Claire Underwood

[Fen]

Thought a dedicated character thread would be useful.  Not particularly impressed by Claire this season, but it's going to be interesting to see where she goes next.  Any more detailed analysis of her background?  I have no sense of her education, social class, etc.

[Quiche]

Claire came from a wealthy family.  I remember her saying in an interview how her father funded Frank's campaign.  So it was a poor Georgian country boy marrying a rich Texan girl.  

 

Claire was much more human in Season 3.  Whatever she did in the first two seasons, at least she didn't kill anyone.  But there was decided change and softening of her character in Season 3.  

[Fen]

Meant to say - suggestions for a quippy subtitle are welcome.  My wits deserted me when I made the thread :)

 

I glanced on the HoC wiki, which has the following background information:

 

Claire grew up in Highland Park in Texas.  She went to school at Phillips Academy.  She attained her undergrad in environmental health and chemistry at Radcliffe College, and got her masters in public health at Harvard. 

 

Interested to hear what anyone can glean from that information in terms of characterisation. 

 

 

Claire was much more human in Season 3.  Whatever she did in the first two seasons, at least she didn't kill anyone.  But there was decided change and softening of her character in Season 3.

 

I don't know if I would say that she softened.  We saw in the first two seasons that she has spells of discontent and a loss of focus, where she plays with the idea of another life: running off to Adam in S1, or mulling a baby in S2.  This one just seemed more protracted.

 

Claire is complicit in any murders Frank committed or ordered.  She's completely aware of what happened to Zoe and Peter.

 

She certainly wasn't soft when she basically told Frank to stop feeling guilty about the man whose legs were blown off by the drone strike. 

 

I think that when Claire makes any stands which seem motivated by conscience, they're actually motivated at heart by this fixation on her own identity and self-image.  Her big stand over Corrigan seemed less to do with human rights in Russia, and more to do with the fact that he had drawn a parallel between himself and prison and Claire trapped in her marriage.  It was the chance to humiliate Frank as well as Petrov - a convenient double whammy for her psychological needs at the time.  Her crusade about sexual assault in the military was motivated initially by revenge, and then fuelled by self-interest.  Also - where did her support for those causes go?  She's never revisited the military issue.  If she had genuinely wanted to make a change in human rights in Russia, she would have taken her role as UN ambassador seriously.  I'm tempted to agree with Mendoza when he called her a dilettante.

 

 

[peggy06]

Fen, I think you have a very good read on Claire's character. I certainly wouldn't call it softening to kick Frank when he is under the gun in the midst of primary season, and she knows she's a major asset to the campaign. With all his faults, I think he does try to be a good husband to her. She shuts him out unless she wants something from him, like the UN nomination and then the recess appointment. It's not his fault she couldn't get confirmed on her own merits. No doubt, being First Lady isn't easy for an ambitious person. But the way they had her approach it was just ridiculous.

 

The thing that really sticks in my mind about Claire was when she blackmailed her former employee who needed an expensive medicine during pregnancy by withholding insurance coverage for it. I'll never forget Claire talking about how the baby would wither inside without the medicine. It was one of the cruelest things on the show, IMO.

 

I don't know where they are taking her storyline, but she sure seemed to be testing out teh presidential chair.

[Kiss my mutt]

Maybe Frank will make her his running mate!

[Mattipoo]

She certainly has higher approval ratings than him. Wonder if her rape/abortion storyline will come back into play again in season 4.

[knaankos]

Claire came from a wealthy family. I remember her saying in an interview how her father funded Frank's campaign. So it was a poor Georgian country boy marrying a rich Texan girl.

Claire was much more human in Season 3. Whatever she did in the first two seasons, at least she didn't kill anyone. But there was decided change and softening of her character in Season 3.

Frank is not Georgian. He is a South Carolinian. Please don't rob my home state of one of the very few characters we get in a TV show or a movie.

