Feminist Critique: House of Cards

House of Cards is a Netflix original series based on political drama. It has received a Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series", and has been nominated for Emmy's several times. The series features a diverse cast including corrupt anti-hero, president Frank Underwood, his wife Claire Underwood, and a scattering of other affiliated characters. While one might assume that such a show would be overrun by male figures because of its political nature, the series portrays a plethora of strong women, who bask in the power of their agency.

Episode 34 of the series contains many prime examples of such agency. Claire has been appointed U.S ambassador to the UN and spends much of the episode "whipping" votes for a military intervention bill that she herself created. She does this completely autonomous from any male supervision. When a male UN delegate speaks condescendingly to her, she quickly disarms him by using a political strongarm, showing that she can be just as ruthless as her husband, or any other male politician. Claire exerts similar power throughout the series. Examples include creating a sexual assault bill and heading a humanitarian NGO. Claire completely breaks away from the stereotype of the "politician's wife". Although she serves to emotionally support her husband, she separates herself from him in the workplace, and occasionally even opposes him on certain political issues. Two other female characters that display similar agency are Heather Dunbar and Jackie Sharp. In the episode, Sharp conferences with Dunbar, who happens to be exercising at the time. The fact that it shows a woman working out is more feminist than not. Also, from a film perspective, there is never an instance of the male gaze, despite the situational opportunity. This scene also qualifies the episode to pass the Bechdel test, because the two women discuss campaign policy, not men. One of the only characters in the episode that is not completely feminist is a female reporter, who sleeps with a white house affiliate in hopes of gaining valuable information. Although she has other favorable, semi-feminist qualities, she fulfills the negative stereotype of the seductress.

With so many political dramas on the air that rarely show the female perspective, and even when they do it is done in a sexual manner, it is truly refreshing to watch a series that portrays the female characters not only as equals to the men, but at times even more powerful.  It seems strange that there are so few shows that display strong, political women, when 20% of the U.S Senate, and 19% of the U.S House of Representatives are female. Hopefully, House of Cards will spark a trend of increased number of strong female roles in film.