MaiLei Meyers

CSCL 3177

House of Cards

On February 1, 2013, Netflix, a company most famous for its online streaming and mail

delivery service of movies and eventually television, launched its first ever “Netflix Original

Series,” House of Cards. Created by Beau Willimon, produced and directed by David Fincher

with two-time Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey at the helm, Netflix’s $100 million

pioneer of a project skyrocketed into fame and success after one bulk-release season. House of

Cards won three Primetime Emmy Awards and became the first series not broadcast on cable or

network TV to win. What makes it so successful? (Johnson)

Resting in the category of “Political Thriller/Drama,” House of Cards centers itself solely

around one man, his wife, and their plight to the top of the Washington D.C. food chain. Francis

“Frank” Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and Claire Underwood (Robin Wright). Instead of focusing

on an underdog trying to expose the corruption of our country’s current political landscape, the

audience gets to see the dark underbelly of the capitol which remains both unsettling and ever so

addicting.

Though House of Cards may continually rise in popularity, its contents hold more

subdued controversial issues than what can be seen from the surface. In specific relation to

season one but prevailing throughout, women make up the backbone of the show’s drama and

conflict. That being said, they do not represent any sort of moral high ground. The concept of

women being morally outstanding in contrast to their seedy male counterparts in both film and

television is starkly strayed from in the world of the Underwoods. I will be focusing specifically
on the presence of Claire Underwood and Zoe Barnes, both of whom are romantically and

politically linked to Frank in different ways. These women may represent the powerful threat to

freedom that is necessary to create friction and problematic scenarios for the men at the show’s

focus, but they are not any more progressive or respected on a long term scale.

I will draw from excerpts in Theodor Adorno’s Interventions: Nine Critical Models to

showcase how television is always perpetuating the status quo. This show perhaps appears on

certain levels to be questioning the status quo but ends up subtly perpetuating the role of women

by giving them the same intentions and decisions throughout. I will also utilize passages from

Susan J. Douglas’ book, Enlightened Sexism to highlight how these initially empowering female

personas objectify themselves and deem it acceptable, solely because they voluntarily put

themselves in these compromising positions instead of letting men do it for them.

Season one revolves around Frank’s climb to become Vice President of the United States

of America. What starts out as a simple battle over an education reform bill manifests itself into

countless backroom deals, empty promises, and even the death of an innocent man in the name

of upward mobility. Frank greets the pilot as a democratic house representative for the state of

Georgia. He is also the House Majority Whip, which labels him as the disciplinarian of the

legislature, working on behalf of proper party policy and house vote distribution. His wife Claire

runs her own non-profit organization called the Clean Water Initiative, which works towards

implementing safe drinking water in poorly supplemented urban areas and more recently, foreign

countries. Frank maneuvers his way in and out of offices and boardrooms in Capitol Hill to

climb as high as possible with the lowest number of traceable actions possible.

Zoe Barnes begins the season as a reporter for a fictional newspaper called The

Washington Herald. She first sees Frank on television and hears about the forceful pull he has in
the White House from a moderate position of power in the House of Representatives, becoming

intrigued with his potential. Hailing from an average American family and drooling at the chance

to have the most up-to-date news in the world of political reporting, Zoe finds herself in the

Underwood living room trying to coerce information out of Frank about the initial reform bill

and its draft. Stemming from that night, a twisted but formulaically sinister sexual affair begins.

In his chapter titled, “A Prologue to Television,” Adorno says that “television makes

them [people] once again into what they already are, only more so” (50). This concept of

continual perpetuation of who people already are is very present with Claire Underwood and her

initially one-dimensional existence in House of Cards. Other than minor staffing issues at her

non-profit and the creeping potential for a small affair, Claire is only given one other real set of

conflicts -- menopause and a brief dip in fertility counseling. Adorno discusses how people live

under so much pressure that we could not survive if the “precarious achievements of adjustment”

we had at one point succeeded in executing were not demonstrated “again and again” and

“repeated in them internally as well” (50). In “Chapter Thirteen,” Claire confesses that she had

undergone three abortions in the past because each time, the pregnancy was unplanned and

unwanted. Each time she terminated, it was because it wasn’t the right time or it was for the

greater good of Frank’s political standing. Even in a show that features outright social warfare

across class, gender, and career position, this poignant female character is being perpetually told

both internally from the writers’ room and from audience perception that at the end of the day,

she is still only a woman.

