24 -- progressive or regressive?
I haven't watched 24 for a couple of years. As I've been watching it again this season, I've been evaluating it in light of the show's very real impact on foreign policy in the United States.[1]
Many activists I know practically froth at the mouth when I mention the show. My ex-boyfriend last year went into a rant as soon as I mentioned 24, and wouldn't even listen when I said that, okay, sure, clearly it's had a non-progressive impact on popular and political culture, but it's a damn fine show.
Watching the current season of 24, I see all of this. But I also see the show's progressive nature as well. I loved the president from the first seasons, pictured in my icon, African-American David Palmer. In quite a few places, I have seen columnists and academics cite David Palmer as a major element in pop culture that paved the way to Americans being able to imagine the possibility of a Black president -- and thus helped to pave the way to the presidency of Barack Obama.
This season, guess who the president is? (Spoiler warning if you consider that a spoiler.) A fictionalized version of Hillary Clinton. When I first saw her I giggled with delight -- how brilliant of the show to explore the what-if-Hillary-had-won possibility. They've already done a Black president, and a nutso insecure white guy president, so why not a 60-something white woman?
What really excites me about this president, President Allison Taylor, is that she's awesome. She fully embodies the role, and is true presidential material. And that makes me wonder if it's possible, really possible, that in mere years, we will see a female U.S. president in the non-fictional White House, too.
So, 24 -- progressive or regressive? What do you think?
[1] Surely the show paved the way for torture to become more acceptable during the Bush administration, as "I only have 1 hour to stop a radiological threat, and if I have to torture people to do it, so be it" is a mantra of the show.
Many activists I know practically froth at the mouth when I mention the show. My ex-boyfriend last year went into a rant as soon as I mentioned 24, and wouldn't even listen when I said that, okay, sure, clearly it's had a non-progressive impact on popular and political culture, but it's a damn fine show.
Watching the current season of 24, I see all of this. But I also see the show's progressive nature as well. I loved the president from the first seasons, pictured in my icon, African-American David Palmer. In quite a few places, I have seen columnists and academics cite David Palmer as a major element in pop culture that paved the way to Americans being able to imagine the possibility of a Black president -- and thus helped to pave the way to the presidency of Barack Obama.
This season, guess who the president is? (Spoiler warning if you consider that a spoiler.) A fictionalized version of Hillary Clinton. When I first saw her I giggled with delight -- how brilliant of the show to explore the what-if-Hillary-had-won possibility. They've already done a Black president, and a nutso insecure white guy president, so why not a 60-something white woman?
What really excites me about this president, President Allison Taylor, is that she's awesome. She fully embodies the role, and is true presidential material. And that makes me wonder if it's possible, really possible, that in mere years, we will see a female U.S. president in the non-fictional White House, too.
So, 24 -- progressive or regressive? What do you think?
[1] Surely the show paved the way for torture to become more acceptable during the Bush administration, as "I only have 1 hour to stop a radiological threat, and if I have to torture people to do it, so be it" is a mantra of the show.