Greenleaf is a television drama that premiered in 2016, starring Merle Dandridge, Keith David, Lynn Whitfield, and produced by Oprah Winfrey. It airs on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network and airs internationally on Netflix.
The Greenleaf family runs the megachurch Calvary Fellowship World Ministries in Memphis. Run by family patriarch Bishop James Greenleaf, they seem to a loving, Christian family. Beneath it all, however, is familial tension and a history of emotional trauma. When Grace, the black sheep of the family, returns home after 20 years with her daughter Sophia, she’s determined to uncover the controversies her family has buried.
This show contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents:
- The Greenleaf parents, James and Mae are never physically abusive, but they tend to emotionally abuse and pin the siblings against each other by showing favoritism depending on the situation. Grace is the favorite of James, but Mae tends to ostracize her, blame Grace for things that aren’t her fault, and endorse other family members to gang up on her verbally. Mae also tends to push her own problems onto Grace rather than taking responsibility. James is better, but also seems to push Grace to do things she’s not interested in and puts a lot of pressure on her to follow in his footsteps. Jacob, as the only son, gets a lot of the pressure from James that he gives to Grace with none of the favoritism, and he’s essentially her replacement while she’s gone, unable to live for himself. When he wants to branch out, both his parents take it as a personal attack. Interestingly, he is the favorite of Mae, though she tends to baby him, and reacts theatrically when he goes against her wishes. Charity does not receive the ludicrous expectations of her siblings, nor is she explicitly The Un-Favorite, but seems emotionally neglected by both parents, since they each favor her older siblings. She tends to have any good news in her life overshadowed by her siblings problems. While it's not known exactly how her relationship with her parents was, Faith, before her death, had her sexual assault by Uncle Mac overlooked by her parents with no investigation.
- Mavis and Mac's father was sexually abusing Mae, and physically abusive to Mavis.
- Anti-Hero: All of the Greenleafs, sans Uncle Mac. They aren’t blatantly evil, but are emotionally neglectful and abusive to each other, careless of others’ problems and stuck up.
- As the Good Book Says...: James, Mae, and other characters typically show their devotion to religion by quoting the Bible in common conversation. Younger characters, like Sophia and Zoe, do it far less.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: Zigzagged. Religion is not seen as an inherently bad thing, or at least not as bad as the people who weaponize and misuse it. Bishop James and many other characters become so wrapped up in the church’s followings that they may throw morality to the wayside and neglect the relationships to their family or friends. Bishop James and others also demonstrate how powerful figures can use the sway of religion to be self serving and abuse the devotion of their followers.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Greenleaf consist of two emotionally abusive parents more interested in running their church than caring for their kids, and a bunch of kids who only seem to marry into trouble. Jacob is having a mid life crisis and cheats on his wife, Charity’s husband turns out to be gay while she ends up addicted to drugs, Mac is a child molester and rapist, and another daughter has committed suicide by the time the series begins. The first generation isn’t much better; Mae was sexually abused by her father, Mavis was physically abused, and Mac grew to be just like their terrible father.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: While the Greenleaf household is not really as much of a pinnacle of purity as people would think, other characters resort to even more depraved stuff, like pedophilia, incest, and discrimination.
- Gayngst: Kevin turns out to be gay and ends up divorcing Charity after conversion treatment turns out to be ineffective. The church also discriminated heavily against gay people despite claims of not being ''really'' homophobic.
- Meaningful Name: Greenleaf brings to mind tree imagery, which may reflect the concept of a family tree. Green also brings money to mind, highlighting the corruption of the church.
- Parental Incest: Henry was sexually abusive towards his daughter, Mae.
- Pedophile Priest: Uncle Mac. Although he is more of a pedophile deacon, he serves a similiar role, being a perverted man of God who abuses his power.
- Put on a Bus: Basie Skanks, after giving Triumph to Jacob, runs off, leaving his wife behind, and is missing for a lot of Season 3.
