La polémica relación entre mujer y política en la narración serial televisiva: el caso de Claire Underwood en House of Cards

The “Great Serial Television” (Cardini, 2014), which is part of the so-called era "Third Golden Age of Television" (Maio, 2009), is mainly characterized, on the one hand, by the introduction of different genres and television formats linked to the development of distribution platforms thanks to the arrival of the internet (Checcaglini, 2016) and, on the other hand, to a "higher" production quality related to the artistic and technical level of cinematography (Rossini, 2016), particularly in the choice of audiovisual content and processes of definition and evolution of characters’ identity. In this context, it can be found an increase of television series with non- conventional female protagonists that can be named "anti-heroines" (Buonanno, 2014; 2017), because they deviate from the stereotypes’ representation of women as mother and wife, following only their own aspirations and desires (Cammarota, 2005; Sartori, 2009). This permits to gain unprecedented narrative centrality thanks to unpublished facets in the women image’s representation. Within this point of view, the proposal aims to explore the controversial relationship between women and politics (Stevens, 2009: Campus, 2013) and its media representation in the famous American television series House of Cards (Netflix, 2013 - in production), analyzing the female protagonist of the series, Claire Underwood. During the story, despite the "typical side" of femininity and sensuality (Andò, 2015), this controversial character shows an "obscure" side, oriented to obtain what she wants in the long and desperate search for her individuality (Hackett, 2016).