Wickedness in Politics: a House of Cards - The intertextual relationship between literature and television as evident in adaptations of Michael Dobbs' House of Cards

Abstract

This thesis examines the intertextual relationship between two novels and two television series, all named House of Cards. The original novel was written in 1989 and its most popular adaptation today is Netflix’s ongoing series. At the time of writing the sixth, and final season of the series is set to air this coming fall. The thesis follows the theme of wickedness from the novels conception, through two televisual adaptations, and back into literary form. The author, Michael Dobbs, deemed wickedness as the one constant of the adaptations after publishing a revised version of his novel in 2015. As the text returned to literature, is it shown to novelize several alterations belonging to the televisual adaptations, most notably the dominant narrative voice of the male politician. The notion of the wicked main character as allegorical of the political system, and the notion of a moral foil are both examined throughout all analyses. The thesis concludes that the theme of wickedness has been prevalent throughout all four works, and the choices made when adapting and novelizing follow a consistent trend of expanding the theme. The manner in which wickedness is reworked and made anew showcases the intertextual relationship between the four texts.