Homeland‘s Portrayal of Pakistan as ‘Grimy Hellhole’ Angers Officials | TVLine 

Pakistani officials who binge-watched all 12 episodes of the Showtime hit’s recently concluded run of episodes were outraged by the way their country was portrayed,

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Season 4, which was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, focused on Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison as she worked to uncover a terror plot against the U.S. embassy in Islamabad that was supported by some members of the Pakistani government and its Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

“Maligning a country that has been a close partner and ally of the US… is a disservice not only to the security interests of the US but also to the people of the US,” Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana told the paper.

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Another source lamented to the Post that “Islamabad is a quiet, picturesque city with beautiful mountains and lush greenery. In

, it’s portrayed as a grimy hellhole and war zone where shootouts and bombs go off with dead bodies scattered around. Nothing is further from the truth.”

The Post added that government officials took their grievances to

Way to completely ignore context, guys. Or that the locations depicted were diverse. The “grimy” places were usually reserved for keeping Saul prisoner.

All islam radicals and islam states can whining ))) Islam is evil and it was shown right!

Idiocy is evil. Islam sure isn’t. It saddens me to see people are making such foolish statements without even reading about the real principles of Islam most of which are very close to those of christiannity.

I have a lot of Muslim friends and none of them have the mentality that many people these days say Muslims do.

You have to differentiate Muslims and Islam, otherwise you’re as ignorant as those who stereotype all Muslims are the same. And it’s important to note that muslims who live in a free country are much different than muslims who live in a bigoted country like mine.

We have to differentiate the followers of the religion from the religion itself? Why? I know many Muslims as friends and co-workers. They practice their religion peacefully. It’s the extremists who don’t. It is they who need to be separated from the religion, not Muslims in general.

I disagree with you. I’m an ex-muslim living in Islamic country. Islam is an evil religion brought by a crazy man.

If they were “close to Christianity” then I don’t think they would have imprisoned Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag while she was pregnant because she refused to convert to Islam. Or carried out a Christian genocide over the summer.

The problem isn’t the religion, the problem is with the people who commit evil in the name of said religion. History has shown that no religion is exempt from this.

True, but what religion is predominately responsible for the majority of terrorism and human rights violations at this very moment? Further more, what religion is the only one that cannot be critically talked about without complaints, death threats, or fear of retaliation?

But for the most part, the majority of muslims in the world practise their religion in the West(In countries like America, Canada, Australia, Europe) without any problems and are law abiding citizens. I don’t think its fair to single everyone out for the actions of a radical minority. You are always going to get those that commit crime regardless of race or religion.

Even if you could definitively prove that at least 50.1% of terrorism was from those with Muslim beliefs, it does not excuse extremism from any other ideology. There have been abortion clinic bombings, beatings and murders of gays, the Columbine shooters were motivated by atheism, the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Catholic molesting cover ups, various crimes against humanity committed by those who made up their own beliefs (Charles Manson, the Unabomber, Scientology, certain Missouri police officers). Singling out any one belief system only exposes your own irrational prejudice.

intolerance and insults are the resource that use the people who has no reason.

That’s what you get from separating from glorious India to create your own Islamic Republic, I suppose.

All the comments on this post so far are really ignorant. *shakes head*

I don’t know why TVLine is posting an article like this. I come here for TV news and not stuff like this

This is TV news… Like it is 100% about a TV show

Some have a hard time separating fact from fiction…

Which is exactly the point. Hollywood paints picture of Pakistan which other people think is what reality is like.

You mean just like how they paint a picture of how America is, but it’s really not? lol

Please Google Islamabad and view the images and videos. Absolutely agree with the officials. The show has definitely done a wrong which is a practice that ought to be avoided for it offends us the people besides being the furthest thing from the truth.

Who truly cares what Pakistan officials have to say about a fictional TV show?!

Fiction must be put in context with the real world, otherwise there is no point.

