Narrative - Levi-Strauss

Binary oppositions in Homeland:
good vs evil
west vs east
war vs peace
youth vs old
madness vs sanity
male vs female

Evaluate the relevance of Strauss' narrative theory to long term television drama? (Homeland)

Strauss' narrative theory is relevant to the TV crime drama, Homeland, which supports his theory. Strauss' theory suggests that every narrative contains opposing main characters which help to thicken the plot and introduce contrast which will therefore keep the audience interested in the television drama that they are watching.

Firstly, this theory links to the main theme in Homeland, good vs evil, this theme is shown through the CIA vs the terrorists. The evil would be Abu Nazir giving Tom Walker orders to kill people in the American government and the good being Carrie, working for the CIA, who is trying to save the people in the American government from Tom Walker. This is the biggest binary opposition shown in Homelands and is usually the biggest in other long term television crime dramas as well.

Although good vs evil is the biggest binary opposition that can support Strauss' theory, Homeland also introduces contrast through other binary oppositions such as west vs east, war vs peace, youth vs old, madness vs sanity and male vs female. With these many binary oppositions it shows major relevance to Strauss' narrative theory in long term television dramas as without these binary oppositions the narrative would not move forward and there would be no crime or action that you would expect to see in a crime drama such as Homeland.