Homeland

[shapinglight]

All right, I suppose I might as well just do it.

This article (which contains extensive spoilers for Homeland) explains far better than I could why I find the show so problematic, while some of the comments on the article explain why I've said very little about it so far.

I watched the entire first series with all my hackles raised and 'this is racist' warning bells going off in my head. And I'm watching season 2 feeling the same way.

More behind cut, with spoilers up to ep 2 of season 2, which is as far as we've got this side of the Pond.



In fact, I don't know why I'm watching it at all. Maybe because I still have a possibly deluded hope that there'll be more to it than Muslim=evil and anyone with an Arab name, if not a terrorist themselves, is obviously involved in terrorism somehow. But as of two episodes in, it doesn't look that way. Even the apparently decent imam of the mosque in season 1 turned out to be knowingly harbouring a wanted terrorist (Walker). Also, just when I thought of something positive the show could have done with Brody - wannabe senator announces he's a Muslim, tells the American public to deal with it - I realised it can't be done because Brody is a cold-blooded murderer and he'll have to be punished for that at some point. Besides, we all know he only became a Muslim because of Stockholm Syndrome.

Not to mention the show has stretched the bounds of credibility yet again in the first two eps of season 2, giving us not only an alliance between Al-Qaida and Hezbollah (like that's ever going to happen), but an apparently westernised Arab female character (with a Brit accent, no less, so that's two Hollywood villain stereotypes rolled into one) who is an Al-Qaida agent. All I can say is, not bloody likely. Al-Qaida is not the KGB. And in case we had any doubts what their kind of hardline view is of women who think for themselves, or behave in a way they don't consider appropriate, there's a fourteen year old girl with a bullet wound in her head in a Birmingham hospital to remind us.

But anyway, the sheer WTF-ness aside, it's the show's pandering to what is already rampant paranoia that gets me.

Okay, as some of the comments on the article point out, Homeland is a drama. Anyone who confuses it with reality is stupid. But really, would a little more nuance have hurt the show that much? I really thought we were going to get that in season 1 - that there'd be a 'good' Muslim character in the mix somewhere to balance all the bad ones - but I was wrong.

As it is, you get a way more balanced view of a Muslim community in Citizen Khan.

YMMV, of course, and I probably still will watch it, if only because it would be hypocritical to criticise something I haven't watched.

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

I don't know, it sounds as if you've given it a fair go. I think you an turn it off if you don't like what it's delivering. (I haven't watched it; I watch so little TV these days and it just seems so likely to irritate me...)

[shapinglight]

I don't watch much TV either. Not really sure how I got sucked into watching this. I think it took the place of something else I used to watch in the same timeslot - whi-ich is not really a good excuse for going on watching it, I know.

I suppose I want to know what ultimately happens with the Brody character.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

I've been holding off watching this show because the entire premise just looked like something that would eventually annoy me. Doesn't look like I was wrong...

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Heh! I read the article you linked and all the people who were saying that the show doesn't present Islam in a bad light because Brody is a Muslim ... um, what part of suicide-bomber is a GOOD thing, guys? Really?

For me, it's both this and the fact that critics in the US praise this show's realism that makes me so annoyed - there's no way that Carrie would have ANY sort of high-security job given her behavior even if they didn't know about the bipolar disorder. She would have to take lie-detector tests at regular intervals where they ask about alcohol, sex and other things. Plus, although I haven't seen season 2 at all (what, the Shi'ite Hezbollah and the Wahhabi Sunni al-Qaeda clones are working together? NO, NO, NO, NEVER NOT IN A MILLION YEARS! Have these people ever read anything about al-Qaeda? Ugh!), the premise that al-Qaeda (known to operate in these loose kinds of Leninist cells) managed to create not one, but TWO, super-ninja assassins out of brainwashed former US Marines AND have a mole somewhere in the CIA is so far from any reality as to be entirely ludicrous. This isn't Moscow Center playing cat-and-mouse with Smiley. Again, if the showrunners had even the tiniest desire to be realistic, they wouldn't have written that many ridiculous coincidences into the show.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Can't really comment because I opted out of Homeland early. But from what you're saying, my reasons for opting out weren't wrong.

[ex_peasant441]

As you know I struggled with the start of the first season but then I found it sucked me in because the plot is intriguing, and I have found the same with these first two eps of the new season. So I intend to continue with it unless it changes dramatically for the worse.

