What The Homeland? @wthomeland - Tumblr Blog

re: New protest campaign

Hello everyone,

A quick visit back from retirement:

We have been getting some dm’s and messages about participating in the new protest campaign, so we thought we’d better address it publicly.

We agree that Homeland has lost its way in terms of its story and characters. We are still as angry and as sad as ever about what happened and how Gansa and his crew have handled things. We deserved proper closure in 612 and some acknowledgement from Gansa – of the character of Peter Quinn and Rupert Friend’s work – right after the finale and during the Emmy campaign. We, as grieving fans, also deserved some expression of sympathy from Gansa, like he has offered fans of other characters in the past.

We got absolutely nothing.

But this should have been something Gansa wanted to do, not something he is forced into by a fan-led smear campaign. Any forced statement or apology, in our view, is absolutely worthless.

They know how we feel, as evidenced by the very precise references in LLG’s latest interview, and they simply do not care.

Immediately after the finale, we shut down our blog in protest – as we always vowed to do – to deny the show any unnecessary attention. We wrote a letter to Alex Gansa on behalf of the fandom and sent it to him personally (read it here). Together with other fans, we set up and participated in a petition (here). We have led three Twitter campaigns – #thankyourupert, #emmyforrupert and #noquinnnohomeland.

Through these efforts, we have already voiced our anger, grief and criticism, and hoped to make Rupert feel appreciated and supported.

We succeeded.

Rupert tweeted his thanks for the EmmyForRupert campaign right after the nomination announcements and has noted the outpouring of support from fans in multiple interviews:

"I’ve just felt since the season finished, this outpouring of love and support, and in some cases fury, from very loyal fans who I think are conducting their own memorial for this character in their own way, which is beautiful." (W Magazine)

We and other fans have been actively building that memorial since day one. To us, it is more important for Rupert to know we love and appreciate him than for Gansa to feel our anger.

This was our contribution.

That said, we will not be participating in the new protest and we do not endorse it.

WHAT WE ENDORSE

DIRECT donations to organizations Rupert Friend supports OR donations to similar organizations in your own country, bypassing any smear/protest campaigns (the non-Americans among us feel uncomfortable about donating to foreign soldiers/vets).

Voicing our opinion on social media and other platforms, writing letters to Showtime and Gansa, and keeping the #NoQuinnNoHomeland spirit alive.

Cancelling Showtime subscriptions.

Showing Rupert love on Twitter and other platforms.

WHAT WE DO NOT ENDORSE

Collecting money for charities in the name of a smear/protest campaign (even for a good cause)

Asking for money for a campaign of any kind just to get attention from Alex Gansa and Homeland EPs

OUR REASONS IN A NUTSHELL

We, together with other fans, have already made a difference to Rupert, and that's what matters to us.

A funded smear campaign reflects negatively on the legacy of Peter Quinn and the memorial built by fans since the finale.

We believe it also reflects negatively on Rupert. We seriously doubt Rupert would approve of a funded campaign meant to discredit a project he has been an integral part of for the past five years. At the end of the day, these are Rupert’s colleagues and industry contacts. We honestly don’t see how dragging them through the mud would be of service to Rupert.

We believe any forced statements or recognition from the Homeland EPs would be insincere and meaningless.

Given all the worthy causes out there, throwing money at something like this is the definition of #firstworldproblems. No matter how much we couch it in the rhetoric of outrage, we are still just a bunch of fangirls upset because a show killed our fave. To try to frame it as some lofty cause is embarrassing, frankly, even if our points are valid.

Of course, this is our personal opinion and we encourage everyone to do what feels right for them! We just wanted to be clear about where we stood on this right from the start…

And with that, we are back to enjoying our retirement and hanging out on Twitter @wthomelands, come play with us there!

WTH

#homeland #rupert friend #alex gansa #noquinnnohomeland

wthomeland

A Letter to Homeland Creators

Dear Mr. Gansa and Mr. Gordon,

As avid fans of Homeland since season 1, we would like to thank you for such an intriguing show and for giving us characters that we have enjoyed for so many years. So much were we consumed by the world you created that we started blogs and forums to discuss it with thousands of like-minded fans from around the world.

After the season 6 finale, however, we can’t help but feel devastated. The callous way in which Peter Quinn, a character we have come to love so dearly, was killed off has left us reeling with sadness.

That we’ve become so attached to a fictional person, of course, speaks volumes of the quality of writing and acting on Homeland. We were equally invested in the journey of Carrie Mathison, the protagonist. Her arc, we thought, was one of personal growth, with Quinn – a man with a strong moral compass – as her partner.

We were invested in Quinn because we were invested in Carrie. With Quinn gone, we’re not quite sure what Carrie’s journey will be, but if Quinn’s relentless suffering is any indication, we expect it will end badly. Forgive us, but we can’t invest eight years of our lives on rooting for a character whose suffering will never be rewarded. We invested five years on Quinn and the result was unabated heartbreak.

Real life hands us enough tragedy, we don’t need to seek it out in fiction. Times are bleak, as you well know, and we turn to artists for some hope, optimism, for a way to put into words and pictures the things we are feeling. We turn to stories for things to make sense and for good people to triumph ultimately over evil.

Homeland was bleak, but we willingly endured the bleakness awaiting a payoff. We got none. Quinn was a fighter and we expected him to overcome his demons and prevail. What we got this season was the exact opposite. He died full of self-loathing; that, we cannot forgive. With no reward for Quinn, the Dar reveal on the dock and Astrid’s tragic death feel entirely gratuitous, not to mention the two years of physical torment he suffered.

And what kind of a message have you sent to depressed and disabled veterans and stroke survivors around the world who saw themselves in Quinn? To victims of sexual abuse? That they’re better off dead? What an abominable message. The unceremonious manner in which Quinn was killed off, with no vicarious closure for the audience in the form of a ceremony or proper displays of grief from his friends, was just cruel.

We are sorry to say that we feel utterly betrayed and manipulated by the way you chose to portray Quinn’s journey over the past two seasons. The season 5 fake-death cliffhanger in retrospect feels like a cheap way to bait Quinn fans into sticking with the show for another season. So does the way you developed the Carrie/Quinn romance arc, which you yourself said was the emotional center of the season. Another story lopped off carelessly without resolution or payoff.

We also find Homeland’s message to be antifeminist. A woman with drive and determination destroys everyone in her path. A woman with a calling has to sacrifice her personal life. These are harmful stereotypes and we urge you to consider the special responsibility you bear by having a female protagonist.

Is your intended message one of utter hopelessness? The fight is futile and the bad guys will win? We are sorry, but nihilism is not the same as realism. Ambiguity is not the same as artistry. Your commitment to ambiguity now comes across as an inability or unwillingness to commit to your stories or characters; building the plane as you fly it, as a lack of vision and planning. Ambiguity has become your go-to excuse to avoid criticism: when “anything goes” is the name of the game, there is no accountability.

Finally, having no comment or statement from the showrunners following the death of a much-loved character like Peter Quinn has made things even worse.

What the Homeland

wthomeland

Thank you everyone for your comments and notes!

We have sent this to Alex Gansa personally as well, hopefully he will read it (and probably promptly ignore it but at least we’ve said our piece, and that alone makes us feel a little better).

#homeland #alex gansa

down-dog

We'd love to see our favorite black ops assassin back on our TV screens next...

Please sign this and leave a comment if you’d like. Only takes a minute! This could be a great fan-led rebuttal to Sunday’s season finale and also help us get some answers from Homeland’s team.

Peter Quinn deserves some fan love. Thank you.

EDIT: You can sign this petition anonymously too!

#homeland