"HOMELAND is Racist": Graffiti Artists Leave Subtle Message on The Series' Set

The fifth season of the American TV series Homeland premiered just a few weeks ago. Watching the first episode of the new season made me realize that the show was going in a different direction. In an attempt not to reveal too much information and spoil the pleasure of watching it (if you haven’t already), I will only say that the storyline is set two years after the events that we saw in the previous season. The original focus seems to be altered, and I believe everyone will notice. Don’t get me wrong, though — it is still as interesting, mysterious, intriguing, and a bit confusing as before. Which is just fine, because the combination of all these shaped Homeland as one of the most successful TV shows around the globe.

Homeland is watched all around the world, but its impact on people seems to be diverse. As became apparent in the second episode, not everyone is expressing positive opinions about the storyline and how things are being depicted. In that episode, the main character Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) visits a Syrian refugee camp. She walks past a wall covered in graffiti and Arabic words. The writings on the wall were the product of three Arab graffiti artists hired by the show. What is interesting about this text on the wall is that it reads “Homeland is racist.” But what is the reason for this?

Here's a short history: The trio was hired to give a sort of authenticity to the refugee camp scene. Instead, they saw it as the perfect opportunity to express their criticism towards what they perceive as the show’s racist views and messages. In a statement, the artists commented:

At the beginning of June 2015, we received a phone call from a friend who has been active in the Graffiti and Street art scene in Germany for the past 30 years and has researched graffiti in the Middle East extensively. He had been contacted by “Homeland’s” set production company who were looking for “Arabian street artists” to lend graffiti authenticity to a film set of a Syrian refugee camp on the Lebanese/Syrian border for their new season. Given the series’ reputation we were not easily convinced, until we considered what a moment of intervention could relay about our own and many others’ political discontent with the series. It was our moment to make our point by subverting the message using the show itself.

 They also told The Guardian: 

“We think the show perpetuates dangerous stereotypes by diminishing an entire region into a farce through the gross misrepresentations that feed into a narrative of political propaganda.

“It is clear they don’t know the region they are attempting to represent. And yet, we suffer the consequences of such shallow and misguided representation.”

Despite this event, I personally still find the show good enough. What do you think?