Homelands Season 1

Episode 1 - 

Equilibrium - 

• Set in Baghdad
• Carrie Mathison (played by Clare Danes)CIA agent on the phone driving a car

Disruption - 

• Washington (US)
• Carrie has a bipolar disorder
• American agent Brodie thought dead, was really alive
• Main Disruption - An agent has been turned(Brody) that's returning to America(Carrie to Saul) what a prisoner told Carrie 10 months ago
• Brody's wife and best friend are having an affair
• Brody's teenage daughter is smoking bong's
• Brody has come back (PTSD or nervous?)
• Carrie is happy to break rules (surveillance on Brody's home without any permission)
• Sex = Bad
• Brody lied to his wife on where he was going

Recognition of Disruption - 

• The surveillance guy told Carrie that Brody lied to his wife about where he was going so Carrie is going to find out - She found out that Tom's wife wants to know how Tom died (Brody says he was beaten to death)
• The surveillance guys found Carrie's bipolar pills and caught her out - she's paranoid that she's right
• Saul finds out that Carrie has been filming Brody done and advices her to get a lawyer
• Brody suspects something going on between his wife and his bet friend
• Carrie thinks that Brody is sending out a message using his fingers

Attempt to Fix Disruption - 

• 
  

New Disruption/Equilibrium - 

Episode 2 - 

Equilibrium - 

• Flashback to Brody in captivity - Threatened by gun point (turns out to be a dream and wakes up when the gun fires)

Disruption - 

• Brody hurt his wife in his sleep (because of his nightmare)
• His daughter picked up the phone which requested for Brody - He told his daughter to say he isn't in
• Brody continues to have flashbacks (PTSD)
• Carrie continues to watch Brody and recognises he doesn't pick up the phone
• Saul talks to the judge about Brody
• Saul goes to Carrie to have a discussion about Brody's behaviours
• Saul gives Carrie 4 weeks to work on Brody
• Carrie's 'friend' had to change her "appointment" earlier, specifically noon.

Recognition of Disruption - 

• Carries recognises that Brody continues to act suspiciously towards his family.
• Brody's CIA mates wants him to attend a speech 
• Chris (Brody's son) plays a shooter game and asks his father "What's like to kill somebody" - to which Brody doesn't answer
• Brody punches a reporter for being on his property and winds him deeply
• Carrie watches this unfolds and tells someone to follow Brody
• Carrie's friend fears she'll get into danger 

Attempt to Fix Disruption - 

• Carrie gets the survellience 

New Disruption/Equilibrium - 

News: 2019 Election Unit Coverage

Monday 9th December 2019

Magazine Front Page

Friday 13th December 2019Magazine Front Page

ImageryMise-en-sceneLexismise-en-scene

Politics & The Press in Modern Britain

Magazines used - 

• Daily Mail
• The Sun
• The Time
• The Guardian 
• Daily Express

Connotations - The connotations used in this image is the quote of "Don't believe everything billionaires tell you" which is an obvious metaphor of people believing rich people and their views. Also, the billionaires that own the magazine companies that give their own thoughts on their magazines, corrupting the minds of those who read the magazine, making people believe in billionaires.

How is media language used on the covers to make the reader either mistrust or trust the Conservative Party?

Both The Telegraph and The Daily Mail support the Conservative Party and this is shown by the use of imagery in their newspaper articles. On the front page of The Telegraph website is shown a smiling face of Boris Johnson who's surrounded by happy civilians. Unlike The Telegraph, The Daily Mail

UK Contemporary Framework

Key politicians responsible for BREXIT plus their job title/role in BREXIT

Boris Johnson

He was an assistant editor of The Daily Telegraph from 1994 to 1999, and edited The Spectator from 1999 to 2005. He was elected MP for Henley in 2001, and served as a Junior Shadow Minister under Conservative leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron. 

He became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 2019.

David Cameron

David Cameron is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney from 2001 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He legalised same-sex marriage in 2014.

