Epic Framing

Dottie Underwood. In this
image you can see that she
looks shy and innocent.

 This week, instead of focusing my attention on Agent Carter, I will be focusing on Dottie Underwood, Agent Carter’s main target in season 1. During the course of season 1, Dottie Underwood was hired by the Russian government to come to America and steal Howard Stark’s inventions. She is portrayed as someone who is innocent and shy, while she is undercover. In reality, she is very strong and dangerous, although her weaknesses are exposed during season 2. In the eyes of the Russians, Underwood was seen as a hero; to the American people, she was seen as a threat.

Epic framing is centered around the idea that a hero/ heroine “embodies ideal values of the social order” (Buerkle, Mayer, Olson, 190). Buerkle, Mayer, and Olson paraphrase one of Kenneth Burkes characteristics of epic framing from A Grammar of Motives, “A hero maybe a person who at one time has committed heroic acts, has the potential to perform heroic feats, or embodies the attitudes and virtues that are placed central to the hierarchical existence” (Buerkle, Mayer, Olson, 190). When a person represents a particular groups morals and ideals, and behave in a heroic way, it makes them a hero in people’s eyes. 

This image depicts what she was really after, and refutes her  "adapted" persona of being innocent and shy.

Even though Dottie Underwood was a Russian spy and sought after the American government, in the eyes of the Russians she was a hero. Underwood upheld the “social order” of the Russians, because her main goal was to help the Russians destroy the Americans during World War II. In the first season, she seduced Howard Stark and stole some of his most dangerous inventions, which in the future, the Russians planned on using them to their advantage in order to come out victorious. Not only was she seen as a threat because of what she was after, but because she was highly trained in defeating the enemy and was deemed unstoppable. Another one of her advantages to getting what she wanted was her persona. Underwood was depicted as someone that was very lovable and caring of others, which only furthered her in reaching her main goal. Her persona also shows that she is the perfect fit of a Russian hero, strong, determined, and willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done, “I’ve puled out my own teeth, my own nails, my own hair. I’ve burned my own flesh with a blowtorch. I’m no Nazi harlot. And you are wasting my time,” says Underwood as she is being held captive and tortured. Her action of stealing Stark’s inventions to help Russia defeat America during World War II and disguising herself as someone she was not, places her as a hero with the Russians and as an enemy for the Americans. Dottie Underwood is a character in Marvel’s Agent Carter, that falls under the characteristics of Kenneth Burke’s epic framing, as she is interested in protecting the values of the Russians and is seen as a hero in Russia during the first season. She was framed as a hero, but then is seen as a traitor because she was not able to accomplish her mission for the Russian Government. Underwood was no hero, she was just portrayed in a way that the audience believed she was a hero in the eyes of the Russians, but in the end her weaknesses were exposed and she was defeated.   

Video of Dottie Underwood fighting a man looking for Agent Carter. 

Promo of season 2, episode 6 and 7. In this video, you can see how 

her roles have shifted from season 1 to 2. 

     

Links to pictures/ Videos 

1.http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/7/74/Dottie_Underwood.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150129040647

2. http://www.mcmbuzz.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/Dottie_Underwood_ agent_carter_sniper.jpg

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_O4gpJID8

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxNaGSKnLMw

Burke's Pentad

Kenneth Burke’s Pentad is a method that can be used to determine the motive behind an action. Burke’s pentad consists of the act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose. The act is what happened, why they did it, and why it’s meaningful. The agent is who did it and takes into account their beliefs. Burke refers to the agency as a way to refer how the act happened/ was transmitted. The scene is described by Burke as the time and location of the act. Finally, Burke states that the purpose is why the agent acted upon the act and what they wanted their end result to be.

Beginning of Conversation

In a scene from season 2 episode 1 of Marvel’s Agent Carter, Agent Carter sets out to find out new information on the mystery surrounding season 2, involving Calvin Chadwick and his wife Whitney Frost. Calvin Chadwick is running for the U.S. Senate and is at a racetrack to promote his campaign when Agent Carter approaches him in a polite manner without divulging the real reason she is there. Agent Carter was very careful in picking the location she did because there were a lot of cameras around and there would be no real threat against her since it was a public place that was being visited by many that day. As Chadwick’s wife is taken to the side to speak with someone else, Agent Carter begins her conversation by charming Chadwick with her beauty and eloquence. Once she has gained his trust she begins using interrogative questions such as, “Are you aware that Miss Scott is dead?” and “When was the last time that you saw Miss Scott?”, because it has been widely speculated on the show that he had an affair with Jane Scott and might possibly be involved with her death. She brings up Jane Scott unexpectedly, which makes Chadwick nervous, and in that moment she knew that he knew more than what he was willing to tell because his demeanor changed from being charming, polite Chadwick to nervous, disrespectful Chadwick. As an agent who is dedicated to her job, Agent Carter felt like she was successful although she did not get the information she wanted, but was able to get under Chadwick’s skin to know that something was going on and that he knew about it. The motive behind Agent Carter’s appearance at the racetrack was not to solve the mystery, but was to gather any new information she could use to continue piecing the evidence of the case together so that she can finally decipher the real mystery. 

         Mid way to end of Conversation