24 on Fox vs. Rome on HBO?
Is that like even a REAL question? Well given the airtimes for both, yes.
Okay this is the deal. Two popular shows. Two reasonably good shows. Both about politics and societies in transition, one based in historical fact and firmly rooted in riveting drama, the other a propaganda laden fear fest masking as entertainment. It's a pity that they should even be in the same league, because really the superiority and depth of one makes the other sallow, tepid and utterly predictable by comparison.
I recall you thought Rome was too bloody to watch A, though Dad and I were as addicted to it as you were to Monday night football or the Sapranos. (And you thought Rome was too bloody??) Last night the Season II premier picked up immediately after the brutal stabbing of Caesar by select members of the Roman Senate. The scenery was compelling and the story line was as rich and dramatic as any regardless of the era. It was truly a time when men (and women) were tested and when the foundations of modern society were molded by brilliance, cunning and ruthlessness.
The acting in Rome is spell-binding. It's hard to fathom a show more lush with raw talent. And that it is only television, is like saying Beethoven's Ode to Joy is just a song. It's better than that. Casting for Rome found actors who personify these familiar characters and make them achingly familiar.
Last night, I swear I could smell the sweat of that covered Brutus as he recounted the stabbing to his eager mother, or taste the salt of the blood on the faces of the soldiers battling for the lives of their children. The smoke and ash of the funeral pyre was as real as the stench of the streets of ancient Rome. One could feel the coarseness of the fabric they wore and hear the din of horse hooves on stone roads.
But more than that, wrapped in this wash of extraordinary reality of ancient Rome, the story line slid gracefully as the emerging characters vied for power and position in the empire devoid of it's emperor
.
Nothing was contrived in the execution of the storyline. It fit together as well and enduringly as the stones of the Apian Way.
24, and the adventures of Jack Bauer were flat by comparison. Yes, of course, it's easy to get caught up in the adrenaline high that is packed in to the 40 minutes of each hour of another one of Jack's very bad days. Plot twists and turns in season 6 are not only expected now, they become the reason we get on the roller coaster again. Quickly, building up the first hill and then plunging down an abyss and around a thrown against the sides and through blind curves. But beyond the suspense, what is there?
The dialog is so predictable, and repeatable it verges on comic. After shooting his devoted partner Jack wretches and says "I don't know if I can do this anymore" to which the President says "You will because you have to". Oh, yeah. That's right. Duty. Let's hear it for duty to the country. That what it always comes down to, isn’t it?
But what 24 fails to acknowledge is that the duty for freedom, is closely tied to logic for getting rid of those very freedoms they claim to protect and cherish.
Detention centers for Islamic Americans serving as a prime source of information to save the country. The devilish Presidential Security Advisory played by Peter MacNicol is almost a re-enactment of his role as the fiendish museum director in Ghost Busters 2. The use of Kumar for the newly turned terrorist delivery boy is strange - there is no compelling reason to think he'd quickly turn against his obvious American upbringing. And even the normally feisty character Chloe is insipid in trying to get the two colleagues she works with to stop sparring over her affections.
Normally, the romp of 24 would be good fun. But it’s getting a bit tired. And at what point do we grow weary of the blatant propaganda?
Propaganda like the “I want my death to be for something!” Jack grumbles heroically before being left chained to a sewage grate for the terrorist? Anyone ever see the sacrifice of an animal? Not too different, but generally better surroundings?
Propaganda like staging the scene in front of a back lit American Flag where the American can’t bring himself to torture a prisoner, because he nobly doesn’t believe it will bear fruit, while the bestial Muslim guts his former comrade to get the information?
Propaganda like stating that all the prisoners held in the tropical detention facility are colleagues of the terrorist bad guys, while the all white American family are victims lead to the slaughter by their evil tawny skinned neighbor.
And of course the propaganda that comes with the sound cues that tell us how to feel and how we should react to the characters. In the episode where the small nuclear weapon is introduced, (9 – 10) listen as Karen Hayes (Or real life White House Advisory Karen Hughes?) explains that the soviets devised a nuke so small it is known as a “suitcase bomb” … cue muffled explosion!
Oh come on.
Listen folks, I enjoy the cheap thrills of 24 as much as the next adrenaline junky, but there is a reason that the White House loves this show. There is a reason that in the world of 24 the good guys listen watch Fox News and the bad guys watch CBN. There is a reason that this particular show gets top billing and is pushed at us as if our lives depend on it.
It’s blatant jingoistic fear mongering propaganda.
Watch it, enjoy it even. But please make the effort to be aware of the messages it is sending. Because as it has been said, those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. And if you need a refresher course on those, HBO Rome is a richly rewarding treat to cleanse the palate.
