined paths of Ros Pritchard, Stéphane Blé, and Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, these shows illustrate how moral anger and the populist appeal, in their complexity, can upend even the most entrenched political systems.

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Thomas Scherer is MORES's Researcher at the European University Viadrina (EUV).

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Post References

Kravchenko, N. K., Goltsova, M. G., & Kryknitska, I. O. (2020). Politics as art: The creation of a successful political brand. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 9(4), 314323.

Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2013). Exclusionary vs. inclusionary populism: Comparing contemporary Europe and Latin America. Government and Opposition, 48(2), 147-174. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2012.11

Stanley, B. (2008). The thin ideology of populism. Journal of Political Ideologies, 13(1), 95-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310701822289