House of Cards

Unreality television | The Economist

A recent breakthrough series, 'House of Cards' by Netflix, has been noted for releasing its entire first season in one go. It depicts the spiteful and ruthless US Congressman Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, who lies, blackmails and even murders his way to the top. The plot may have been a dramatised version of Washington's inner intrigues, but it does pose a serious question over the value and integrity of our political masters.

The Economist article argues that the show is in fact inaccurate, hence their article's title 'unreality television'. Politicians, at least in the United States, are actually far more powerless than their Machiavellian counterparts on the show. Voters today are very aware of the failures of government, as shown by the the MP expenses scandal in the UK, and are therefore increasingly reluctant to place their trust into the hands of their political representatives.

Spacey's protagonist likens power to the 'old stone building that stands for centuries'. That may be the case in the show's fictional setting, but for all its attractions of power and prestige, modern political institutions have become a metaphorical 'house of cards'; intricate, admirable but extremely fragile.