Jongsu Kim

Professor Brian Ganter

ENG 104

21 May 2015

House of Cards: Storytelling at its Best

There are many good TV shows in history; however, House of Cards is one that has been nominated for many awards and stands out as distinctive amongst the many shows available in the trend of “binge watching” television series. Many people would agree to the claim that a well-written story is the most important requirement of an excellent movie or show. House of Cards has maintained a good storyline and made its heavy political contents easier to digest, through several carefully chosen features.

One of the most distinctive aspects of House of Cards is its main character, Frank Underwood. Kevin Spacey was cast as a manipulative politician because he played similar characters in the past such as, in the movie Usual Suspects. Certainly, he has a proven ability to play a calculating, scheming character who is consumed with having power and getting what he wants. In fact, he is so effective in his role that he has the unique ability to persuade viewers to become so intrigued by his character that his negative personality traits, including dishonesty and lack of integrity, are overshadowed by his ability to negotiate difficult situations. Michael Kelly. Who plays Doug Stamper, Frank’s assistant, and Kate Mara, who plays the politician’s young girlfriend, Zoe, compliment Kevin Spacey well as they allow him to take the lead.

Another unique feature of this show is that Frank talks to viewers about his ideas or presumptions of the moment and articulates his philosophy about certain matters and about how he treats people. In the very first scene of season one, episode one, Frank was talking alone about pain when suddenly a dog was run over by a car. He decided the dog did not have chance to live and helped the dog finish its life. At this point, unlike other movies or TV shows, the director not only froze the whole scene, but he also made Frank talk to the viewers’ eyes as if viewers were in that situation. This unique component allows the character to be offset from the scene, which delivers a strong impression of the character to the viewers and provides more background information. I presume that director wanted to provide clear information in ambiguous scenes because the topics are relatively heavy to digest for all audience members.

Many people may agree that stereotypical characters create distinctive elements in House of Cards. In the Frank comforting dog scene and him lying about education bill scene, director executed Frank’s character well because I believe that this is what the public believe to be the stereotype of politicians and wants to see in this show. Indeed, he is a ruthless politician who removes obstacles aggressively. In addition, Frank’s mysterious characteristics raise viewers’ curiosity. Frank visits the BBQ place at odd times. Ironically, this BBQ place is not the place that high status people like politicians likely go to because it is very run down and dirty. Therefore, events at the restaurant make viewers wonder whether Frank likes the place because of its tasty food or because of a dark relationship between Frank and Freddy, restaurant owner.

In general, shows and movies employ technical elements to attract viewers’ interest such as scientific, futuristic or artistic features. The type of elements used depends on the content of the show or movie. In the case of House of Cards, because it is a drama, there is a necessary reliance on the storyline and special technical features can’t be used. Because of this, sex scenes are often used to create appeal and suspense. Also, the director depicts the characters as having odd standards for sexual relationships through showing the characters’ private lives. Frank and Clair’s promiscuous sex life may feed viewers’ assumption that politicians only care about the power, which makes viewers keep watching.

Some people insist that the contrast of colors, blue and yellow, in the scenes make this show outstanding. They claim that the director intentionally organized colors of blue at the front and colors of yellow at the back. According to Andrew Griswold, a magazine writer at Fstopper, “This video demonstrates just how powerful two colors can make a show about corrupt American government that much more beautiful”(Griswold, Fstopper). In my opinion, some people just put too much meaning into it. If you watch closely, most sources of yellow are from the lighting. The sun is yellow and light fixtures interior in North America are yellow. Also, I found that the blue in the scenes the author identifies did not look very blue. They were just either coincidences or worshiping fanatics of House of Cards.

The use of text messages in House of Cards is another distinctive aspect of the show. Indeed, not only do the texts provide a unique visual display of the communication taking place in the show, but each text itself is very short and contains a clear message which represents their relationship quickly in the way that the characters exchange only their immediate needs. The viewer can related to something that would happen in his or her own daily life, and then see how the interaction plays out with the characters.

In conclusion, the show has unique narration scenes, mysterious characters and good mixture of colors. However, I believe that the reason that House of Cards was so successful was the strong story lines and heavy topic, which focuses on the unknown lifestyle of politicians. The show was building the main story at a fast pace and feeding little clues to cause viewers’ speculations. Moreover, every episode has a clear end but at the same time, leaves the viewer to wonder what is next. Also, the show set up Frank’s status, which is high up enough to be a president of USA, not simply a law school student. By this set up, viewers can predict Frank’s future vaguely and possible end of the House of Cards, which makes viewers confirm their prediction by watching it. Interestingly, most viewers would want him to win even though he is bad guy and the notorious politician because he is the main character.