Lovers help each other undress before sex.
However after sex, they always dress on their own.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
In life, no one helps you once you’re screwed.
It’s strange, but I kind of like Francis (Frank) Underwood. Frank loves power. Frank loves sex. Hmmm … maybe it’s not so strange after all.
He’s this nasty, conniving, charismatic, shrewd, cruel, pragmatic guy. He makes things happen, occasionally ethically, but more often in a calculated, cold manner. He’s not diabolically evil like Batman’s Joker; he doesn’t really want to destroy people or their reputations, but if accomplishing something he deems important requires collateral human damage, then so be it.
Sex is a currency and an urge that he exercises and uses and loves and loathes, all at the same time. It reminds him – and he needs frequent reminders – of the power that he commands.
Sex is his currency of being someone who matters.
Frank Underwood isn’t wickedly handsome like Christian Grey (Fifty Shades of Grey), but both of these men thrive on a raw sexual power awarded to them by their political or financial strength.
Power to him means magnetically attracting smooth young skin and exposing the hidden tender parts of the women he both desires and hates. So long as he can plant his penis in the fertile feminine fields of those who might find him unattractive or perhaps even repulsive, he can arrogantly perch in front of the mirror, look himself in the eye, and know that he holds influential sway.
So who is this Francis Underwood?
He’s fiction. He’s a made-up character portrayed by actor Kevin Spacey that resides on the Netflix-produced political drama called House of Cards. Underwood is the Majority Whip (ie. boss) of the Democratic party in the U.S. Congress. He’s Washington’s version of conniving JR Ewing (from TV’s Dallas).
Men are drawn to desirable women like little boys to ice cream cones. Women are drawn to famous or powerful men like little girls to Barbie.
.
Sex as a currency is not a new concept.
Women realize this very well.
Women know that if there is absolutely no other way to buy the milk to feed their infant child or pay the overdue rent, there is ALWAYS a willing buyer of sex.
We men will always be there when sex is in play.
There is reassurance and implicit threat for both women and men who know they hold a swollen wallet of currency either through physical attractiveness or power.
Writer David Foster Wallace, in his 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College said:
Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, it’s that they’re unconscious.”
Frank scouting his Zoe…
In a scene separated just millimetres from rape, Frank Underwood plumbs the literal depths of Zoe Barnes (an ambitious Washington reporter) from behind up against a wall. Within the accelerating huffing and gutteral grunting, there’s no pretense or semblance of tenderness or lovemaking in this sex act. This is pure primal animal pleasure and power privilege.
Frank gets his rapturous moment of physical release and a reaffirmation of his power; in return, Zoe reaps “Deep Throat” insights into the backrooms of political authority that feed her own need for media power.
A perfect illustration in the real world of the appeal of power and fame is the almost-elderly Mick Jagger, who hypnotically continues to attract and make women of all ages swoon. Skinny, outright ugly (in my view!), average intelligence … THIS is a Chick Magnet?
Would any women feel the heat of desire for old Mick if he were a truck driver or a mailman?
So, in the real world where we all live, does power and the need for love and admiration have any true meaning?
I can only speak my own truth and leave it to you to decide for yourself where you reside.
As an example, the very fact that I write and post these blog articles tells me that, as David Foster Wallace says, I am subconsciously seeking love and admiration. If I wasn’t, I would just sit here at my home office desk and pound out my ideas to be saved only to my own hard drive.
But no.
I WANT you to read my stuff. I want and hope that you’ll appreciate at least some of what I have to say. Some of my musings might rub you the wrong way, but I kind of want that too. I have my Walter Mitty moments where I grow my facial hair out a bit and envision myself as some Hemingway-esque romantic writer creature.
I plot out my ideas and write and revise and edit some more, and then … I tentatively hit the “PUBLISH” button that tosses my words out into the internet ocean to anyone and everyone who might care to take in my meanderings.
It’s all very narcissistic and ego driven.
There’s no exchange of money, so I don’t do it to pay my bills.
There are no agendas or advertising that are part of a larger scheme to influence your buying habits.