[alexvillage]

Not impressed by Claire or Robin Wright this season. I think she was much better as the Lady Macbeth type. I think the found human feelings were somewhat forced.

I thought she was going to kill herself.

 

HoC this season was just meh to me

[Fen]

 I think the found human feelings were somewhat forced.

 

I think she had to deal with some very uneven writing.  One minute she and Frank were in separate beds, then devoted again, then alienated again, and then back and forth.  Claire was driven and focused, and then indecisive and wanting out.  It's even hard to see it as part of some wider breakdown: her behaviour jumped about like crazy from one episode to the next.

 

 

Fen, I think you have a very good read on Claire's character. I certainly wouldn't call it softening to kick Frank when he is under the gun in the midst of primary season, and she knows she's a major asset to the campaign. With all his faults, I think he does try to be a good husband to her. She shuts him out unless she wants something from him, like the UN nomination and then the recess appointment. It's not his fault she couldn't get confirmed on her own merits. No doubt, being First Lady isn't easy for an ambitious person. But the way they had her approach it was just ridiculous.

 

The thing that really sticks in my mind about Claire was when she blackmailed her former employee who needed an expensive medicine during pregnancy by withholding insurance coverage for it. I'll never forget Claire talking about how the baby would wither inside without the medicine. It was one of the cruelest things on the show, IMO.

 

I don't know where they are taking her storyline, but she sure seemed to be testing out teh presidential chair.

 

Thanks peggy06 :) 

 

I agree that her approach seemed really unreasonable.  They just seemed to turn Claire into this spoiled, indulged wife this season.  I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to be reading it that way, or if I'm supposed to think she's made some grand strike out for freedom

[peggy06]

I think she had to deal with some very uneven writing.  One minute she and Frank were in separate beds, then devoted again, then alienated again, and then back and forth.  Claire was driven and focused, and then indecisive and wanting out.  It's even hard to see it as part of some wider breakdown: her behaviour jumped about like crazy from one episode to the next.

 

 

 

Thanks peggy06 :) 

 

I agree that her approach seemed really unreasonable.  They just seemed to turn Claire into this spoiled, indulged wife this season.  I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to be reading it that way, or if I'm supposed to think she's made some grand strike out for freedom

 

I seriously think we're meant to see it as a strike out for freedom. Me, I think she's believing her press. :)

[rozen]

The more I think about it, Claire's whole storyline feels like a classic midlife crisis. Except ladies usually aren't allowed to have such things on film :P I think she'd built up and idealized this moment since the minute they married, Frank would become POTUS, and she FLOTUS, and it would be all downhill skiing from here. Now she realizes they're still shoveling the same shit out of the same ditch with possibly no end in sight. She doesn't even have the personal satisfaction of thinking she's made things better for her family, because they don't have any children. Delayed gratification only works so long for someone so ambitious and who has sacrificed so much. She can't even say it was her idea, she just hitched her wagon to Frank and thought she'd figure it out at the end. Who wouldn't have a meltdown?

 

So now she's questioning everything. Was she ever Frank's equal? If she fell behind, why? Because she lost sight of her partnership with Frank? Or because she's lost touch with herself? I think S3 was Claire trying on each answer, Goldilocks-style, and deciding that it didn't fit and casting it off for another. She pulls Frank in, then shoves him away, treating him as a variable in her research hypothesis instead of as an actual human being. And she can't articulate any of it to Frank, because she thinks it makes her look weak and she wants to every bit his steely equal. I still think she doesn't get that she's confusing Frank's lack of emotional machinery to toughness, or maybe is berating herself because she couldn't figure out how to snip it all out and chuck it away, too. 

 

Leaving him in the middle of his campaign is way more scandalous than dumping someone for "the other woman". Her walking out without a damn thing is their power-trippy version of her blowing their savings on a Cadillac. Has anyone ever had a successful midlife crisis? Her crash and burn is going to be spectacular. 

