The interplay between U.S. public debate and 'House of Cards'

• Grant number: 17/23939-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: January 15, 2018
• End date: May 14, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Cinema
• Principal Investigator: Esther Império Hamburger
• Grantee: Giancarlo Casellato Gozzi
• Supervisor: Nicholas Baumbach
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Columbia University in the City of New York, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/04344-4 - Welcome to Washington: Distrusting the narrator in 'House of Cards', BP.MS

Abstract

Television series have gained in the last two decades critical notoriety and a growing cultural importance, becoming fictional spaces for their writers to discuss aspects of their culture and national politics. Within this context, the American TV series "House of Cards" (Beau Willimon, Netflix, 2013-) stands out, since due to its theme, the backroom of American politics presented through the perspective of a corrupt congressman, the show has a bigger possibility of dealing directly with contemporary subjects of the US national debate. Consequently, the show deals with subjects such as the US and Russia's relations, racial clashes, electoral fraud and the growing authoritarianism in American politics, constant subjects in the country's news headlines. This research internship proposal consists on conducting interviews with "House of Cards" writers, from the contact with professors at Columbia University. From these interviews, I will investigate mainly the relationship between the show's plot and US public debate, and how current subjects of US politics are brought into the show's core. I will also investigate the use of the dramatic aside, the moment when the protagonist breaks the fourth wall, speaking directly to the camera and his viewers. (AU)