Theresa May

Theresa May is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016 and has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead since 1997. She's the First Lord of the Treasury of the United Kingdom since 2016 which is the head of the commission exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom.

Nigel Farage

Nigel Farge has been a member of the European Parliament since 2016. He's a British politician and broadcaster. He has been leader of the Brexit Party since 2019, and has served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England since 1999. Outside his Brexit Party and MEP activities, he is a vice-chairman of the pro-Brexit organisation Leave Means Leave, and is the host of a radio phone-in on the Global-owned talk radio station LBC.

Michael Gove

Michael Gove began his career as an author and journalist, in particular writing for The Times. He became the Minister for the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom in 2019.

Michael Gove is a British Conservative politician who has been Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since July 2019. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Surrey Heath since 2005. He was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron in 2007 as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. Gove served in the Cameron governments as Secretary of State for Education from 2010 to 2014 and Secretary of State for Justice from 2015 to 2016, and in the second May government as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He has twice run to become Leader of the Conservative Party, in 2016 and 2019, finishing in third place on both occasions.

Scottish National Party - Nicola Sturgeon

Liberal Democrats - Jo Swinson

Trapped/Contemporary Framework

Iceland

Political climate - Who is in power? Prime Minister?
Katrín Jakobsdóttir is the Prime Minister of Iceland who's been in power since 2017 and has been the only person who's said no to Donald Trump. 

The politics of Iceland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state, while the Prime Minister of Iceland serves as the head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government.

Economy?
The economy of Iceland is small and subject to high volatility. Iceland has a small population of 350,000, with a $55,000 per head and has had a boost in tourism since 2010. 

Industry?
Some of the major industries in Iceland include tourism, fisheries, hydropower generation, agriculture, and manufacturing.

Gender - Equality?
As of 2017, for the seventh year running, Iceland has topped the World Economic Forum’s survey for gender equality. Out of 144 countries,Iceland has ranked number one in political empowerment amongst women, number one for closing the gender income gap (government ambitions look to finalise this in 2022) and boasts corporate quotas which ensure women currently hold 44% of representation on company boards.

Class Systems?
According to data from the City of Reykjavík, 2.9% of children up to the age of 17 receive some form of financial assistance from the municipal government. 

Gay Rights
Same-sex marriage in Iceland has been legal since 27 June 2010.

Ethnicity? Racism?
As of 2018, the Icelandic population stands at a little over 350,000. 91.1% of the residents of Iceland are Icelandic citizens and 15.7% are foreign-born.

Nationalism?
Icelandic Nationalism or Þjóðernishyggja or Föðurlandsást is based upon the idea of resurrection of the Icelandic Free State, and its values (or what was believed to be its values): democracy, freedom of the individual, the need for the country to be independent, and respect for the cultural and religious traditions, specially the long preserved language.

Homelands Race Representation and Americanisation

LO: Discuss, explain and evaluate how media context (where the media product was produced and screened) may have influenced representations in the TV Drama you have studied.

Americanisation: The action of making a person or thing American in character or nationality.

McDonaldisation: To describe how America has spread around the world.

Cultural imperialism: Cultural imperialism is the process and practice of promoting one culture over another.

Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Consumerism: He protection or promotion of the interests of consumers.

Islamophobia/Islamophibic: Islamophobia is the fear, hatred of, or prejudice against the Islamic religion or Muslims generally, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of terrorism.

We are prisoners of American culture

American products is become global due to the media as Google is owned by American's, so therefore the rest of the world (mostly) will become influenced. 

Countries not following Americanisation - 

• North Korea
• Bolivia
• Ghana 
• Macedonia 
• Bermuda
• Zimbabwe
• Iceland

These countries don't have McDonalds, proving that they don't follow American culture unlike the rest of the world.

The cultural of American culture is a Western origin, but has spread out of the rest of the world which has influenced their social and cultural characteristics, such as, music, food,  and social-habits. As America is a large country, it has a large influence on young people and people with low IQ's. 

