Sometime in the 6th century B.C., the Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger, join him. If he is Jack Bauer, you?re dead.”
Or so says some wisenheimer on the Random Jack Bauer Facts Web site. Google that phrase, and you?ll find countless submissions from anonymous fans of the Fox television show “24” describing with humor all the mythical attributes of its iconic protagonist.
Rugged men with guns have always been at the forefront of American popular culture. The nation?s first homegrown fictional hero was Natty Bumppo, the namesake of James Fenimore Cooper?s Leatherstocking Tales, who embodied the nation?s frontier origin as the Industrial Revolution was taking hold.
Like Bumppo, the characters with the most resonance are usually the antithesis of a contemporary insecurity. In the 1970s, Dirty Harry fought criminals and the liberal legal establishment that protected them. In the 1980s, Rambo kept fighting to prove America could rise above the legacy of Vietnam. And in the 1990s, Nash Bridges and Walker, Texas Ranger, were busy doing whatever it was that they did.
Jack Bauer fits our decade so perfectly that there?s probably an angry left blogger somewhere claiming “24” was created by the CIA?s propaganda department atthe behest of Dick Cheney himself. After all, it is on Fox.
In fact the series premiered just two months after Sept. 11, 2001, with its lead fully formed and perfectly cast. From then to now, Kiefer Sutherland has expertly played a character remarkable for his simplicity, power and consistency. All Bauer does is focus his efficient fury on the enemies of the United States.
No wisecracks. No cynicism. No regrets. Just results. Results often gained through torture, which we enjoy watching precisely because we?re not supposed to.
With the current season?s incomprehensible plot and contrived bureaucratic showdowns, the show has had plenty of jump-the-shark moments. How come Chloe can hack into the security systems of defense contractors and luxury apartment buildings, but not CTU?s own ventilation system? Would ex-President Palmer be dumb enough to make himself such an obvious target? And how did President Logan get so smart all of a sudden?
Yet the show is more popular than ever, because Bauer is still Bauer. Just when you think you?ve heard the word “protocol” enough to make you want to do something really rash, like switch over to “Everwood,” or even “Two and a Half Men,” Jack is back on screen threatening to peel some guy?s eyeball like a grape. Or skipping the threats altogether before shooting some other guy?s wife in the leg.
?24? reverberates
The same dynamic drives “The Unit,” a new and pretty-good-for-network-TV show on CBS created by playwright David Mamet and “The Shield” creator Shawn Ryan. Its central figure is an Army Special Forces operator named Jonas Blane (note the initials), played by Dennis Haysbert with the same charisma that he used to portray President Palmer on “24.” Blane relies on wit and guile, along with occasional flashes of Bauer-style ruthlessness, and he?s almost as fun to watch.
And then there?s Showtime?s”Sleeper Cell,” just released on DVD. It?s a great show, but fun is not the word. Instead, it?s complex, realistic and scary. Superficially, it?s a lot like “24,” with an al-Qaida cell plotting to gas a suburban L.A. mall. The twist is that the FBI agent who infiltrates the cell is both a faithful Muslim and a loyal American.
As the series progresses, we get detailed portraits, not caricatures, of each terrorist. We come to understand their diverse personal histories and motivations. But in the end, they?re all alike. Nothing but poster boys for Hannah Arendt?s “banality of evil.”
The complex figure here is, paradoxically, the good man with the gun. Agent al-Sayeed, charged with the crushing but necessary burden of becoming like the enemy so as to defeat him.
Aaron Keith Harris writes about politics, the media, pop culture and music and is a regular contributor to National Review Online and Bluegrass Unlimited. He can be reached at [email protected].
