Title: Homeland, Season 1, Episode 1
Tags: Military Elites, Power Dynamics, Military Power, Status
Author: M. Giglioni
Date: 30 April 2015
Summary Analysis: Homeland is an American Television thriller produced by Showtime adapted from the 2010 Israeli drama series Prisoners of War. While it centers on the life of Sgt. Nicholas Brody, a recently released P.O.W. from the War on Terror, the show also features members of the CIA tasked with outing a possible P.O.W. turned sleeper agent by his captors. At its core, this drama/thriller serves as a discursive platform for the variety of power systems at play within the US military and government bodies while also touching on points relating to the civilian perspective on the Global war on terror and the life of a soldiers family. Each of these individual components aims to explicate a different form of power dynamic. However the most visible are those pertaining to the military systems of power as suggested by C. Wright Mills in his book The Power Elite, and the hierarchical power system made evident by Homeland’s focus on the internal dynamics at play within the CIA. This critique of Military Power Elites presents itself plainly within the bounds of the first episode of the series. Most primarily we are exposed to one of Mills’ core critiques of Military Elites in that a great deal of trust is afforded to Brody without regard for actual evidence to support his position in people’s eyes other than the fact that he has served in the military. Mill’s particularly points out that those who are esteemed members of the Military realm often have great influence over their colleagues in other fields of power (p.198). While Mill’s applies this most directly to high ranking officers (Generals and Admiral) such a concept can be generalized to include Sgt. Brody in this context as his particular situation allows him to be held in high standing by sheer virtue of the nature of his service. In short, throughout this episode we can see Brody passively utilizing his power status as he does little to imply that he should be implicitly trusted, instead his service record and time as a P.O.W. does this work for him. As a result, those around Brody treat him respectably despite the inherent fact that he may actually be a sleeper agent turned by his terrorist captors.
Tags: Military Elites, Power Dynamics, Military Power, Status
Author: M. Giglioni
Date: 30 April 2015
Summary Analysis: Homeland is an American Television thriller produced by Showtime adapted from the 2010 Israeli drama series Prisoners of War. While it centers on the life of Sgt. Nicholas Brody, a recently released P.O.W. from the War on Terror, the show also features members of the CIA tasked with outing a possible P.O.W. turned sleeper agent by his captors. At its core, this drama/thriller serves as a discursive platform for the variety of power systems at play within the US military and government bodies while also touching on points relating to the civilian perspective on the Global war on terror and the life of a soldiers family. Each of these individual components aims to explicate a different form of power dynamic. However the most visible are those pertaining to the military systems of power as suggested by C. Wright Mills in his book The Power Elite, and the hierarchical power system made evident by Homeland’s focus on the internal dynamics at play within the CIA. This critique of Military Power Elites presents itself plainly within the bounds of the first episode of the series. Most primarily we are exposed to one of Mills’ core critiques of Military Elites in that a great deal of trust is afforded to Brody without regard for actual evidence to support his position in people’s eyes other than the fact that he has served in the military. Mill’s particularly points out that those who are esteemed members of the Military realm often have great influence over their colleagues in other fields of power (p.198). While Mill’s applies this most directly to high ranking officers (Generals and Admiral) such a concept can be generalized to include Sgt. Brody in this context as his particular situation allows him to be held in high standing by sheer virtue of the nature of his service. In short, throughout this episode we can see Brody passively utilizing his power status as he does little to imply that he should be implicitly trusted, instead his service record and time as a P.O.W. does this work for him. As a result, those around Brody treat him respectably despite the inherent fact that he may actually be a sleeper agent turned by his terrorist captors.
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