HOUSE OF CARDS - PART 2

House of Cards 

The influence of technological change -

How Long form dramas came into being. Terrestrial TV

Schedule content was fixed (reliant on analogue (radio wave technology as pre the internet)

Viewing experience was communal (families watched the same/similar content) as content was transmitted via Radio waves.

Dramas developed to encourage regular viewing

Program content with high audience numbers secured revenue via advertising.

Advertising revenue or PSB income (TV license) pays for drama for e.g. a typical Eastenders episode costs £141,000

 The influence of Technological, cultural and Economic contexts -

How Long form dramas came into being.

Digital (streaming)

Netflix  - In just a decade, Netflix has grown from a video service with seven million U.S. subscribers to one that reaches 93 million people worldwide.

The company's now worth about $60 billion

2016, Netflix spent $5 billion on original programming.

The income from subscribers has allowed them to commission highly rated long form TV dramas such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.

2017 sales rose to $2.48 billion. With a global presence in 190 countries.

 The influence of Technological Change & Economic contexts - 

There is a clear shift towards SOD (subscription on demand viewing of television)

This has been enabled through the Technological change i.e. the provision of streaming services

(2017) Netflix receives an income of 2.5 $bn from UK subscribers.

Their income is used to fund “high end” television content such as the HOC

Historical cultural and economic contexts -                                                         

HOC belongs to a genre called Long form television drama. (LFTVD)

LFTVD (Game of Thrones, HOC, etc.)  are characterised by high production values.

Series one and 2 of the HOC costs an estimated  $100 Million for the first two series (26 episodes) to produce.

By comparison Eastender’s costs  £29.9 million a year for 212 episodes. 

Referring to the revision notes page 146, the cost of production of this High end Drama (HOC) is linked to

Sourcing highly skilled actors 

- Kevin spacey 

Cinematic styling camera work

- wide shots 

Lighting and editing

- dull and eery 

Complex narratives (multi-stranded) (Barthes)

Composed music 

- dramatic 

Long form TV is an American concept which effectively is a hybrid of a serialised drama with the high production standards of film.

Ideology:

“A set of beliefs values and assumptions shared by a social group and embedded in social, cultural, political and economic institutions.”

Usually thought to reflect the interests of powerful groups.

Consumerism, freedom, equality and individualism are often considered dominant ideologies in free market capitalists societies as they reflect the economic basis of these societies 

The prime contexts influencing medium language in television dram may be ideologies such as:

Individualism: e.g. focusing a drama on an individual protagonist

- follows franks narrative and story of his revenge 

Consumerism: e.g. judging characters on their possessions or desirability of their lifestyles

- a social ball where society judged certain citizens 

Patriarchal: power and the challenge to this by feminism e.g. using or refusing to use women’s bodies as objects, or narratives that present a male, female or gender neutral perspective

- when Zoe used a seductive nature to get Frank to listen to her 

Racism and ethnocentrism and the challenge to those from multiculturalism and internationalism, e.g. narratives that present a mono-cultural, multicultural or minority perspective

- main black character is represented as a lower class owner of a rib shack 

Theories - 

Todorov’s theory (Equilibrium and Dis-equilibrium)

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages:

the equilibrium,

disequilibrium,

acknowledgement,

solving

and again equilibrium.

The theory has its limitations when applied to LFTVD as the restoration of equilibrium may not be realised due to the serialised nature of the drama

 Representation of Men - 

'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

•Strength - physical and intellectual

•Power

•Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)

•Physique

•Independence (of thought, action, finances)

- Is shown when Frank has the physical mentality to strangle the dog to death and when he starts to plot his revenge, also when Peter uses his congressional power to try and manipulate the power of the law 

Representations of women across all media tend to

highlight the following:

•beauty (within narrow conventions)

•size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)

•sexuality (as expressed by the above)

•emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings

•relationships (as opposed to independence/

  freedom) 

-Is shown when Zoe uses sexualisation to gain power over the weaker man, also when Claire uses manipulation to get Frank to become angry rather than feel sorry for himself as she too wants revenge

Levi Strauss’s

-idea of the binary opposition – that the system of myths and fables

-(narrative) was ruled by s structure of opposig terms  such as male/female, good/evil.   This narrative structure can be applied to LFTVD’s such as the House of cards as follows