Don’t let the name fool you — “PsyGuy98” possesses zero psychological expertise. Perhaps he’s referring to psylla, “any jumping louse of the family Pysllidae, often a pest of fruit trees.” Just a thought.
PsyGuy98 has been watching Netflix‘s recently released season 5 of House of Cards, as there’s no better way of escaping our current American nightmare than by diving headfirst into another, fictional American nightmare. Oddly enough, that logic somehow works. Need we say more than Robin Wright? She’s perfect, let her do her thing.
But there’s one plot line that PsyGuy98 is not down with, and it involves sexual ambiguity, the kryptonite of the American psyche.
Related: Straight guy goes on homophobic rant about ‘Sense8’ and the Internet shuts. It. Down.
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And while we’ll give him credit that he doesn’t come off like a raging homophobe like this guy complaining about Sense8, his argument still doesn’t hold much weight here:
“Why is gay Frank Underwood a thing, and why do they keep bringing it up?” he asks.
They keep bringing it up and I don’t really know why. It serves no purpose. It’s just something that the writers bring up every now and then to remind us that he’s gay/bisexual. I’ve heard the argument “it’s because he’s a man filled with secrets.” but I think he has plenty of secrets. Secrets that are actually relevant to the plot. Frank and Claire are doing too many important things that we don’t need a side plot where he forms a relationship with his trainer. Just seems like filler to me.
Commenters were quick to provide some key points:
Spoilers!
Absolutely not. Remember the Oscar Wilde quote frank says in the beginning about sex being about power? Look at all the times frank has gay sex, it’s always when he is out of control of a situation and then wins and needs to gain back his feeling of being in control. It’s his way of stabilizing. After the Medicare bill passed, after inauguration. Both were hard fought wins and he is unwinding after.
And then there’s the even more obvious “character development” argument, because why would audiences care about the show without feeling like they really know these characters? Otherwise it’d be like watching CNN and nobody wants to do that:
There is a fine line between a filler and a subplot which works as character development.
One of the central plots is always the relationship between Frank and Claire. Ever since the ThreeChum their sexual relationship / preferences has been a part of the show and that’s okay, if you ask me, because I want to see the whole picture, everything these two do.
This commenter definitely deserves a “psy” in their handle. We request PsyGuy98 hands over his prefix immediately:
The writers don’t include these scenes because they want you to ponder his sexuality. You can have bi / gay characters being themselves onscreen without their sexuality being the point. The show is very concerned with his twisted worldview and the nature of power. Frank and Claire’s power is affected by what they choose to display to the world, and what they choose to hide.
Frank is with women for more practical reasons, and with men for more personal reasons. He and Claire have a very intimate relationship, but they are business partners as much as anything. Zoe is a tool, and sex is misdirection from his true motives. Mentions of his old friend from school engender a deep emotional response from him. The guys he’s with always tap into some emotion of his. He connects with them in brief and pathetic ways, and they are always hidden.
And then there’s this read, voted to the top of the page, which we will post without comment as we sip our Lipton’s Green Tea with Mint:
At this point it really is all just filler.
Related: Someone broke down every Disney villain as a gay stereotype and it’s perfect
ChrisK
Why is Clair having the relationship with the writer. I mean it’s not like it’s relevant to the story after all..
Donston
Honestly, so little of the show actually has to do with politics that no one should be complaining about something not be “relevant” to the story.
Donston
I’m surprised more people haven’t deemed HoC “bi-phobic”, since Frank completely lives up to the most common of bisexual male stereotypes: a megalomaniac whose sexual attractions likely lies with men or mostly with men but who merely uses men for sex while maintaining a relationship with his wife that is borderline sadomasochistic and is mostly for the sake of sociology and practicality and ego-boosting hetero-normalcy.
Of course, the series hasn’t developed those elements and explored them properly, because it’s a piece of crap. In fact, I just made the show sound more interesting than it actually is. Robin Wright is the bee’s knees however.
paul dorian lord fredine
and how many episodes of this ‘piece of crap’ have you watched, i’m assuming, just to watch robin wright? that’s like men used to say they only read playboy for the articles.
Donston
The first three seasons. The debut was okay. The following two seasons were a mess. Its popularity seemed to stem from the upswing in the binge-watching craze, having two well known and respected actors as its leads and having its pilot directed by David Fincher. But beyond the names the show isn’t much of anything. But yes, Wright kept my interest for a while. I have no idea what Spacey was doing, an impersonation of Colonel Sanders I assume.
