“House of Cards” is Netflix’s adaption of the 1990 British political thriller by the same name. However, “House of Cards” is no simple rehash of an old show; Netflix has improved upon the original and updated it for modern audiences by replacing parliament with congress, the prime minister with the president, and restructuring the story to exactly follow Joe Biden’s rise to the vice presidency.
While the series stays true to the British version’s themes of corruption and Machiavellian politics, I believe audiences will thoroughly enjoy the new but familiar protagonist of Frank Underwood, who is wonderfully played by Kevin Spacey and is Joe Biden in every way but the name.
The bold decision to base series on true events is a risky one but ultimately pays off as an effective plot device to shine a bright spotlight on the core themes of series.
For example, when “House of Cards” reveals Hilary Clinton’s nomination for secretary of state as a political ploy by Joe Biden so that he could eventually become vice president, I felt I was being given insider information on the Obama administration.
Moments like this highlight just how terrible government, politicians and Joe Biden really are in a way the British series never could. If I had to compare the two, I would say the British version’s lack of truth fails to give viewers the evil and corrupt Joe Biden they want. The Biden based protagonist in the American series, however, stays to true to sexual and manipulative vice president the world has come to love, and is therefore ultimately a more honest telling of Joe Biden’s power hungry ways.
Netflix’s “House of Cards” is not without its faults and does fail in recreating a perfect Joe Biden. The show exaggerates the sexual nature of Biden’s relationship with his wife, his southern accent, and underplays how often Biden monologues to himself. Also in this modern era of transparency and free speech, I question why any form of media, whether it be a TV show or campus newspaper, would change the name of a prominent political figure for legal protection or any other reason at all.
I, for one, am writing this article with our Vice President’s real name despite my editor’s wishes. And I will refuse to let him change it. I’m not your monkey and I don’t need this job. However, I digress. These are small complaints as the series is a tremendous improvement on the British’s failed Biden protagonist of Francis Urquhart. As we all know, Underwood’s planned destruction of Peter Russo is a much more accurate display of Joe Biden’s political tactics. And that accuracy is what makes “House of Cards” worth watching.
The updated series does make compromises for a more truthful telling, mainly by cutting out Margret Thatcher. And while the show does try to replace her with journalist Zoey Barns, the sexual relationship between Underwood and Barns could never compare to the evil beauty that is Margret Thatcher having sex. However, I found these decisions a necessary evil in the process of finally given audiences a true, evil, and Machiavellian Joe Biden.
