What was the meaning of those scenes in Season 1?
When she runs in a graveyard and there is ominous music and the camera lingers on her face for too long after she gets scolded by an old lady, then she comes back and smiles when she sees a couple kissing in the graveyard.
Then there's the homeless man outside of her nonprofit who makes origami with her $20. What was the symbolism, what purpose did those scenes serve?
1. Claire's exercise is an expression of her power as a human being. It's no coincidence that the season ends with Frank and Claire running in unison, heading towards power together. When she is scolded by the lady, she is troubled by the idea that her disrespecting the dead by jogging through the cemetery is an unacceptable act. When she sees the couple disrespecting the dead as well, it makes her feel better. The first season has a lot to do with "out with the old, in with the new." Frank ruminates on the briefness of his own legacy during the speech when he returns to his old school. Even though he's achieving greatness now, one day he will be those gravestones. And Claire disrespects the old by dissolving an old friendship when she cruelly fires an older coworker at the beginning of the season in order to move forward.
2. This interaction, in my opinion, taps into another theme of the show--how money is not true power, people are. When Claire sees a helpless man, she thinks her money will solve his problems. But when he gives it back to her in the form of a crane, I think it means there is far more importance in beauty and humanity than in money. It's a similar principle to when Frank's simple favor in vouching for Meechum results in Meechum's lifelong loyalty. Building relationships in politics means infinitely more than trying to buy something or someone with cash. Knowing someone is what matters. This sparks a journey in Claire as she plays with origami to determine who she really is. When Adam tries to tell her that he knows who she really is with the large photograph, she gives his gift back to him with a crane just as the homeless man did to her, telling Adam that he didn't truly know her. The crane is an expression of Claire's deepest human truth and loyalty--that she is meant to be united with Frank, and this human loyalty they have towards one another is more valuable than all other operations in their political sphere, more valuable than money, Adam's ideas of her, and all their foes.
Thank you, I appreciate your elaborate response.
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