I’m no better or worse than Sally Field standing on the Oscar stage saying, “You like me“… except I’m saying, “I HOPE you like me“. And in payment to you, I hope that when I explore things about myself, that you are able to occasionally peer within yourself and say, “Yeah, I’m like that too” or “Something similar happened to me last week“… or maybe even “WTF“!
I’m a user.
I’m using you to help me develop my writing skills.
Week in and week out I write so that I can become just a fraction of an inch better at developing imagery and concepts that will make me a better, more interesting writer. Writing that may take me into composing short stories or a novel a bit later, or just supply my own muse in enhancing my songwriting attempts.
I see it as part of a process, and I’m using you to carry me forward. In the run-up to publishing a blog posting, YOU are my finish line.
When I watch Frank Underwood screwing others – figuratively and literally – on House of Cards, I find myself revelling in some satisfied sensation of moral superiority, until I realize in at least some small way…
Frank Underwood is me … I am Frank Underwood.
He’s had sex with 4,000 women, what sets HIM apart?
Man On The Fringe 
Jun 02, 2013 @ 12:53:11
Keep writing Larry I enjoy your writing. Your bold attempt to express what is on the male mind is refreshingly candid. You might like to read about Genghis Khan. There is a successful man. Thousands of generations of his ancestors focused his genetics to produce just the right amount of brutality and sexual lust to give him the honor of being the most successful man to ever live on the planet earth. Who else can boast one in every two hundred people living today are their direct descendants.
Jun 03, 2013 @ 11:17:51
Yes, I think Frank Underwood comes off looking pretty girly when compared to Genghis Khan. As with everything in life, it’s all relative 😉 Thanks for your good words Angus!
Jun 02, 2013 @ 12:54:19
Interesting blog, as usual, Larry. You ask the question: “So, in the real world where we all live, does power and the need for love and admiration have any true meaning?”
I would say the answer to all three is yes BUT the definition or reference point as to what each means to every human being is different. What constitutes power for your man Frank on the t.v. show (in the t.v. world) is pure, downright, material-driven power involving want of control of other people & resources. You are right that his use of sex doesn’t seem to meet most of our definition of a loving encounter or being at the heart of some emotional connection between two people BUT in reality Frank’s use of sex is related to what HE LOVES…….power. In a warped sense maybe that is part of his demonstration of love (as warped as that sounds). The third point is admiration. I guess Frank’s whole world revolves around making people admire him, want him, want his power, etc etc so in the fantasy of Frank’s world we can see the qualities above but packaged exactly how the show designers want us to see them I.e. from that fantasy perspective. The scary thing too is that the media can portray all sorts of behaviours as social norms & eventually society falls in line as if its just that…….”everyone lives like Frank”.
So what about the “real” world……….as I said above I think every human has their own definition of what power, love, and admiration mean to them. I love Victor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. This guy was a jewish physician in WWII who spent several years in concentration camps. He realized that man can find meaning even in the most oppressive of conditions…….my point being that every human being has something that gives them meaning……..for Frank it is power, $$$, sex, etc BUT here in the real world i dont think we spend every waking moment pondering screwing our co-workers to get ahead, going out of our way to have our co-workers publicly acknowledge us and fawn over us, or demo their love for us. I suspect there are those who do live like this but I suspect most of us don’t. We all have susceptibilities for that though…….it is our own ego and love of self BUT I would argue that humans have a higher nature that tends to make us more interested in serving others, being friendly & kind, sharing, faithful, more interested in Mr. Spock’s idea that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one”, etc
Larry……..YES…….there are plenty of Franks out there BUT I suspect many more who’s reality & life meaning is less ego-centric…:-) peace, Jim
Jun 03, 2013 @ 11:23:31
Thanks for your uplifting and optimistic outlook James. I’ve read Victor Frankl’s amazing book too. It puts a lot of life into true perspective, something we need constant reminding of in our affluent western society, where Frank Underwoods and Mike Duffy’s (gratuitous Canadian senator reference there!) reside. You’ve posed lots of good points…thanks a lot Jim…