House of Cards Textual Analysis Essay

House of Cards is a long-form television drama, aired in 2013, which explores the sinister protagonist Frank Underwood as he plots revenge against his government.

The first episode uses a range of microelements such as editing to convey meaning while presenting Frank as a fairly corrupt politician. For example, the use of tracking shots creates a sense of realism as the audience is following Frank's movements, such as when he passes on the draft of the Education Bill onto a journalist, or when he blackmails Russo into his complete 'loyalty'. This is a convention of a thriller and therefore it builds tension within the narrative for the audience. It also creates the idea that the audience is a witness to political corruption, which reflects real life. For example, a survey found that 44 per cent of Americans believe that corruption is pervasive in the White House, up from 36 per cent in 2016, and 55 per cent gave fear of retaliation as the main reason not to report corruption, up from 31 per cent in 2016. The major characters in House of Cards seek only to advance their individual agendas, and, like Trump, they feel that they “can do anything” without consequence. Certain audiences will believe that Frank's representation of corrupt politics is very close to true life and therefore be intrigued and possibly scared by the show. 
Verisimilitude in terms of storyline is evident as crosscutting is used in order to show multiple narratives of characters such as Frank and Claire Underwood, Zoe Barnes and Peter Russo. This is a typical convention of a drama, which creates genre-hybridity. Zoe Barnes and Frank Underwood are presented to have parallel narratives as they both struggle to achieve what they want; this sets up the idea that they need each other and therefore represent politics and the press as institutions which interlink through negative methods in order to achieve success. Peter Russo's character strongly relates to Bill Clinton's scandals and therefore presents the politics in a fairly accurate way, making the sense of realism (a genre convention) more frightening to audiences.

The opening credits portray multiple time-lapses of establishing shots in Washington, presenting the location as a large and busy city full of people who will be directly affected by the sinister protagonist's actions. This is reflected towards the end of the episode as a montage is used to convey how both Frank and Zoe's are successful in their actions. For example, Janine Skorsky, who was originally above Zoe, is shown to be having a bad day. Along with this, multiple politicians such as Linda Vasquez are shown to feel panic over the largely successful article, which has leaked the Education Bill. One convention of a political drama is a power struggle, which is conveyed through the use of editing. Michael Kern and Frank Underwood are shown to catch eye contact using a slow-motion capture, which clearly portrays Frank's angry expression. This inter-textually links to the Shakespeare play 'Othello', in which Iago secretly sees Othello as a rival and schemes to bring him down, despite their apparent friendship. This represents Frank as a false hero, similarly to that of Iago, making him a likeable villain to the audience. 

There are also certain elements of editing that are not direct conventions of a political drama. For example, an action-match cut is often used to show Frank's transition from talking to other characters and at the audience, which can sometimes create unease due to dramatic irony.

Mise-en-scene is used to depict the main characters as false heroes through the consistent use of low-key lighting. The use of darkness at key moments such as Peter Russo's first appearance and Frank's reaction to his betrayal create a negative atmosphere and portray the protagonist's emotions to the audience. The realistic yet negative representation of both Russo and Frank Underwood as corrupt politicians who use their power to get out of trouble creates an uneasy atmosphere and reminds the audience that these situations are possible within government. Events such as Peter Russo's drunk driving, office affair and drug-use present a sense of unreliability surrounding his character, relating to the idea that politicians are often regular people just with power. Frank uses his power in a number of ways - to preserve his own, remove others and manipulate those around him. His power is strengthened his wife, as they work together and recognize that they are stronger as a pair. This relates to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and overall represents the couple to be power-hungry and cold-hearted. Low-key lighting is used fairly often throughout the series, often getting darker in moments that are less positive for the protagonists. It contributes to both the semantic and the enigma code as it sets a melancholy or tense mood but also creates a large sense of mystery for the audience. The visual style of the series emphasizes the realism due to subdued lighting in most scenes, which is often muted and de-saturated. 

Zoe Barnes' character is presented through mise-en-scene to be an upcoming and fairly desperate journalist. Her low status is portrayed through her costume as she dresses the most informally out of all her co-workers and other characters in general. Barthes’ semantic code of her outfit would suggest that she is of a lower class and not in a high position of employment, and possibly even shows her as an undesirable colleague at the Harold's. As well as this, props are used to create clutter throughout her apartment, which is fairly small, overall showing that she has a lower social status than those such as Frank. 

The microelement of sound complies with general conventions of a political thriller. For example, off-screen sounds are used to create tension at certain parts of the episode. Firstly it is used at the very start, with the diegetic sound of dog suffering after being hit by a car. Later on in the narrative, there is the diegetic sound of breaking plates off screen. Both of these are used to create surprise or shock, as Frank was apparently calm while on screen. Another convention of the genre is realism, which is promoted by the little use of background music. Although there is occasional non-diegetic background music to set the tone or build tension, there are multiple occasions where only diegetic sounds can be heard which can make the audience feel uneasy. The verbal code is used throughout as the narrative is led by dialogue, and action is often used as a last resort. Camera angles and shots often stage the dialogue to build tension. An example of this is Frank’s consistent turn to the camera whenever he breaks the fourth wall, revealing his schemes to the audience, similarly to that of Shakespeare’s Iago. This causes the audience to be on Frank’s side, as they don’t want to be any of the other characters that he is plotting against.

The use of camera-work throughout the episode is very effective as it evidently portrays emotion and power, which are key elements of the program. Low-angle shots are used consistently and highlight key moments, such as Frank's murder of the dog, his answering of the door to Zoe and his blackmail towards Russo. These all present Frank as having the upper hand in all these situations and therefore can create an element of fear, which is a convention of a thriller. There is also a regular use of close-up shots, which can make the episode more dramatic as the emotion is clearly portrayed. One example of this is when there is an extreme close-up on Frank's face, confusing the audience as to what is going on, only to reveal that he is playing a violent video game late at night. Another example of camerawork is the tracking birds-eye-view shot that captures Zoe's hard work while she is writing the article, presenting her further as a desperate character due to the idea that she is willingly doing something in a 'legal grey-area'. The concept of a 'grey-area' itself is a genre convention of a political drama as the realism makes it hard to tell who is a good or evil character. The camera is often kept still in order to capture dialogue, and does not tilt and pan at the same time.