Media Representations of Gender and Torture Post-911 by Marita Gronnvoll

Author:Marita Gronnvoll [Gronnvoll, Marita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Gender Studies, Violence in Society, Feminism & Feminist Theory
ISBN: 9781136950001
Google: WxjGBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-06-10T04:40:53+00:00

24

Of all of the programs that are part of this genre, the FOX program 24 is the longest running, and has received the most critical acclaim.12 24 stars Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland as counterterrorist superagent Jack Bauer. As of this writing, 24 is about to begin the eighth season of its hugely popular run. The Wall Street Journal reports that 24 attracts up to 17 million viewers every week, and millions more watching on DVD.13 The relentless excitement of this show has been described variously as “like doing nine lines of cocaine and washing it down with a dozen Red Bulls,”14 and as a “weekly Monday-night heart attack.”15 Premiering on November 6, 2001, the show has won numerous awards, including the much-coveted Emmy, and Sutherland has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and several Screen Actors Guild awards, among others, for his portrayal of the tormented hero.16 Jack works on and offfor a satellite office of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU), a branch of the CIA.

The premise of the program is that Jack must take on and defeat terrorists that pose an imminent threat to American lives, and he has one day to accomplish his mission. A unique gimmick to 24 is that each one-hour episode of each season represents one hour in the same action-packed day. So when the season ends, a single 24-hour day has passed. Each “day” is separated by at least a year, the goings on of which are exposited usually in the first hour of a new day. More than any other program in this genre, 24 has frequently and unapologetically used torture as a plot device. Jack, who is sketched as the clear hero as he literally saves the world each day, does not hesitate to use torture to extract information from terrorists and those who aid and abet them. The program also pushes the envelope in showing the brutal torture Jack both inflicts and endures when he is captured. Despite his willingness to use any means necessary, Jack is not portrayed as a conscienceless, one-dimensional psychopath, or even a blindly patriotic character. Rather, he is a complex man who suffers a great deal of anguish and personal loss because of his commitment to his mission. In the first season, he loses his wife when he is unable to save her from a duplicitous mole in CTU. He goes on through the following seasons to lose his health, several relationships with women, friends, family, and his freedom. Still, when presented with bad choices, the path is clear to Jack even if unclear to others. He kills and tortures without faltering when he feels it is necessary. As the plot unfolds, the audience invariably is led to see that Jack’s actions, however brutal, are justified.

Because of 24’s longevity, and its unique propensity to cross over into political discourses and debates of the real world, a comprehensive analysis of this program is necessary. Where it shares the themes of the other programs under consideration, it will be included in this chapter.

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