RIGay
Love the show; I just wish someone would knock off Doug Stamper, already! [just past Episode 5, fingers crossed].
Rex Huskey
“….viewer just can’t with…” Huh??
paul dorian lord fredine
if you have to say you ‘just can’t’ well then ‘just don’t’.
MediaGuy
Looks like the headline was written by ChrisK.
Pistolo
Straight people just can’t resist a corrupt politician/antihero who’s secretly queer, it’s like catnip to them. Because then it all makes sense, right? They’re corrupt because they can’t be gay! OR they’re corrupt so they are, in turn, willing to do gay things to get ahead!
Ksb1978
People are Bi, psyguy98. Get over it. You don’t mind having LGBT characters, but don’t want to see their sexuality, yet the het sex scenes are fine and all the straight sexuality has a purpose? GTFOH with that mess!
Redmage
Best thing to do with people like him, is just ignore em.. Most of them only talk to rile things up, and most of the times even with that, its fake.. Because you have people with more left-leaning agenda, who like to stir things up, and want to reinforce how the enemy is straight while males.
However… With Muslims, they will say much much worse… And actually mean it, and will act on it. If we lived in Europe, which is further, way further down the road of left-wing, progressive (regressive more like it), political correct, social justice stupidity.. Things would have been done to accommodate the hateful Muzzie, as they are always accommodated there.. Which is part of why I never think its “brave”, or “bold” or “badass” when some silly left-wing celeb or anyone else, feels the need to put some straight white male in his place.. Its not even a thing, and they do it just to make themselves feel good.. They were getting their virtue signaling on.. They are lame cowards in reality.
Donston
Not that I’m defending this person. But Frank’s sexuality is problematic in the series. They don’t actually explore it. We have no idea what his sex life with his wife is (at least not in the three seasons I’ve watched. I’m assuming they have no sex). We’ve never seen a conversation between Claire and Frank about sexuality. We’ve never seen Frank talk about his sexuality with anyone and none of the other characters have mentioned it. All we’ve seen is him get it on with a dude a couple times when he’s really angry or frustrated, which is an indulgence of megalomaniac bisexual male stereotype. But even that angle isn’t actually explored or developed.
That’s why its inclusion just feels exploitative and half-baked and surplus. But that’s a general problem for the show.
Heywood Jablowme
I’m surprised Kevin Spacey can “get with” all the gay sex. And a little impressed. But I still don’t want to watch the show, I hear it sucks.
Redmage
The show is awesome.
Donston
First season was okay. After that it’s a mess. Compared to other “prestige” dramas there isn’t much there. Even its performances, outside of Robin Wright, leave a lot to be desired.
Donston
As far as Spacey is concerned, I think he is pretty comfortable living in a glass closet at this point. I doubt he “officially” ever comes out. But he hasn’t tried to put on pretenses in many years. I still don’t respect him on a personal level since he spent so many years putting on those pretenses, flat out lying and even running away to England so he can have gay sex in peace.
And is he willing to play a LGBT character who isn’t a psychotic, manipulative, egocentric killer gay/bi behaving person? That remains to be seen.
Captain Obvious
Spacey is so serious about hiding his twink fetish that I’m shocked he even decided to play a gay or bisexual character in the first place.
Donston
He’s been filmed with quite a few young guys over the last couple of years, even spanking one’s ass in public. He clearly doesn’t care anymore about people knowing. But expecting him to come out and actually take a stance on anything is expecting too much.
That’s the thing with these male celebs. If they have no intention of ever settling down with their own gender, if they’re not looking to commit, it’s very unlikely they come out. And if they do they’ll still be indifferent towards LGBTQ topics. He’ll just stay living in a glass closet, fooling around with random Brit boys for the rest of his life.
Donston
Also, from what I can tell he’s not into twinks. Tall, masculine white guys in their mid to late twenties seems to be what he’s most into. For example, he clearly has a thing for Andy Murray. And he’s hardly a twink.
‘
canuckdave
This seems to Smell of homophobia. Frank’s gayness is all about deviant behavior, self loathing, sneakiness, truthlessness, and using someone for personal gain. Hollywood for far too long has shown homosexuals in this unflattering light. When will this stop?
mz.sam
Frank’s deviant behavior is reflective of actor Kevin’s Spacey’s well-known closeted, avoidance-laden, self-loathing public behavior.
music23
We have been seriously looking out for the Netflix hack here.