American Dominant Ideology:

Gender roles - Male (they're 'stronger' so they're suppose to look after females)

Race - White (black people are 'violent')

Social grade - C1-A (anyone below C1 aren't important)

Sexuality - Straight (any different sexuality it 'weird')

Religion - Catholic (muslim are 'terrorists')

Politics(e.g. Capitalism) - Capitalism (the American 'dream')

If you're not a white, straight middle class man, you're not important. "They have all the power and should be in power. They're the social norm." (Carl Marx argument)

How Homelands fix's/breaks gender conventions:

Gender roles - Female (breaks)

Race - White (fix)

Social grade - C1-A (fix)

Sexuality - straight (fix)

Religion - Catholic or atheist (fix)

Politics - Capitalism (fix)

Homeland breaks gender conventions as the main character is female (Carrie) but her boss is male which fixes gender conventions as Carrie has to follow his orders as she's below him socially. This balances out the broken and fixed gender conventions, so they audience can't argue that the main character is female. 

Todorov's Narrative Theory

Stages in Todorov's Theory

Equilibrium - A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced

Disruption - Disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process.

Recognition of Disruption - The main character figures out the disruption.

Attempt to Fix Disruption - The main character attempts to fix the disruption.

New Disruption/Equilibrium - The main character either fixes the disruption or makes a new disruption.

Apply Todorov's Theory To Homelands

Equilibrium - 

• Set in Baghdad
• Carrie Mathison (played by Clare Danes)CIA agent 

Disruption - 

• Washington (US)
• Carrie has a bipolar disorder
• American agent Brodie thought dead, was really alive
• Main Disruption - An agent has been turned(Brodie) that's returning to America(Carrie to Saul)
• Brodie's wife and best friend are having an affair
• Brodie's teenage daughter is smoking bong's
• Brodie has come back (PTSD or nervous?)
• Carrie is happy to break rules (surveillance on Brodie without permission)
• Sex = Bad

Recognition of Disruption - 

Attempt to Fix Disruption - 

New Disruption/Equilibrium - 

Evaluate the relevance of Todorov's theory of narratology to long form television drama.

Todorov's narrative theory for long form television drama shows the meaning and messages of the episode. Todorov's theory is used for mostly films, it could also be applied for long form television drama but does contain some limitations especially when it comes to the drama Homeland as it's likely to start a new equilibrium. His theory includes the equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption, attempt to fix disruption, and new equilibrium (or disruption if it's a TV drama). The equilibrium is the start of the TV drama of film where everything is balanced and nothing bad has happened yet. Disruption is where the balance is changed as something bad has happened, casing drama. The main character will recognise the disruption, so they'll try to fix it (attempt to fix disruption) so they can become balanced again. After that's happened they'll be a new equilibrium where everything is back to normal again, or if it's a TV drama there'll be a new disruption so engage the audience to continue to watch the show.

Todorov's theory can be shown at the start of Homeland as the equilibrium is set in Baghdad which would automatically set the audience on edge as it's the capital of Iraq which is know for being dangerous but the main character (Carrie Mathison), a CIA agent, and her mission gets closed down so therefore she has to come back to Washington. Homelands is a crime drama which follows the conventions of the equilibrium as the opening is dramatic but that's Carrie's balanced life, which engages the audience as there's an automatic suspense in the drama, making them feel obliged to watch the show.

DIRT - Review your presonalized differentiated learning targets and make any relevant improvements to your Todorov narrative essay introduction.

Charlotte Dymond Evaluation

The Trial

On Wednesday the 18th and the 25th of September 2019 we visited the the Shire Hall to film the mock trail of the murder of Charlotte Dymond, which was made by animatronics in 1999. The trail lasted for 25-30 minutes; but unfortunately the first time of filming (18th), the audio of the animatronics wasn't working but the second time (25th) it was fixed. 

My team and I filmed the side angle of the trial.