For the Military-Entertainment-Complex
On 24, Jack Bauer found himself needing, again and again and again, to mentally and physically torture terrorists, separatists, and other internal enemies. 24 screenwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh even told a reporter that he thought “it would be nice to have a secret government that can get the answers…even kill people,” and across nine seasons, his show repeatedly brought that fantasy to life. Bauer and heroes like him were good men forced to get their hands dirty by their evil, inhuman foes, creating a narrative structure in which a government agent could engage in the most degrading acts and remain innocent. “Jack Bauer never wanted to torture anybody,” writes Beck, “but circumstances always found a way to force his hand.”
The Bush administration did not need to make the explicit case for torture; pop culture did it for them. Simply by tuning in to their local Fox affiliate, viewers could feel the transgressive shock of breaking a human rights taboo, and have fun along the way. America legitimized torture by transmuting it into entertainment.
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