Edited March 28, 2015 by rozen

[Ms Blue Jay]

Frank is not Georgian. He is a South Carolinian. Please don't rob my home state of one of the very few characters we get in a TV show or a movie.

 

You also get Tom Haverford, who I think is an even better character!  ;)

[PRgal]

OK, I am obsessed with Claire's wardrobe.  I Googled House of Cards costumes and found out that Robin Wright uses her own stylist for the show (rather than a show stylist).  Various articles note that pieces come from brands like Michael Kors, Derek Lam, Jason Wu, etc (some other pieces are the stylist's own creation)... while I can't most of these brands, they're simple enough that I can get similar styles at Zara and the like.  Maybe that's why I'm drawn to the pieces.  Even though I'm close to 15 years younger than Robin Wright.

 

Anyone else like this kind of style?  Or do I sound like a boring old fogie at 35?

Edited July 14, 2015 by PRgal

[Athena]

Anyone else like this kind of style?  Or do I sound like a boring old fogie at 35?

 

I really like it too. I think her pieces are great for work/the office. I love her shift dresses and the formal wear Claire wears. It's clear that she gets them tailored. Wright is very fit. She is a runner and does a lot of yoga. I don't really have her body. She was a model, and became athletic after she had her kids. She looks fantastic. I like how simple and refined it is.

[NutMeg]

I am fascinated by the Claire Underwood character, in no small part thanks to how awesome Robin Wright is in that role.

 

Alternatively, I've loved and despised her. And then came season 4, which has showed me a completely new part of her.

 

[Now at the time I'm writing this I still haven't seen the last episode - but I will touch on all the others, so if anyone wants to avoid spoilers, please stop reading. Although I'll start with something that is from one of the very first episodes, so even if it appears as you scroll on the page, the beginning won't be much of a spoiler if you've started watching season 4 :)]

 

The first thing that amazed me is that, when push comes to shove, Claire goes back to her roots. Who does she contact? LeeAnn, the daughter of a close friend of her father.And then who does she ultimately listen to? Her mother.

 

And what a weird but believable relation these two have! They don't express feelings towards each other if they can avoid it, they stay apart from each other as much as they can, but still, they're there for each other when the need arises. And it was Claire's mother, in my opinion, who encouraged her to seek something (solace, tenderness, fun?) in Tom Yates.

 

And when these two are together, we see a Claire we hadn't seen before, a Claire whose body is relaxed, whether they are naked and her head rests on his stomach while she looks at him (and likely ponders...) or, more tenderly and more intimately, whn they are fully dressed but lying on her bed in each other's arms. And if you associate that with Francis asking "Does he make you laugh?", you get an image of a Claire we never saw, one who used to laugh... We've never seen her laugh, have we?

 

While Francis is enjoying playing scales and ladders because he's very good at it, we still don't know what really makes Claire tick. While he's having fun with all shenanigans, she shows no glee. Did she once decide to throw her lot with her man and to burn her bridges after her father died? Did she think they were going to have some other kind of relation? Did she resign herself to what they have and embrace it to fulfill their (well, mostly his) ambitions, or was she always half dissatisfied and going along just to get along?

 

We've seen terrible ruthlessness from her, was she always so ruthless (I'd say Frank was), was she raised to be ruthless (I'd say not by her father, not sure about her mother), is that what she became after aligning with Frank? We don't know, and that's the most interesting thing about her, she is such a complex character. I loved her mother reminding her (and therefore telling us, and telling Tom) that Claire as a child used to wish for the sun to come up and fall asleep waiting. I love that her parents seemed to have had a fun relationship, at least at some stage, and maybe up to the end (we don't know). I feel that in a way that is or will be important for her character, but the hell if I know how at this stage.   

 

I'm sure I'll have more after watching the last episode, but I'd love to hear from others.

[jnymph]

Wow.  Robin Wright's stunning beauty & style as Claire Underwood is almost distracting for me.