5. We Acknowledge The Fact That We Can't Trust Everyone... Perhaps Anyone
Anyone who has been in a relationship with a person who at some point deceives you knows the pain that deception can cause. In Homeland, the issues of deception and trust are taken to extreme levels as viewers are asked to consider who is being truthful and who is lying, perhaps for political or personal gain. The "sleeping with the enemy" theme is elaborated as Mathison and Brody engage in a sexual relationship that challenges each of the character's legitimacy within their many social networks. This particular theme of mistrust continues with other charactersincluding Saul Berenson, who, it appears to the viewer, has thrown Carrie under the bus during an intelligence hearing in season 3. While it turns out that this was part of a clever ruse, the viewer is left with the unsettling sense that more of these moments of mistrust are to come. The frightening aspect of this for us is that it forces us to reflect on our own relationships and our own experiences with trust and deception.
Scott A. Lukas
Contributor
Scott A. Lukas has taught anthropology and sociology Lake Tahoe Community College for sixteen years and in 2013 was Visiting Professor of American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. He has been recognized with the McGraw-Hill Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of Anthropology by the American Anthropological Association (2005), the California Hayward Award for Excellence in Education (2003), and a Sierra Arts Foundation Artist Grant Program Award in Literary–Professional (2009). In 2006, he was a nominee to the California Community College Board of Governors. He is the author/editor of The Immersive Worlds Handbook (2012), Theme Park (2008), The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nature, and Self (2007), Fear, Cultural Anxiety, and Transformation: Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Films Remade, (co-edited with John Marmysz, 2009), Recent Developments in Criminological Theory (co-edited with Stuart Henry, 2009), and Strategies in Teaching Anthropology (2010). His book Theme Park was recently translated into Arabic. He appeared in the documentary The Nature of Existence and has provided interviews for To the Best of Our Knowledge, The Huffington Post UK, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, and Caravan (India).
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