If I could sum up the last episodes of Homeland season 5, I would have to argue that the overarching theme is that of “redemption.” This theme manifests in ways that are relevant not only to the narrative but also to the show in general.
Read more "Redemption (Homeland Rewatch S5.09-S5.12)"While last season of Homeland seemed to try and push all mention of home life and children to the side so Carrie could live her exciting life as a station chief in the middle of a war zone, season five is pushing the exact opposite agenda. Now that Carrie has flipped her switch from an emotionally turned off, hesitant mother to a figure of devout maternity, every fiber of the Homeland narrative in the first episodes of season five seems to be driving home just how much Carrie’s role as a mother is raising the stakes.
Read more "All the Little Children (Homeland Rewatch S5.01-S5.04)"For women in film, the conflict that emerges between family and career often come to a head, disallowing a female protagonist from having the best of both worlds. This has often been the case for Carrie and, with Brody finally leaving his family, Carrie is presented with the option to choose a “normal” family life with the man she has come to love. However, it is made clear that choosing Brody means abandoning the career with which she has been so unabashedly faithful.
Read more "Is this Feminist? (Homeland Rewatch S2.09-S2.12)"In his work, The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault wrote of confession and how the act of confession relates to overarching societal power structures. “The confession is a ritual of discourse in which the speaking subject is also the subject of the statement; it is also a ritual that unfolds within a power relationship, for one does not confess without the presence or virtual presence of a partner who is not simply the interlocutor but the authority who requires the confession, prescribes and appreciates it, and intervenes in order to judge, punish, forgive, console, and reconcile;”
Read more "Confession (Homeland Rewatch S2.05-S2.08)"Although I could go on in some detail about the interesting parallels of Brody and Carrie and their struggles in navigating the clash of their past and present lives, I was actually much more intrigued this week by the representation of and cooperation among women in these episodes. There appears to be a strong indication that a “community of women” can work together to get things done.
Read more "(Home)Land of Women (Homeland Rewatch S2.01-S2.04)"If nothing else, the final four episodes of the first season effectively call into question which party (the terrorists or the USA) is actually standing on higher ground, the Americans or the terrorists? Is there much difference between them?
Read more "The Good Guys (Homeland Rewatch S1.9-S1.12)"A key theme within the show centers on the idea of fidelity. This theme manifests in three different but important ways: fidelity to marriage, fidelity to career, and fidelity to country. Interestingly, the show represents each of these different kinds of fidelity has competing factors whereby a hierarchy of fidelity emerges, placing fidelity to marriage firmly at the bottom and fidelity to country at the top.
Read more "On Fidelity (Homeland Rewatch S1.E5-S1.E8)"The events of 9/11 caused these notions to crumble and the post 9/11 America has become tainted by paranoia about the intention of “others,” harbors a consistent feeling of uncertainty about the world around us, and is being forced to redefine what it means to be American. The first episodes of Showtime’s Homeland are heavily playing to the aforementioned themes, right down to the opening sequence (first seen in episode two).
Read more "Depicting a Tainted World (Homeland Rewatch S1.E1-S1.E4)"Over the course of the Spring 2017 semester, participants in the Homeland course will each be rewatching the show from the beginning (approximately four episodes per week) and blogging about each week’s rewatch progress. We will be attempting to not only engage deeply with the episodes and explore the show from a variety of critical academic angles but also engage with other scholars in the process.
Read more "Homeland: A Rewatch Project"
The Small Screen Scholar 