Racism in homelands

During the course of Homelands, a large issue was the amount of racism towards the Muslim culture brought clear with Brodie's time away after going missing as well as Carrie's time in Baghdad. This does follow the theme of Americanization as it's made to seem patriotic the result of this wasn't the best as it isn't only viewed by the patriotic Americans referred to in the show but people of many cultures and races. Representation is fairly low although a female lead is present being a big step she had to be majorly flawed and made in some situations to use her sexuality to an advantage which isn't a big thing when working with a Male lead linking to the idea that female characters in film are there to appease the male viewers. 

With a story as captivating as homelands it is unfortunate to have such little representation and so many links in what seems like a pro racism position. The fact that Brodie going away and having the conversion from Christian to Muslim is all good until the show shows that the conversion also changed him from the lost war hero into the anti-government terrorist.

In an episode showing Brodie praying to Allah (god) he is caught by his daughter but when discovered by Dana is received in what seems to be a negative light as she starts off scared of her dad's conversion asking questions which link to it being a bad thing.

In a show with this many racist overtones there is bound to be some back lash in this case it was taken to more than just comments as an Arab artist decided to sneak some Anti-homelands graffiti into the set of the show. For a while this was not recognized by the crew as they could not distinguish the "hate art" from the real set design some of these pieces say in Arabic "Homeland is not a series" "black lives matter" "There is no Homeland" and "Homeland is racist" in a way the creators received a reaction they possibly craved as it leads to the show being talked about leading to extra publicity referring to the valid points, made by people who are wrongly represented, as "artistic sabotage."

To conclude, the shows negative representation of the Muslim community is a large issue that is scraped over by the everyday patriotic American craving the spotlight of the hero and making any other race seem evil or in ways inferior. This is most probably done as an act of trying to make the shows main representation group (the straight, white, American) seem like the be all and end all of the world as that is the majority of their viewers and the show flips representation around to put this group (the majority) front and center in the good guy gone bad situation mixed with the idea that Americans are good, Muslims are bad and mixing the two leads to a case like Brodie the American terrorist when in fact a large problem in American society is Americans causing drama and pulling the white privilege card as their reinforcement overall this issue is one that is and has been on its way to a resolution for years the process only slowed by a curtain current president working opposite the cause possibly being one of America biggest threats.

Americanisation

America claims that this isn't possible as they haven't taken over any places like Britain once did but following their ownership throughout the world through the internet to their brands they own more in the world than things that made and stayed in the country such as the fact that there is more american stuff in Britain from america than there is Britain

Products

McDonalds are a huge example only 10 countries in the world don't have a McDonalds

Media

Youtube, one of the internets largest websites, is an american brand spread wide across the world but eventually brought from the original creators by google another even bigger website which is also american.

Film

The majority of music, film and tv is based in or on America and their culture is being a huge way to incorporate American ideas into the lives of people living anywhere other than america 

France removed American/Hollywood Films and cinemas from their culture 

Narrative Levi Strauss

Good vs evil

War vs peace 

Men vs women 

Black vs white 

Sanity vs madness 

Levi Strauss uses the idea of two different concepts clashing through social or moral reasoning such as the most basic being good vs evil this comes up in many ways during homeland with the idea of Black Vs White with the war on terrorism as homeland panders in the direction of racist as it uses the idea of terrorists being middle eastern and no one really takes the guess that it is Brodie. 

The idea of Men Vs Women is played with a fair bit as carrie being a female lead was also shown sleeping around with Brodie and hinted at others this holds a slight sexist view as it uses a females sexuality to exploit males through sexual favours.

Homelands differs from others as it holds the idea of Sanity Vs Madness using Carries mental illness to cause the curiosity of weather Carrie is braking down or being serious and is just convinced she is on to something. through the first season mental health is constantly revisited throughout as well as the possible chance of Brodie having PTSD it was shown as a thing during a dream in the first few episodes but barley referenced after so although the chance is there it has no 100% proof. 

Finally War Vs Peace a huge part of this specific crime drama the fight of whats right and the fight to find the perfect way to come to world peace little hint its possibly peace. this links in to the evolution of Neal. a huge link to this however isn't only the fact that a war is going on but it is the idea of america and their guns trade. 

Narrative Neal

How does it fit into Homeland 

Mise-en-scene

Guns
Blood
Detectives
CIA/Conference room
Families
Drugs
Explosions
Dark interrogation room, bright landscapes
Mid shots,Establishing shots,Over shoulder shots
Female lead detective with bipolar

Narrative

Family Affairs
Secretive
Crime
Interrogation
Dramatic
Unexpected
Political
Military
Phycological

Generic/stock characters 

Detectives
CIA
Police
Double agent
Politician

Theme

New York
Baghdad
CIA base

Evaluate the relevance of Neal's Genre Theory to long term television drama

Neals genre theory is the concept that genres have ideas shared through different platforms by producers and audience for example traditional props, settings, character types are shared although the genre theory leans to evolving these ideas to have a similar concept complicated by the evolved values. 

Neal's Genre Theory is used as well as evolved in homelands as it uses traditional blood, guns and agents but with its own twist in this case it is Carrie as they have a female head detective playing towards modern day gender roles who has Bipolar adding its own twist into the mix. A lot of the stereotypical strings are there for example the interrogation rooms with dark tones and a big bright city full of distractions and clues to cause some spin off episodes complicating the story further showing evolution. 

The narrative has changed a lot following less of the stereotypical theme with a pile of added genres such as political drama because of the reference to 9/11 and terrorism, Phycological drama due to Carries mental state and military drama because of Brodie's past as well as following the traditional crime drama. 

The themes are similar to traditional crime drama as it is based in a large city in this case New York but differs in the way that Baghdad was shown in the first episode but goes back to being at an average setting when it comes to the CIA bases.

Narrative Barthes