In Enlightened Feminism, Susan Douglas writes that the “media illusion is that equality

for girls and women is an accomplished fact when it isn’t” (4). In “Chapter 11” of House of

Cards, fierce Washington Herald reporter and subtly proclaimed mistress to Frank Underwood,
Zoe Barnes’ gradually developing superiority complex directed at Claire begins to show itself.

She goes to the Underwood home one night after being told Claire won’t be home. Zoe then

invites herself up into the couple’s bedroom and enters a subdued manic state, finding twisted

pleasure in slipping into one of Claire’s dresses. Frank becomes noticeably uncomfortable with

this daze as Zoe begins to twirl around, revelling in the closest position she will ever be to the

woman who will always take the prize in Frank’s life. She eventually collapses down onto the

master bed and tells Frank to have sex with her. She begs him to when he resists and offers to

buy her a dress of her own at a different time. Zoe becomes aggressive and frustrated when

Frank refuses to take her in her current state of frenzied daydreaming about what her life could

be like if she were in Claire’s shoes. Douglas says that women, while “scantily clad or bare-

breasted” may seem “to be objectified” really have the upper hand because “they had chosen to

be sex objects” instead of being involuntarily put in that position (5). This degrading, pleading,

and clamoring shell of a woman standing before Frank as if she were a little girl playing dress up

in her mother’s clothing is seen as self-righteous and empowering solely because she put herself

in that position. The show may portray Zoe in a piercingly young and fresh light, but it is

moments like this where we realize that the job of feminism is not complete simply because we

can act that way in lieu of not being forced into it.

In the House of Cards episode, “Chapter Four,” Claire rekindles an old flame with an

artist based in New York City named Adam Galloway. Quiet, European, peaceful, and the

characteristic antithesis of her husband, Adam exists to quench the emotional fulfillment that

Frank has never been able to fully give Claire. This relationship is called on and off throughout

the entirety of season one until its climax in “Chapter Eleven.” Claire and Frank possess a tacit

agreement that they can see and sleep with other people, so long as the involved spouse keeps it
uncomplicated and quiet. Frank never even questions his allegiance to Claire when deciding to

dive headfirst into an affiliation with Zoe. Claire almost spends one night in a hotel room with

Adam and immediately regrets even thinking about it. This pattern continues to recycle itself,

showcasing an inept double standard that is still held between men and women on television

today. Claire eventually ends the relationship saying she wants someone she “can love for more

than five days” (1:11). This decision and reasoning perpetuates that concept of being put in a

position where she can choose to branch out and be different from the women who have come

before her. Yet, Claire still ends up choosing to “do the right thing,” with that decision being

portrayed as almost heroic and thoughtful because she chose to do it, not because she was forced

to by society’s standards.

In the professional world, Zoe faces a catch-22 of underhanded political power and

personal morals. “Chapter Four,” features a stand-off between Zoe and her boss at the Herald,

Tom. After sleeping her way up to the top of the information ladder through Frank’s guiding

hand, Zoe has become a reporting machine. She leads every article and breaking news story

before any official announcements which segways into the potential for an incredibly high

profile career. Tom is begrudgingly forced to offer her the position of White House

Correspondent for the paper. After turning the offer down and realizing she did not truly earn the

promotion, Tom calls Zoe a cunt in front of the whole staff. Adorno’s concept regarding the

perpetuation of the status quo lends itself to this tough situation between advancement and

continuing to be what society has already declared you as. Zoe is continually torn between what

she believes is just and already having broken her own moral code. Tom is put in the position of

degrading her to make his point. This battle makes Zoe’s bull-headed character contradictory and

controversial when referencing both gender standards and social patterns.

 Both Claire Underwood and Zoe Barnes remain as complex personas within the larger

list of high-powered female characters on the show, with flaws and victories alike. The

perpetuation of who they are instead of their adjustment throughout life and the regression back

to the objectification of women in some featured plot points pits House of Cards against tough

media critics with the potential to spearhead the way for writing women in television. With the

show’s ever-burgeoning success and fan base for these strong female characters, it is imperative

to remember that more can be done to improve the portrayal of women in mass media today.

Works Cited

Adorno, Theodor W. “Prologue to Television.” Critical Models : Interventions and Catchwords.

New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. 49–57. Print.

Johnson, Sandra. "Why Has 'House of Cards' Been So Successful? Kevin Spacey Shares His

Thoughts." The Inquisitr News. The Inquisitr News, 4 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Susan Douglas, “Fantasies of Power,” The Rise of Enlightened Sexism: How Pop Culture Took

Us from Girl Power to Girls Gone Wild. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010. 1-22.

Print.

Willimon, B., et al. House of Cards: The Complete First Season. 2013.