“House of Cards” appeals to the Chinese audience also because it features, from start to finish, critical realism, a precious tradition of American film and TV art. The tradition incorporates critical concerns about the country’s own history as well as the dark side of current reality. Both “12 Years A Slave”, which won three Academy Awards this year, and “The Butler” feature honest narrative of the rough and circuitous path of the fight against racial discrimination from the end of the American Civil War to Barack Obama’s assumption of US presidency. “House of Cards” targets its spear of criticism at two levels: One is the merciless political infighting at the top level of national politics; the other is the greed and defects in the depth of human souls. The ups and downs, despicableness and effrontery of the Frank-Claire couple are tightly entangled with their struggles for power; the madness and helplessness, fame and death of the female reporter Zoe are the inescapable outcome of her own weakness. Enormous similar people and cases exist in contemporary social life in China. Yet works of present-day Chinese film and TV seldom touch such topics. “House of Cards”’s incisiveness and merciless, while letting its Chinese viewers enjoy the ecstacy of criticism with ease and verve, will also have them reflect on and associate with the reality they are living in.

Recently, Chinese TV series, especially those derided as “domestic farces”, which focus on family disputes, have drawn increasing blames. The popularity of “House of Cards” may also be a warning to Chinese film and TV artists that crudely made film and TV productions permeated with materialism can absolutely not satisfy the spiritual thirst of the present-day Chinese.

Qin Xiaoying is a Research Scholar with the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies.

This article was first published at Chinausfocus.com To see the original version please visit http://www.chinausfocus.com/culture-history/why-do-the-chinese-love-house-of-cards/