House of cards

Short synopsis

There are three linear narratives that run side by side and cross over into the main narrative about Frank Underwood. He is the house majority Whip of Congress and the most powerful main character. He is portrayed as a puppet master and ruthless. He was snubbed by the President Elect that he put into power with his connections; he was used. They put a less deserving Secretary of State in his place.  'Revenge is best served cold' is his approach to handing the situation. His wife (Claire Underwood) is just as blood thirsty and ambitious. These characters are very much false heroes. 

The second linear story includes Zoe Barnes, who is a highly ambitious, immoral reporter who will use any means possible to further her career. She approaches Frank Underwood with a proposition that uses the media to sway public opinion. 

The third narrative is about Peter Russo who is a congressman who is arrested for DUI, drug abuse and solicitation and this is then used as blackmail by Frank.

Media language demonstrates the actions that are taking place. Low key lighting is used throughout when everything is going wrong but it is high key when everything seems to be going well for Frank. Low key costumes are also used to demonstrate the seriousness and dramatics of the programme. 

Theoretical framework

Learners will develop their understanding through the consistent application of the four areas of the theoretical framework:

•media language: how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings

•media representations: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups

•media industries: how the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms

•media audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them and how members of audiences become producers themselves.

Open or closed?

texts may be

• ' open ' (i.e. unravelled in a lot of different ways) or

• ' closed ' (there is only one obvious thread to pull on).

Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try and unravel meaning are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the following five ways

The 5 codes

Enigma/hermeneutic

Proairetic/action 

Semantic code- words with meaning 

Symbolic code

Referential code

The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

 The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

The Proairetic Code

 (ACTION CODE)

The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

President elect Garrick Walker,

Linda Vasquez- Chief of staff, woman, latino tuff as a 2 dollar stake

Frank/Francis Underwood- House majority whip – keep the sludge moving.

Clair Underwood- Franks wife, charity, secretly evil 

Washington Herald: Zoe Barnes- editor and writer 

Michael Kern – Secretary of state nomination 

Peter  Russo - drink driver,, solicitation, use of controlled substances.

Christina Gallagher- assistant and girlfriend to Peter. 

Tom Hammersmith- editor and chief

Lukas- editor

Thrillers have the genre convections of mystery, they have crime related atmosphere. They are seen as dark and dangerous. 

Political thrillers have the convention of there being a political power struggle. There may be an internal battle and House Of Cards lives up to this because there is an internal break of promise internally. it subverts the convnenctions because in thrillers the 'Knight in shining armour' is trying to stop the corruption. In House of Cards the protagonist is almost the enemy. 

Subvert- undermine authority 
Longform drama- multiple variety of a story within one programme 

Red rose symbols- love, affection, promise, proposals, lust, perfection, commitment

Drama conventions

Emotional themes with characters portraying drug addiction, poverty, class division

Theres a protagonist, antagonist and a helper/best friend

Political drama- political fights or corruption and there needs to be some element of realism 

House of cards does conform to the political drama because  it has a political fight because Frank doesn't get his position he wants 

House of Cards is a political drama/thriller. A political drama is genres of TV show where there is a political corruption but has some realism to it. It is a show that has different variations of the overall same event. The main protagonist is Francis Underwood; he is the House Majority Whip and was promised Secretary of State but was played and didn’t get it. Claire Underwood is the wife of Francis; she is the CEO of a charity. Zoe Barnes is a news reporter and editor for the Washington Herald. Peter Russo is a congressman.

House of Cards is written in a form of storytelling. With Frank occasionally talking to the camera.

Multi strand narrative is used as there are multiple main characters, protagonists and antagonists due to there being multiple variations.

Based on Barthes code, there are three narrative forms that House of Cards has. Firstly, the enigma code, this is the code where the story hasn’t fully been finished or explained. This is evident where you don’t know what is going to happen next with everyone involved such as Zoe and Frank. You don’t know who is going to be the next president. The action code is also a form of narrative used and this is where an action or event indicates that something else is going to happen. For example When Frank gets told he is no longer going to be the Secretary of State he gets mad and is going to have some form of revenge. We as an audience don’t know what the revenge is actually going to be. The referential code is used throughout as well and this is where external knowledge is used and said, in House of Cards this can all be about past presidents and facts to do with politics. Symbolic codes are shown through things such as camera angles and music.  

Talk about conventions