House of Cards
House of Cards (2013 - ): Sæson 1, afsnit 1
President-elect Garrett Walker has promised Congressman Frank Underwood that he will be his new secretary of state.
As Frank Underwood is declined the position, he plots and schemes to get his revenge.
- I have no patience for useless things, says Frank Underwood euthanising his neighbour’s dog in the opening scene of the series. Is he talking about the dog?
- How does Frank Underwood introduce the viewers to Washington D.C.? What does he mean by saying that it’s give and take in Washington?
- Just like Richard III, Frank Underwood speaks in soliloquies, thus revealing his inner thoughts. What is his agenda?
- What disappointment does Frank Underwood have to face? And is his wife Claire right when she predicts that this is going to be a big year for us?
- Analyse Claire’s motivational speech to her husband.
a: What for instance does she think of his reference to hubris (a word you may want to look up in a dictionary) and ambition?
b: Why does Claire object to her husband apologising?
c: Is it normally a bad thing to apologise?
- In church the minister talks about humility and quotes the Holy Bible, Matthew 23:12:
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
How do the Underwoods deal with defeat? Are they humble?
- We are a charity, but not for our employees, Claire tells her staff manager. What does she mean by that? And what does this tell us about her?
- What do Zoe Barnes and Frank Underwood have in common?
- How do they interact? What is the function of Frank Underwood’s whiskey metaphor?
- Frank Underwood, like Richard III, is an opportunist. In what way(s) does he use the people he surrounds himself with?
a: The Police commissioner?
b: Peter Russo?
c: Donald Blythe?
d:Catherine Durant?
e: Zoe Barnes?
f: Freddy (from Freddy’s BBQ Joint)?
- Why are the first hundred days of a newly elected president so important?
- What exactly does Frank Underwood scheme to do to hurt the president- elect?
- In Shakespeare the villain, and the hero for that matter, often has to struggle with his own human flaws. Othello tries to fight the green-eyed monster. Macbeth is a hen-pecked husband controlled by his domineering wife, Lady Macbeth, and Richard III is disfigured and crippled. What human flaws does Frank Underwood have to fight, if any?
- Is it fair to say that Frank Underwood like Richard III tries to rise above his station keeping his humble Southern background in mind? Or is this not an issue for an American as opposed to an Elizabethan villain? Could you think of other reasons for Frank Underwood to make constant references to his poor family background in South Carolina?
- Richard III says about love that Richard loves Richard (act IV, scene III), whereas Frank Underwood states that he loves his wife more than sharks love blood.
When Othello speaks of love he says:
Come, Desdemona: I have but an hour
Of love, of worldly matters and direction,
To spend with thee: we must obey the time.
(act I, scene III)
Or
She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them
(act I, scene III)
Account for the significance of love in the lives of Richard III, Othello and Frank Underwood. - In many popular series in our time the villain is the main character or the leading man, if you like.
Why are villains so popular? Is it because they have some likeable traits and are not altogether evil? Do we as viewers sympathise with them? If yes, why?
Apart from Frank Underwood and Richard III and Othello, you may consider villains such as Dexter, Kai Proctor, Don Draper and Ray Donovan.
