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7/27/2019 Homeland Main Titles Up Close

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I mentioned the myth on the telephone this week to Chris Billig, executive producer of

the project for TCG Studio in Los Angeles. Billig led the project for Thomas Cobb, the

head of TCG and writer/director of the clip. Cobb and TCG have created title sequences

forWeeds, Friday Night Lights, Eli Stone, and many others.

I added that while the use of the beast in the maze made sense to me in terms of the

danger and invisibility of extremist terrorists, I could not finish the puzzle. Why is

Carrie is shown as a child with an animal mask, inside the maze herself? It's a departure

from the classic story.

Billig jumped in quickly, seemingly ready for the question.

"When we read the pilot," he explained, "it became clear that Carrie would do whatever

it takes to win her battles. There's literally nowhere that she's unwilling to go. And that

includes enemy territory." He added that the myth and the maze reflected TCG's idea

that theHomelandpilot needed something to "imply a cat-and-mouse effect, and the

labyrinth was perfect for that."

TheHomelandtitle sequence compresses an impressive variety of devices, both visual

and musical, in a scant 90 seconds. Among those are intentionally rough cuts to

represent the anxiety of Carrie's job. She's a loose metaphor for the country at large, at

once steeped in the mundane banal of the everyday, and wired like a cat at the prospect

of swift mayhem and violence. (There are zooms of her eyes wide open and shut,

trembling in REM state.)


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There are reversals, both in contrast and in orientation, such as when a clip of President

Obama is suddenly flipped upside down. Those evoke the unsteady world of battling

domestic terrorism. It's a shadowy chess game with no real enemy in sight.

That's expressively suggested, too, in a few seconds in a tight shot of people walking

through an office building lobby. This seems at once ordinary, but somehow off, and

after a couple of showings, you realize that the footage is upside down, and we are

watching shadows, with the legs are inverted at the bottom of the frame.

I told Billig that it had taken me some time to figure out why TCG used images and

sound clips from Louis Armstrong, the great jazz trumpeter, well-known for his

improvisational style in the Thirties, and up to his death in 1971. It seemed to be a

parallel to the improvisational nature of Carrie's method of working, which sometimes

seems involuntary, due to her disorder.


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What will happen this Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, when Showtime presents theHomeland

Season 2 finale? There's no telling, really -- but at least in the clever opening titles, it's

guaranteed to be a-maze-ing...

12/21/2012 -Homeland, at the season finale, did not go completely off the tracks, but it

lurched wildly. it's maybe just another routine TV drama with clever escapes and newadventures. But it's no longer relevant social commentary, or worthy of a national

discussion. As good as the first half of the season was, you could feel the air leaking out

of the balloon during the second. And the writers, left without a credible way for the

plot to conclude, went to the usual bag of tricks. I might add that it wasn't a total

disaster, because the finale was well directed, and of course, the acting was, and has

been, first rate. But there's no doubt that the show has descended from its earlier,

compelling heights.EG


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3 Comments

ryandawsonI've always admired this opening sequence. It establishes the exact right tone for the

show, aptly summed up by one word: clusterf@ck. The age of terrorism leads everyonereeling, everyone in a maze trying to locate the evil of the other. There is a very potent

thematic energy released by the intercutting of Carrie's dream visions (the jazz, the lion

headed girl, the maze) and the scenes of terrorism, US presidents speechifying, etc. The

first image is of a sleeping girl, the very picture of innocence, with a voice over of very

serious presidential talk about war. This juxtaposition, of the calls to arms of the

powerful with the blissful ignorance of the innocent, puts into motion the core dramatic

tension underlying the show. Along with the jazz score, it leaves one feeling adrift in a

mess without solution, in a raging juggernaut that devastates everyone in the end.

Beautiful and sad, dramatic and energetic - it is one of the few opening titles that is an

art work on its own.

Dec 18, 2012 | Reply

GregI have alwayas wondered whether the juxtaposition of Obama, upside down and then

right side up, indicates a political bias - hinting that Obama "flip-flops" on the issue of

homeland security? Especially since it presents the words of so many presidents -

Democratic & Republican - without the visual acrobatics.

Maybe the creators of the title sequence just randomly chose much of this imagery ??

Maybe I am overanalyzing and should find another hobby? LOL

Has anyone else been struck by this idea?

Dec 16, 2012 | Reply
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EGGreg - Good catch. I discussed this with TCG Studio, and they said the Obama flip was

purely a design thing, nothing more -- no embedded commentary. But, as you say, it's

hard not to think that there is something else there. At the minimum, it certainly "flips"

on Obama's style of speaking -- which is deliberate, and has long pauses. And the art of

the clip is, of course, visual. The clip omits George W. Bush, and substitutes ColinPowell, and you are correct, it's a run down of Presidents since Reagan, otherwise. The

Louie Armstrong quote, "And now, we're going to do one of the good old favorites for

you" was used, according to TCG, as commentary that all Presidents use the same

rehashed terms and phrases when it comes to fighting terrorism...but the threat always

remains.EG

Dec 17, 2012

Noel

We've come a long way since the "arty" opening of "The Wild, Wild West."

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