In 1990 a British TV series was released based on the novel by Michael Dobbs entitled House Of Cards, a former Chief of Staff in the Conservative Party headquarters, by the same name. We bring this series to your attention due to its incredible exhibition of how the internal affairs of politics is run. Of course the real world is far more convoluted, and not centered around a single evil minded man, but shadow figures who manipulate every aspect of politics.
The series went on to air three seasons tapping into follow-up writer Andrew Davies to finish things off. This comical drama blatantly illustrates the not-so-hard to believe scenarios of one man Francis Urquhart who is member of Parliament and Chief Whip. His decades of experience and long-term relationships with the most powerful allow him to single handily orchestrate the demise of everyone in his way to the top role of Prime Minister. He frames fellow friends, has an affair on his wife while she quietly approves, and manipulates the people of England by crafting cover stories for blunders and false flag operations designed to sway opinion.
This Shakespeare Macbeth and Richard III formatted show is valuable because it reminds of what ambition and corruption can look like from the inside out. One might ask why such a similar story is released after seeing it to completion. We want to leave you with this single formula: The elite enjoy stories that funnel the deeds of many into the fictional deeds of the one. Films such as the Da Vinci Code that pile and entire secret society on the back of a single crazy man. This repeated “lone villain” storyline is almost a standard script format for all things television and film, save the comic book reenactments.
If you have a chance, we recommend giving this one a try.