Welcome to Washington: Distrusting the narrator in 'House of Cards'

• Grant number: 16/04344-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2017
• End date: November 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Cinema
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Esther Império Hamburger
• Grantee: Giancarlo Casellato Gozzi
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/23939-1 - The interplay between U.S. public debate and 'House of Cards', BE.EP.MS

Abstract

From the past 20 years, a great deal of attention has been given to televised audiovisual narratives, which justified the establishment of a specific area of Television Studies, initially revolving around the term "Quality Television" (Machado 2000, McCabe; Akass 2007). At the same time that nowadays the death of Television is persistently announced, the medium paradoxically distinguishes itself by the complexification of its diegetic universes, and by the innovative and reflexive use of cinematographic conventions. In this sense, the release of Netflix's original series House of Cards (Beau Willimon, Netflix, 2013- ) brings new inquiries to this already disputed landscape. Although it maintains the conventions of serialized narrative, presenting episodes and seasons as any other series, it however offers the possibility of binge-watching (when you can watch an entire season in one sitting), with the viewers being able to control the time of airing and being able to pause, rewind and fast-forward at their own discretion (an alternative to conventional television and its rigid airing grid). The series also distinguishes itself narratively speaking, especially by its extremely reflexive use of the aside, the moment when a character (in this case, the corrupt and unscrupulous American politician Frank Underwood) looks at the camera and talks with it (consequently speaking to his extradiegetic audience). Starting from this innovative use of the aside, this project aims to analyze the structuring of House of Cards' narrative mechanisms, focusing on the changes the aside goes through throughout the seasons and the cinematic style of the series. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

GOZZI, Giancarlo Casellato. The Advantage of Amorality: Melodrama, political commentary, and interacting with the audience in House of Cards. 2018. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA/SBD) São Paulo.