The title pretty much sums up this post and if this was just a page of titles and not a blog I would leave it at that. But, alas it is not and I am going to elaborate on this topic for all you fine people out there.
So, I recently began to binge watch House of Cards on Netflix because, well why not, and everyone needs something to do while they run on an elliptical. I was skeptical at first because if I am going to be completely honest here (and I am) I do not really have an interest in politics. I think it is important that everyone should have a basic knowledge of politics and what is going on with our government, but I personally do not wake up every morning and race to see what is new in the political world. So I thought, why would a show completely centered around politics be interesting for me to watch? But boy was I just so wrong.
Within the first 20 minutes of the pilot I was hooked-I couldn't stop, and come 3am, I realized I needed sleep and needed to stop wondering if Zoe Barnes will get that story she so desperately needs. The performances are unreal. I am now a shameless Kevin Spacey fan, and the writing is impeccable. No need to talk about the cinematography (too good, I mean beautiful stuff there). I was scolding the decisions of Sawyer past for not jumping on the HOC bandwagon earlier. But, I had made it and I realized two seasons in that I was actually learning while I was binge watching. (you don't read that statement everyday now do ya?)
I had to take a government class in 8th grade and then a U.S. history class in high school where I did learn all the basics of our great U.S. government. But again- being honest here- I did not really save all my notes from those classes (shocker I know). While watching HOC, some things came back to me and I also found myself learning even more. Like for example, in the show they always speak about "the hill". When one character goes to see another at their office they might say "Oh, thank you for coming all the way up the hill". I began to wonder what this "hill" was and why it was such a journey to get up and down it. But after a quick google search, I figured it out (thank you google for always being there to answer life's toughest questions). And that was just one small discovery. I began to learn so much more about caucuses (again, thank you google), the Whip, and so many other things about our government. Now, I do realize this is a television show, so things are dramatized and exaggerated, but there still are so many nuggets of educational stuff hidden in each episode.
So I guess the title isn't completely honest. I didn't learn everything about politics from HOC but I have been brushing up on my terminology and basic government goings on. Like how to sway the opinion of a congressmen or pull a media stunt and most importantly, if you don't like someone poking around in your business (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD), all you have to do is just push them in front of a train. (R.I.P Zoe)