Get the Feed
Just When I Thought I Wouldn’t Have to Think About “24″ Anymore …
“24″ — the “real-time” TV series featuring Jack Bauer saving the world against all odds (and those pesky terrorists) — has been strangely addictive through its six seasons … and counting. It’s not a love affair. It’s more like being a voyeur on the Bush administration’s rugged individualist fantasy.
In any case, I thought I had finally kicked the habit after I only half-heartedly watched some of last season.
Now comes along Dr. Walter Gary Sharp Sr., an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, who is teaching a class titled The Law of “24″ and using the show as a way to discuss real-world dilemmas:
In law school we use hypotheticals all the time: What we can?t pull from the real world, we make up. Pulling from a show on counterterrorism that?s chock full of legal issues would be a good way to make it entertaining to the students while they?re still learning.
Damn. “24″ sounds interesting again.
Posted at 10:11 AM | Permalink | | 
Email
| 
Print
November 15, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I don’t know. I’ve never watched 24, but mainly because I felt like it was all blow-um-up and propagated a specific idea about a culture of fear…
November 16, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I would absolutely enroll in this class. We need to pay closer attention to the underlying themes in vaguely political action extravaganzas. In effect, this professor is asking what would happen if Jack Bauer were accountable for his actions. It’s utter blasphemy, but intriguing nonetheless.
Check out some original internet television madness at http://www.hungrymantv.com! One click and you’re hooked!
December 2, 2007 at 3:03 pm
the question is also what role pop culture should play in academia. without sounding like a young curmudgeon, I wonder if encouraging students to watch lurid scenes of violence with glazed eyes is really a good substitute for actually reading those useful things called books.
December 2, 2007 at 3:08 pm
the question is also what role pop culture should play in academia. without sounding like a young curmudgeon, I wonder if encouraging students to watch lurid scenes of violence with glazed eyes is really a good substitute for actually reading those useful things called books.