Because torturing people doesn’t have to be ONLY entertainment
Last week the right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation put on a panel to discuss America’s image in the war on terror. The panel, hosted by levelheaded former drug-addict Rush Limbaugh, featured various members of the Department of Homeland Securty (including Skeletor Michael Chertoff) and the creators/cast of FOX’s 24 (minus Kiefer Sutherland).
Chertoff expressed to the audience that the actual department of homeland security isn’t all that much like 24’s counter-terrorism-unit, which frankly, I was surprised about. Though he did add that– like the show– his department is frequently “trying to make the best choice with a series of bad options.” You tell ‘em Cherty!
Limbaugh, always the diplomat, asked the panel if they felt creating a “pro-American show” made them the targets of liberal Hollywood. And wait until you hear what the panel said… after the jump…
According to Lara Jakes Jordan of the Associated Press:
Gregory Itzin, who plays the nefarious President Charles Logan, said he has had to defend himself from one or two people “about the fact that the show does have torture issues and how could I live with that.”
“It’s a show!” he said. “I’ve done Shakespeare and have
killed people with a sword.”
Yes, a sword indeed, Gregory.
Allow me to digress for a moment. This panel presupposes that 24 is, in fact, a “pro-American show.” What I happen to enjoy about the series is just how ambiguous it actually is– something absolutely necessary for a show that treads the line of reality and utter madness as close as it does. That fact that 24 has been embraced so strongly by much of the American-right-wing raises the always difficult question of, “are these people watching the same show as the rest of us?” Their justification seems, perhaps rightly, that Jack Bauer will go to ANY lengths to bring the terrorists to justice.
Understandable, though it’s only half the picture.
Sure, Jack will rip off the end of an extension cord and plunge the frayed wires into a stranger in hopes of extracting a piece of information, but as the season progresses that information seems to always lead him back to the organization for which he works. If the die-hard conservatives say 24 is about security at any cost, the liberals could certainly counter by saying 24 is a show about the abuse of power.
This was especially true this past season where we learned that our bad guy was none other than the sitting president of the United States (and a president taking order from a Burbon-drinking mystery man wearing a bluetooth headset no less). It also seemed to make the point (both in-step with and countering the conservative view) that the only way we can bring out own government to justice is by letting Jack Bauer go to whatever lengths needed.
Perhaps that’s just it. Jack Bauer is such a refined killing machine (and blank slate) we can project just about anything on him and make it stick. He’s a man that would do anything for his country, even if it meant bringing his country down. Jack Bauer is less about The United States as his is the idea of “The United States.”
After all, John McCain appears to be such a fan of the show he was even seen walking through the show’s CTU headquarters this past season passing on a memo. And while I don’t personally know Senator McCain, I’m assuming that even if he finds the action in 24 thrilling, it probably hasn’t changed his mind about torture.
Back at the 24 panel, Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays the saucy Chloe O’Brian puts it best, “I got into acting to avoid politics and so I can remain in a fantasy world, and you guys are kind of bringing me out of it.”
June 30th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I enjoyed this.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
[...] Last summer I wrote about the creators of 24 going to seemingly great lengths to create an inherently political show that attracts both conservative and liberal minded fans. The left embraced the show’s depiction of how power corrupts (no matter who the bad guy appears to be, it always works its way to the top, and its usually because of money, not religious fervor). The right loves Jack Bauer’s ability to follow orders and to do whatever he has to do to bring those pesky terrorists to justice (even if that means jabbing a knife in someone’s knee). More thoughts (with spoilers) after the break… [...]