I have always found the basic plot ridiculous. I simply don't believe that anyone would become a terrorist under those circumstances or that someone who was bipolar could work in the CIA. But then in some senses it can be said that Brody isn't a terrorist - because when the moment came he couldn't go through with it. He is of course a traitor, so he hardly represents a good guy, but it is still a complex and many layered character and I find that interesting. I think we are also going to spend some time this season exploring why Brody is a Muslim and what that means in relationship to other characters from both sides of the divide. I also find the way they are exploring the whole concept of treason, and what might lead someone to commit treason, and how we respond to different aspects of treason, to be very complex and interesting.

No, it isn't a balanced show about the Muslim community - but then it isn't about the Muslim community, it is about Brody and how he affects and is affected by the people around him.

So I think it is wrong to characterise this show as a simplistic portrayal of Muslim = bad. It strikes me there is much more to it than that, and it has certainly made me think about the issues involved and even to want to try to find out a bit more about Islam.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

I've not seen it but I see that you're not the only one to object .

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

** nods ** I feel the same. I just keep hoping that the show will go somewhere other than that, but I don't think it ever will .. It had it's chances in the season 1, I keep hoping. Damien Lewis just mesmerises me, I guess. :D

The whole "all Arabs/Muslims are bad" always bothered me in the show but I thought it is "just me" as I am always very quick to notice these things (because Russians are always portrayed in the same way, so this is my pet dislike in any show).

1. Carrie - how come she had a job in CIA in the first place? I am just projecting here - one of my childhood friends went to study in KGB school and later started to work for KGB (don't laugh :D) and he had to go through VERY rigorous process of health evaluation (especially mental health evaluation) . At the age of 17! And then after that I believe this evaluation is repeated yearly. So, I was always sceptical of this aspect of the show (Carrie having mental health issues AND managing to hide them from CIA). I can't believe CIA is so different in this!!!

3. Brody always escaping CIA, FBI and everyone else? This is so not possible!

[missus-grace.livejournal.com]

I see what you're getting at now. While reading the article, I was thinking, 'but what about that imam from Season 1?' Guess I didn't that all the way through.

I do like the show, because I love the tension, I love Damien Lewis, I love Claire Danes, and I love Mandy Patinkin. And I need to suspend my reality for a while. But yeah, by and large, we (white) Americans aren't known for our cultural sensitivity. Reminds me about how the remake of Red Dawn had to go through and turn the bad guys into North Koreans instead of Chinese.

[shapinglight]

Well, it is annoying. It's also difficult to stop watching, because it's very exciting, like 24.

I don't know. I wouldn't object to it so much if there were a variety of TV shows featuring Muslim characters in different ways, but I don't think there are in the US, are there?

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

I don't believe so. From the beginning I thought the show would be as you described it or the exact opposite extreme, neither of which having much to do with reality.

[shapinglight]

Heh! I read the article you linked and all the people who were saying that the show doesn't present Islam in a bad light because Brody is a Muslim ... um, what part of suicide-bomber is a GOOD thing, guys? Really?

I know. All I got from that is, Brody's white, so it can't be so much of a bad thing, can it?

For me, it's both this and the fact that critics in the US praise this show's realism that makes me so annoyed -

Its realism? You're kidding. Praise it for Claire Danes' performance, yes, but realism?

Leave aside the fact that Carrie wouldn't have survived five minutes in the CIA (well, she wouldn't have got in in the first place), but all the other stuff? It's so absurd it just makes me cross.

[shapinglight]

You were probably right to opt out. I should have followed my first instinct and done the same. I feel stuck with the show now, the way I'm stuck with the Buffy comics.

[shapinglight]

I think we are also going to spend some time this season exploring why Brody is a Muslim and what that means in relationship to other characters from both sides of the divide

That's the only reason I'm still watching. As far as I'm concerned, the silly spy stuff and the unbelievable terrorist plots are getting in the way of what I'm really interested in, which is Brody's relationship with his family. That on its own is fascinating. It didn't need all that murder and mayhem.

No, it isn't a balanced show about the Muslim community - but then it isn't about the Muslim community

I never said that it was.

and even to want to try to find out a bit more about Islam.

That's a good thing, I suppose, though I'm sorry it's taken something like this to make you feel that way. Didn't the subject ever arise in all your medieval history reading?

[shapinglight]

Yeah, I think there are probably a lot of people in my position. Find the show really pisses them off but watch it anyway, for whatever reason.