You get some picturesque, touristy photos of the skyline, sure. And I thought a lot of locations on this season of Homeland looked great (the forested area where Aayan dies, the street with the RPG attack). But you can easily find bias by pointing out what to Google. Even though I found a picture of a crowd watching a gruesome fight between two dogs from that search term. If you Google Islamabad slums, however, you’ll see more pictures that look much worse than anything in the show.

Homeland has been extremely disappointing this season. As someone who has visited Islamabad numerous times and know Pakistan, this season has been a disaster when portraying Pakistan.

And for those saying it’s just fictional and all that: this drama is watched all around the globe and is vying for the Emmys. When you’re trying to be this serious, a little bit of research into the country you’re portraying can help rather than picturing a country just by watching the news channels.

Just Google Islamabad and see the Images and then think if the stink-hole that Homeland shows it to be is true. That’s not asking for much.

I’m from Pakistan and a fan of Homeland since its groundbreaking season 1 but I’ve to say that it’s not just the “Officials” who are angered by the way Islamabad (The capital and one of the most picturesque cities in South Asia) is being portrayed in the recently concluded season of Homeland but the general public in Pakistan as well (Yes, US television series are being watched and enjoyed by a lot of Pakistanis). Now I know that it’s a fictional series but at least they could have done some basic homework before basing one whole season on the region. After all, they’re a Golden Globes winning series.

I must also admit that while the Homeland writers failed to get their facts straight about certain aspects of Pakistan, the season as a whole [story-wise] got better and better with every episode. Credit where credit is due. Season 4 was much better than season 3 which was a complete let-down for me.

It’s just a TV show, it’s not real. If you’re offended by it you need to get out more. No one with a brain will think less of any country because of its portrayal on Homeland.

we know it is a tv-show, but sometimes is just frustrating how Hollywood portraits other countries.

There are two movies from Tom Cruise who made the same mistake. “Mission Impossible 2″ and “Day & Knight”. It seems he like San Fermin, but come on, not all happend in Seville… the second time is worst cause he was informed when he made the mistake the first time…. you spend so much money and u are not able to get to points straight…

The second come with the idea that Spain is a country down Mexico… but what can we expect.

I have friends here that they got really upset when in european films, people from the states are steriotype as dumbs and stupids… only for the fact to get people laugh.

About religion… dont start this topic… so many wars had started for that reason and you can blame any religion in the world… ANY

I’m from Tel Aviv and far too many people are convinced I spend my days riding camels to work in between running to bomb shelters, escaping suicide bombers and plotting to take over the world, on account of media representation of life here. Fiction is fiction. You learn to take it in stride. End of the day, gin tastes the same here as it would in Pakistan and Pittsburgh.

Very well said Eran. Hey did you know that people in Steveston use magic? Because Once Upon a Time said it’s true, it must be ;)

Um.. Eran We don’t do alcohol . I have no idea what you are on about .

You missed his/her point entirely. I thought it was well said, and amusing at the same time.

So officials in Pakistan have nothing better to do than binge watch Homeland?! Sounds like some of our government officials wasting money and time on things that don’t matter.

Also with the Sony attacks and things like this…it’s obvious these countries don’t get how free speech & expression work in our country and seem to saying our government should censoring our entertainment.

Cape Town, South Africa is outraged by Pakistani officials’ characterization of their city as a ‘Grimy Hellhole’…

Pakistan is such a “grimy hellhole” that they had to film thousands of miles away.

Pakistan, a close ally. Unfortunately the Emmy’s don’t have a category for a short-short. This would clearly be a winner for a best dramatic presentation. Personally I think Homeland is doing what most TV fiction never does. Say it as it actually is. Always hated those shows when the “unnamed” foreign agent’s country was the villain.

Well the first problems comes from people thinking that Americans actually know something about any other country other than our own.

There is a reason we have this stereotype and sadly it is grounded in facts.

There’s a reason why Pakistan is not a popular tourist destination and visas are only granted if absolutely necessary…

Yes, because all terrorists stay at the Islamabad Marriott! Good Grief, how dumb is this.

Sony has come out and said they will not be releasing the fourth season on DVD.

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