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Tragedy as Farce: The New Model Moral Dilemmas of FOX''s 24
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notion of a moral dilemma has undergone a profound reconceptualization in American
political discourse, and there has perhaps been no more important cultural forum for that
conceptual revision than the quintessential post-9/11 melodrama, FOX Television’s 24.
If there is an avatar of the post-9/11 age in American popular culture, it is Jack Bauer
(Kiefer Sutherland), the hero of 24. In the May 15, 2007 Republican debate in South
Carolina, for example, presidential candidate Tom Tancredo had this to say about the
question of torture:
You say that nuclear devices have gone off in the United States, more are planned, and we’re wondering about whether waterboarding would be a bad thing to do? I’m looking for Jack Bauer at that time! … We are the last best hope of Western Civilization. When we go under, Western Civilization goes under.
1
More generally, conservatives have praised the show for its “political and moral
toughness.” According to this view, 24 illustrates such “enduring truths” as these: “that
war affords few opportunities for moral purity; that we must still have the courage to
make distinctions between unpleasant options, and act on our choices; that one does not
have to be innocent to be right.”
2
The same article goes on to describe Jack Bauer as
“basically a superhero” and to argue that the show teaches valuable moral lessons for the
post-9/11 era:
24 as a whole is patriotic in its honesty about the nature of our adversaries and its refusal to indulge in the moral equivocation favored by the most critically lauded television dramas. You never hear CTU characters wondering while perched over their computers, “Why do they hate us?” or fretting that “we’re just as bad as they are.”
3
1
FOX News debate, May 15, 2007. Bauer’s idolization is not uniform on the right. In response to a
question on torture at a recent debate, Sen. John McCain admonished his fellow GOP presidential candidates that “… I would hope that we would understand, my friends, that life is not 24 and Jack Bauer.” CNN debate, Nov. 28, 2007.
2
Paul Beston, “Getting Dirty in Real Time,” The American Spectator (July/August 2005).
3
Beston, “Getting Dirty.” It’s unclear which critically lauded dramas Beston is referring to in his later
comment; to my knowledge, no character on The West Wing, for example, has ever exhibited either of the two worries he outlines.
2
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notion of a moral dilemma has undergone a profound reconceptualization in American
political discourse, and there has perhaps been no more important cultural forum for that
conceptual revision than the quintessential post-9/11 melodrama, FOX Television’s 24.
If there is an avatar of the post-9/11 age in American popular culture, it is Jack Bauer
(Kiefer Sutherland), the hero of 24. In the May 15, 2007 Republican debate in South
Carolina, for example, presidential candidate Tom Tancredo had this to say about the
question of torture:
You say that nuclear devices have gone off in the United States, more are
planned, and we’re wondering about whether waterboarding would be a bad thing
to do? I’m looking for Jack Bauer at that time! … We are the last best hope of
Western Civilization. When we go under, Western Civilization goes under.
More generally, conservatives have praised the show for its “political and moral
toughness.” According to this view, 24 illustrates such “enduring truths” as these: “that
war affords few opportunities for moral purity; that we must still have the courage to
make distinctions between unpleasant options, and act on our choices; that one does not
have to be innocent to be right.”
The same article goes on to describe Jack Bauer as
“basically a superhero” and to argue that the show teaches valuable moral lessons for the
post-9/11 era:
24 as a whole is patriotic in its honesty about the nature of our adversaries and its
refusal to indulge in the moral equivocation favored by the most critically lauded
television dramas. You never hear CTU characters wondering while perched over
their computers, “Why do they hate us?” or fretting that “we’re just as bad as they
are.”
1
FOX News debate, May 15, 2007. Bauer’s idolization is not uniform on the right. In response to a
question on torture at a recent debate, Sen. John McCain admonished his fellow GOP presidential
candidates that “… I would hope that we would understand, my friends, that life is not 24 and Jack Bauer.”
CNN debate, Nov. 28, 2007.
2
Paul Beston, “Getting Dirty in Real Time,” The American Spectator (July/August 2005).
3
Beston, “Getting Dirty.” It’s unclear which critically lauded dramas Beston is referring to in his later
comment; to my knowledge, no character on The West Wing, for example, has ever exhibited either of the
two worries he outlines.
2
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