Other characters talk about her when she’s not present at all, often referring to her as “the prostitute” or “some hooker,” rather than by her name or anything else that describes who she is or what she does/did in a respectful way. Yet, whoever arranged the photoshoot didn't think she was important enough to include. Even the promotional material for Season 1 (pictured above) fails to include an actual photo of Rachel while including images of a number of other characters who were less central to the storyline and appeared in fewer episodes. Most characters on the show do not value Rachel beyond worrying about how she could harm them but the show, too, devalues her. She is the thread that weaves the entire series together. She has information and experiences that could reveal murder and corrupt political strategizing orchestrated by the protagonist Frank Underwood. In this short piece, we analyze how Rachel (via her embodied representation) is dehumanized in multiple ways at the same time that her character (from the very first moment she appears on screen) serves as one of the most important characters on the show. Her death inspired us to go back and analyze how her role in the series was both intensely invisible and visible. So, when she is murdered in the final episode of Season 3, any viewer who was paying attention, sensitive to her character’s role as a sex worker, and invested in a new narrative for current and former sex worker characters on popular TV shows, probably felt deeply let down. The show follows her story for three full seasons, offering some hope that she might enjoy a new narrative that would not end in her death, dehumanization, or any other number of sensational and tumultuous storylines. Yet, House of Cards also offers a somewhat different narrative for a former sex worker and central character, Rachel Posner. Like so many of these shows, House of Cards offers more of the same old sex worker narratives. But, as in all good fairy tales, help is at hand as a kindly beggar woman steps forward and, armed with a pumpkin and a few mice, changes Cinderella’s life forever.Representations of sex workers on popular shows such as Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, and, of course, any version of CSI, are often stereotypical, completely incorrect, and infuriatingly dehumanizing. It appears as if her fortunes may be about to change when the Palace sends out an open invitation for all maidens to attend a ball, raising Ella’s hopes of once again encountering the charming “Kit.” Alas, her stepmother forbids her to attend and callously rips apart her dress. Unaware that he is really a prince, not merely an employee at the Palace, Ella finally feels she has met a kindred soul. And then there is the dashing stranger she meets in the woods. Yet, despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella is determined to honor her mother’s dying words and to “have courage and be kind.” She will not give in to despair nor despise those who abuse her. Finally relegated to nothing more than a servant girl covered in ashes, and spitefully renamed Cinderella, Ella could easily begin to lose hope. But, when Ella’s father suddenly and unexpectedly passes away, she finds herself at the mercy of a jealous and cruel new family. Keen to support her loving father, Ella welcomes her new stepmother Lady Tremaine and her daughters Anastasia and Drisella into the family home. The story of “Cinderella” follows the fortunes of young Ella whose merchant father remarries following the tragic death of her mother.
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