House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 9 (15:20-17:40)

Title: House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 9 (15:20-17:40)

Tags: power, media, Freedman, control, relationships

Author: Julie G

Date: March 23, 2015

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Summary: 

House of Cards is an intriguing and captivating political drama focused on the power wielded by a fictional U.S. Congressman, Frank Underwood. Frank Underwood is the epitome of an old-school realist politician; he believes in power for power’s sake and aims to always be the one pulling the strings and moving the actors around on stage. By the ninth episode of the first season, Frank has built up a significant relationship with Zoe, a young journalist protégée, who has thus far played the game according to Frank’s rules. However, in this video clip, Zoe tries to limit Frank’s power over her by ending their sexual affair. Upon hearing this, Frank, who is always used to having full control over all the actors in his life, is less than pleased, despite his reassuring words to her. At the end of the clip, he cynically says, “She wants to be an adult; let’s see how she can fly once she leaves the nest.”

Analysis:

This brief clip provides an excellent opportunity to examine Des Freedman’s view of the power of the media as presented in his text The Contradictions of Media Power. As a high-ranking politician, Frank is used to having the media at his constant beck-and-call. As Freedman states, the media holds no great power by itself, but instead services power for others, allowing certain voices and agendas to be disseminated through their pen. “Media power, according to this view, is like a junior partner in a coalition dominated by more established social forces like religion, armies, politicians or corporations” (Freedman 8). Frank’s attitude and actions reflect his agreement with Freedman; the media is a lesser power that should operate only by the rules he, the politician and the superior, sets. When Frank realizes that Zoe intends to overstep this power hierarchy by ending the physical part of their relationship, he is entirely displeased. Despite his words to her, Frank decides to punish her by “letting her see how she can fly.” Thus, in the rest of the episode, he gives her the cold shoulder, not giving her any new information. As Frank later says, “sex is about power,” and without direct power over Zoe, he risks losing control over her. Without immediate control, there would be the possibility that Zoe would no longer service his political needs in her journalistic endeavors. Thus, she would become an unreliable and useless source for promoting his political agenda. Throughout the rest of the episode, he ignores her in order to reestablish the power hierarchy, in the end forcing her to sleep with him to gain new information. Although his plan is risky, he successfully manipulates Zoe back to her earlier state of “junior partner.” As Freedman explains, media power is fundamentally based on relationships cultivated by the media themselves (30). By ending a part of her relationship with Frank, Zoe unknowingly sabotages her power over and access to Frank. Additionally, Freedman talks about how access to the media is fundamentally unequal throughout society (30). In relation to House of Cards, Frank is one of the privileged few who does not suffer from access to media institutions. In fact, Frank would argue that the media suffers from inadequate access to him, and those lucky journalists that do gain access must service his agenda in order to get their story.