[shapinglight]

I just keep hoping that the show will go somewhere other than that, but I don't think it ever will .. It had it's chances in the season 1, I keep hoping. Damien Lewis just mesmerises me, I guess. :D

Damien Lewis is very good. He's the only reason I keep watching. As I said above, I don't care at all about the silly spy plot. All I'm really interested in is Brody's relationship with his family, and what his conversion means vis-a-vis that. But that'll probably all get subsumed into him murdering various other people to prevent the secret getting out.

What your friend went through to work for the KGB is undoubtedly what someone who works for the CIA would go through. Carrie would never be able to hide her condition from them, I agree. It's silly, but mostly I just find that stuff a bit boring.

[shapinglight]

I suspect the show thinks it's being very culturally sensitive because Carrie asked that CIA man to take his shoes off in the mosque.

Which, yes, it could be a lot worse, which is partly why I find the whole thing so frustrating, I suspect. I keep thinking this could be a really good show that says very important things, and then it does something crass, and obvious.

[shapinglight]

Not that we're so great over here, or anything. But that Citizen Khan show I mentioned is something novel. The format is very stereotypical TV sitcom, but all the characters are Muslim. It was patchy, but some of it was very funny.

[yourlibrarian]

Hmm -- I haven't seen the show, though I noted it took home quite a few Emmys last month. Sounds like I can probably skip it.

[ex_peasant441]

I like spy shows, so that side was always going to engage me more and I'm very much on the edge of my tolerance with some of Mrs Brody's behaviour, so we are definitely coming at this show from opposite angles.

Didn't the subject ever arise in all your medieval history reading?

No, actually. I've never really been interested in the crusades beyond a passing interest in the Templars (and even then from an economic not a militaristic angle so their opponents were kind of irrelevant). So beyond the odd passing remark about the possible impact of Arabic culture on e.g. the development of the pointed arch, it hasn't been relevant.

Anyway, I wouldn't be so much interested in what they believed in the middle ages as what they believe now. Which I presume bears as little resemblance to Medieval Islam as modern Christianity does to Medieval Christianity.

[shapinglight]

I'm not talking about the Crusades. What about the Arab kingdoms in Spain?

[shapinglight]

It's good drama, I suppose, but it very much suffers from this whole 'my trauma is worse than their trauma because I'm a white westerner' syndrome. The sort of thing that makes so many films about the Vietnam War impossible to watch.

[yourlibrarian]

I remember seeing a post a while back that labeled that syndrome, but I can't remember now what it was dubbed.

[ex_peasant441]

I probably know less about Spain than I do about the Crusades. Bar a few random and rather unconnected facts about various European countries, Wales is about as exotic as I get. I know it looks like I have a lot of books but they are actually all pretty focused in both time and space and on specific subjects within those parameters.

[shapinglight]

Well, if you remember I'd be interested to know. It sounds like it might come in handy.

Incidentally, the latest episode I watched (season 2 ep 3) made me even more cross. They can't possibly do anything positive with this Brody character now. It's too late.

[shapinglight]

Hmm, well maybe it's time you broadened your horizons.

[sibilant.livejournal.com]

I enjoy Homeland as a well acted and presented thriller with an unusual setting. The premise is absurd, but intriguing and the cast are very accomplished at selling it.

I can't take it seriously, with all of its overwrought characters and Dickensian coincidences and last-minute saves, but I do enjoy it at the end of a serious working week.

I'm just sorry that it obviously offends some of you.

[ex_peasant441]

So people have been telling me all my life. I suspect they worry that by saying I am not interested in other cultures I am making some sort of moral judgement and claiming that they are not worthy of anyone's interest. I am of course saying nothing of the sort. They simply do not interest me at this time - and that is no more a moral judgement than if I were to say I am not currently interested in Amazonian entomology or how space rockets are fuelled. There is a limited time to study the world, and I have spent my life spiralling outwards from a few central points. Jumping about to unrelated points, rather than building on what I already know, does not appeal to me or my way of studying. I may one day reach the Muslim influence on Europe, and from there advance to Muslim culture in general, but I have not reached it yet. So while my curiosity may be piqued in passing enough to spend a couple of hours on google (which I have in fact done) I am unlikely to devote much time to, what is for me, an unrelated subject.

[shapinglight]

It's always a borderline prickly thing, though have to say the most recent ep (3, I think) was the worst so far.