patrick.net

Can I ask some questions? I see on Wikipedia that HOC is a political drama series of sorts. I have not seen even a minute of it, yet. But I am sensing something about it, given the buzz that it is generating.

In what way is HOC a "good" series? Does it teach us something useful? Does it inspire us to get better political leaders, or to be better ourselves, or does it just make the viewer jaded about how Washington works, and/or teach us the sociopathic ways of power?

Let me give an example: When the comic strip "Dilbert" came out, pretty much everyone recognized that it was a fairly accurate depiction of the evil bullshit of corporate America. And I personally thought that it would cause discussion and change. But instead it just made people jaded and resigned to the facts of corporate life. I think some pointy-haired bosses even *learned* how to act from Dilbert.

Similar thing with the TV series "The Sopranos", which also was a sensation when it appeared. I did not watch it (until later), but apparently lot of people did, and as far as I can tell what people learned from it , if anything, was how to be a corporate sociopath.

Then there is the recent TV sensation called "Breaking Bad", about a man that becomes a drug lord of meta-amphetamine manufacturing and trade. The series is all about Walter White and his trials and tribulations, all the bad things that he "has" to do. And never about the poor bastards that end up toothless and with fried brain, in the gutter, from using the drugs he made. Again, I feel that too many people see Walter White as a hero and someone just like them, someone who has to do bad things because "there is no other choice".

So, in short, what is the moral of the story in House of Cards?

I just started watching HoCS02 last night and have been a big fan since S01.

It works for many reasons. Like the Sopranos, it doesn't hold back, in that stilted way that dramas on standard TV do. If a middle aged politician has an affair with a 22 year old social media journalist, and spends a lot of time doing her doggy-style, it shows that. If someone else is a junkie, it shows that. People die. People get smeared. People make a lot moral compromises. People lie. People lie like psychopaths and tell it with a straight face, minutes after we see them doing the opposite of what they say! It's an adult drama, with serious power struggles, the kind of thing regular TV stopped making in the late 1960s.

It never resorts to some deux ex machina like a beneficent patrician who assures everyone that it's all ok and then the bad people go to jail. No, instead the badder people kill the less bad people and get better jobs and sex because of doing so!

It's also "of the times" in that journalists work off their smart phones and yell in their bosses (bosses five years older than them) office in between hanging around coffee shops. Again, not like the usual Hollywood product that doesn't recognize that mobile devices exist and that yes, we don't just "pick up the phone" and make a two minute call, but are using them all day long.

John Bailo says

It never resorts to some deux ex machina like a beneficent patrician who assures everyone that it's all ok and then the bad people go to jail. No, instead the badder people kill the less bad people and get better jobs and sex because of doing so!

So HOC is basically the same as Sopranos and BreakingBad. Thanks for clarifying.

That may make the show fascinating, but is it good for anything?

Where do you watch this show?

Should watch the original BBC series on which it is based. Seems to have coined the genre of modern politician as cunning, survivalist psychopath.

Starz "Boss" with Kelsey Grammar is pretty intense, as well.

By accident, I caught 2 episodes of the BBC original series last night. It was pretty well done, although quite disturbing and not setting a good example for anyone to follow.

I still think many people should not be watching this kind of stuff. Monkey see, monkey do.

Don't get me wrong, most TV shows contain lots of stuff that people should not and even would not imitate in their own life. But people seem to be more susceptible to learning and engaging in these kind of sociopathic games than they are susceptible to imitate outright violence.

justme says

By accident, I caught 2 episodes of the BBC original series last night. It was pretty well done, although quite disturbing and not setting a good example for anyone to follow.

In the British series, the character Francis Urquhart was unflappably, appallingly unscrupulous and successful at being the guy who got away with it while more or less bragging to the camera how he did it in his camera soliloquys.

However, the British actor playing Urquhart, Ian Richardson, said he would not complete the series unless the character got it in the neck in the final season.

His equally cold and power hungry Lady Macbeth wife winds up dispatching him with no more feeling than as if she is disposing of an inconvenient piece of furniture.

Yes Minister is far far better! Great Brit Comedy ... one of a kind !

http://www.youtube.com/embed/8keZbZL2ero