Audience positioning in Homeland

The second episode is the first time we see the title sequence of homeland it features images of Carrie sleeping as a child and adult, the music also has a jazz element to it which we know relates to Carrie's life as we have seen the posters and images of her playing the trumpet. The Sequence also features political images and images of terrorism from the past 25 - 30 years which suggests how old Carrie is and that this has all happened in her life time. When the images of 9/11 are shown the highest note is also played this suggests that everything has been a build up to this one act of terrorism and destruction. Overall the Title sequence is very abstract which attracts the audiences attention of the music and the images fit together because it creates tension but at the same time contrast each other as it is not the typical music for a political thriller.
  At the start of the second episode 'Grace' the first shot looks hazy and has a dream like feel to it this tells the audience Brody is having another flashback. We then see Brody digging a hole for Tom's body with blood and mud covering his face, suggesting that he has been badly tortured. Brody starts to sing the American royal marines song louder as the man puts the gun to his head, suggesting that he has put himself in a very dangerous position by singing this song. For a post 9/11 audience this is very uncomfortable viewing as before this would not seem like something that would happen but now, from the news and other sources the viewing public know that this is an imminent danger of going to war. This is especially emotional for people who have families involved in the war as this could be seen as a realistic expectation of war. It could be said that it affects British audience's less then American audiences because it is based around an American royal marine but it still relates to the fears of families with relatives involved in war.
  When the gun is fired at Brody's head he automatically wakes from the dream, the gun shot is very loud and even startles the audience making the audience feel sympathy for Brody and the situation he was put in due to his job. In the other flashbacks that Brody has they give the audience an in depth view to his thoughts and memories which show the truth about what happened even when he is lieing to his friends and family. However in this flashback he gets shot in the head which didn't really happen making the audience doubt whether he is a reliable character for information or not. Even though this makes the audience unsure whether to believe him or not it still gives us privileged access to his dreams and thoughts and is a powerful way of positioning the audience as it gives us a sense of closeness. His thoughts are so dark that we start to feel the trauma he has been through and it puts us in his shoes by showing us the gritty reality of war.
  When he touches his wife Jessica she automatically jumps, we then find out that he has been shouting 'Kill me' in Arabic in the night and also violently attacking Jessica without knowing even leaving blood and scars. This shows that audience that entire families are affected by the outcome of war not only the soldiers so we begin to feel sympathy for Jessica and their children as well as Brody. Brody also generally feels sorry for hurting Jessica as he doesn't realise what he is doing and can't control his actions or feelings after the situation he has recently been in. The audience and his family can also see how agitated and nervous Brody gets about the smallest things such as the phone ringing or the people outside his house.
 Immediately after everyone leaves he gets another flashback of him alone in a cell, shouting. The music used creates tension and suspense and gets louder and louder every second. It almost sounds like he or the place is being attacked. He then sits in the corner of his bedroom all day like he does in the flashback but when his wife comes back he pretends he has been busy and fine, reinforcing that he is hiding something.
  We see Saul in a gentleman's club looking at art, wearing a suit and glasses. This connotes that he is intelligent and has power over the other man. We then see that Saul is blackmailing the other man but also calls him 'Your Honour' so even though we see a darker side to Saul's personality he still acts in a professional manner. The low key lighting on his face also shows that he is showing a different side to his personality but he is doing this ultimately to look after Carrie reinforcing that he is a father figure to her.
  David and a man from the royal Marines are pressuring Mike into pushing Brody into the spotlight. We see a very different type of blackmailing here, Mike is being forced to put his friend in a difficult position which he does not want to do but his reputation and job could be on the line if he doesn't follow orders. This makes the audience immediately dislike David and the other man i and we have seen from other episodes that David is a very harsh character and doesn't get along with Carrie. David is also very sarcastic when he is talking to Carrie about protecting a woman's life, because she is a prostitute he doesn't care what happens to her and he is very unprofessional the way he talks and handles matters with Carrie.
  Chris asks his dad (Brody) what its like to kill someone whilst he is playing a video game involving violence. All of a sudden Brody turns silent and looks away from his son, this also makes the audience feel sympathy for Brody as no one understands what he has been through and the trauma he has been put through. He then reacts when he sees a photographer in his garden but punching him, this suggests that after years of being locked away he doesn't know how to act in society anymore. He also doesn't own up to his actions when questioned about them suggesting that he doesn't think he has done anything wrong. However we do see a softer side to Brody when he is talking to his son before he goes to sleep, Chris is wearing white which connotes his innocence however Brody is wearing dark colours which could show a darker side to him that we haven't seen yet.
  Ultimately the audience feels sympathetic for Brody throughout the episode grace as it seems that he now has no control over his life or his feelings. Also no one else knows what he has been through and just want him to appear as a 'Poster boy' for America whilst not thinking about his true feelings or making sure he has fully recovered first.