The theme of "House of Cards" is power and ambition—just like the themes of "Macbeth" and "Richard III", it is excessive power and ambition. The protagonist Francis Underwood said: "Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries." In contrast, money seems attractive, but power is not enough. not enough. Power is the ability to manipulate all resources, and it is the "Supreme Authority". What is excessive power? Macbeth was tempted by the witch and thought, "If destiny will make me a king, then maybe destiny will add a crown to me, without my own effort." Once the inducement of this desire is planted, if destiny is free from desire. The trajectory and the swelling ambition will also take the prey away from him back. The performance is Macbeth, Richard-also Underwood's choice: against morality, abandon fear, and take risks at all costs.
Let me compare "Macbeth" with this play again. Like the perfect first episodes of many American dramas, "House of Cards" also has a clear and powerful first episode: introducing contradictions, creating suspense, and laying down various clues. Mrs. Underwood's appearance was amazing. There is a similar character in "Gossip Girl": Lily (because it is not easy to remarry many times). What they have in common is: the appearance is beautiful, gentle, decent and elegant, and the heart is surprisingly geographical and tenacious. Of course, what I mean by amazing is that, similar to Mrs. Macbeth, Mrs. Underwood shows complete independence and man’s control. When Underwood learned that he was appointed Secretary of State hopeless and depressed, and returned home for a day, Mrs. Underwood waited for him, not comforting, but encouraging and spurring-
"You should be angry... I want to see you There are more performances, you should perform better... My husband never apologizes, even to me."
This is more like Mrs. Macbeth--
"Please don't say it. As long as it is a man doing things, I dare No one has greater courage than me.... As long as you concentrate all your courage, we will never fail. "
Some things can only be done by men, but they represent their community of interests. Women in the community share the ambition, plan, resourcefulness, and power of the other half. The relationship between husband and wife like this is like a fighting squad, the individuals are highly efficient, and they cover each other and extend their claws to the outside world. The "love" between them, as Underwood said, "better than a shark loves blood"-a powerful union of love between predators. Each episode has such a scene: two people come home, against a window of night, drinking, talking, and a cigarette is uploaded from one person to the other. Their warmth and romance come from their mutual affection in the struggle for power. How strong the desire for power is, how tenacious their emotional bond is. Mrs. Underwood's inner calm, reclusive side is far less than the fighting, bloodthirsty side, so she eventually returned to Washington from her New York photographer lover.
What are the methods used by Shakespeare’s characters to fight for power? murder. There is another set of "beep courage" in modern politics to cover up crimes-persuasion.
American Federalist Hamilton said: "The more power is transferred through channels through which human emotions are naturally expressed, the less need to resort to violence and terrible coercive methods." Through emotional channels, it is by persuading others to gain treatment against others. Manipulation, manipulating others, does not mean having social power?
This play most brilliantly shows that American politics is an "art of persuasion." Congress is the legislature. The establishment and implementation of the bill rely on presentations, debates, and persuasion. Therefore, we see that Underwood's main method of implementing a strategy is the effort of persuasion-persuasion. Threaten the exploited, pretend to be sincere to the adversary, entice colleagues, inspire courage to young people, present logic and new ideas in front of the president, and what he is doing-by manipulating media statements, guiding the government, The parties and the masses create public opinion. Therefore, all kinds of speeches, conversations, metaphors, puns, satires, and logical reversals in the play are endless. The most difficult "persuasion" for him was a farmer couple who had lost his daughter and transferred their hatred to him under the instigation of his opponents. In the end, he dispelled their hostility, in the third episode of the first season. , I won’t go into details here.
Even Russell, the hapless senator, had two wonderful "persuasion" episodes. One time was to persuade a worker who was hostile to him, "tell you an unacceptable fact: you only have me, and no one in Washington cares about you." Another time was to persuade the vice president who was prejudiced against him: "This time I get If you get the chance, you have to prove others wrong, including proving you wrong—just like you proved others wrong.”
When “persuasion” goes to the extreme, it may be a lie, a bluff, and a bad check. Underwood, a world-savvy and cynical person, knows this very well. Like the characters in Shakespeare's play, this character often jumps out of the scene, crosses the "fourth wall" on the stage, and speaks to the audience: self-confession, cynicism. While telling the story of his father's death, he moved the audience, while telling the audience that it was just a lie, but it worked for the audience. As long as the heart is clear-sighted and the character is strong, the art of getting people's hearts is really an art built on words.
There are many interpretations of the meaning of "House of Cards". Card games also often require bluffing, so that others cannot judge the cards in your hand, thus disrupting the opponent's order of cards. So, Game of Thrones, if you think of it as a game like Underwood, is a game of cards.
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