Jack Bauer: A Gendering
In Fox’s 24, protagonist Jack Bauer represents the male gender as a decisively
brutal, patriotic, and territorial human condition. As Jack finds himself in close calls
involving ethical dilemmas, terrorism, and threats against his family, the viewing
audience is lead into the notion that being a “good man” entails being a ready provider of
toughness and godly decision making in times of danger. While Jack represents real
government workers who prevent terrorist attacks on a daily basis, the show portrays the
character of such public servants in a heroic light that gives no admiration to men with
anything less than a stomach for torture, threats, or self sacrifice, let alone a hint of
femininity.
As any 24-aholic, myself included, can attest; Jack Bauer is absolutely the most
aggressive, testosterone brimming character ever to appear on television or the big
screen. Every episode of 24 involves Jack’s physical might and primal rage. In 24’s pilot
season, Jack confronts terrorists who are attempting to assassinate presidential candidate
David Palmer. Upon cornering a suspect who obviously has something to hide but has
chosen to remain silent, Jack smirks remarking, “I have killed two people since midnight.
I haven’t slept in over 24 hours. So maybe you should be a little more afraid of me than
you are now.” (Gordon, 24). Needless to say, Jack was left with no obvious choice but to
“be a man” and brand his combat knife in the wretch’s face, an action that would become
a favorite threat of Jack’s in seasons to come, “I’m done talking with you, you understand
me? You’ve read my file. First thing I’m gonna do, I’m gonna take out your right eye.
Then I’m gonna move over and take out your left, then I’m going to cut you. I’m gonna
keep cutting you until I get the information that I need, you understand me?” (Gordon,
24). As Jack’s iconic frustrations attest, the man embodies a seemingly essential
ingredient in manhood: untapped fury.
When Jack sees that his particular abilities are in need he is never hesitant to
fulfill his duty to society, but he is naturally questioned by men who are not only lacking
in Jack’s general awesomeness and good looks but also in absence his confident sense of
morality. Jack faces his field of work with simple resolve, “I see fifteen people held
hostage on a bus, and everything else goes out the window. I will do whatever it takes to
save them, and I mean whatever it takes.” (Gordon, 24). The wisdom of such an action
figure as Jack Bauer is not to be doubted. When fictional FBI agent Larry Moss asserts
that it is the rules of engagement that make law enforcement better, Jack snorts, “not
today” (Gordon, 24). Jack simply refuses the notion of due process when dealing with
terrorists under the idea that observance of law, and all institution for that matter, does
not outweigh immanent loss of life. Such philosophical assuredness is a rarely occurring
attribute among the wisest men, let alone hero law enforcers with women falling about
their feet - and yet here it is completing Jack Bauer as “the man”.
Now Jack wouldn’t be half the idol if he didn’t have to kick some ass for his
family. Jack’s wife, Terry, is killed by a traitorous friend in the first day/season of 24
leaving Jack broken and paranoid to protect his daughter, Kim, from the big bad world.
Of course a terrorist always ends up with a knife to his kid’s throat, and in one particular
situation Jack is ordered through duress to sabotage the Counter Terrorism Unit’s
activities, directed by an earpiece. When asked to test the microphone, Jack responds, “If
you hurt my daughter, I WILL kill you,” and he does kill the man several short hours
later to make for an exciting season finale. (Gordon, 24). Nothing says, “that there’s a
man” like a furious father beating the tar out of someone who in the least bit offends his
daughter!
24, a Fox production, features a reoccurring theme of duty and patriotism. Jack, a
former army special forces soldier, commits unflinching loyalty to America made evident
by his oft revisited respect for whoever is holding the office of President of the United
States in any given season. In day/season 6 of 24, Jack Bauer is released from Chinese
imprisonment and torture only to find that his government’s efforts to save him were
merely made in order to use him as a bargaining chip with terrorists, as if being in
Chinese torture camp wasn’t a secure enough location for a man who could potentially
but a halt in someone’s terrorist plot half way around the world. Jack bravely declares to
then President Wayne Palmer, “Do you know the difference between dying for nothing
and dying for something. That's why I'm still alive. That's the only reason why I managed
to stay alive in China, so I wouldn't die for nothing. Today, I can die for something.”
(Gordon, 24). In true 24 tradition, Jack manages to off the terrorist leader, eliminating the
national threat and saving his skin likewise, because that’s how us men show our true
colors, by killing other men and saving lots of women, kids, and old people from
tragedies.
As a young man growing up watching 24, I honestly found encouragement and
strength in Jack Bauer. The show debuted in 2001, two weeks prior to the tragic attacks
of September Eleventh, when I was only ten. As I grew in my understanding of the world
as a fairly messed up place, so did my admiration of men like Jack Bauer who offered
their lives to the innocent and the threatened. 24 had astounding credibility in my life.
The character of Jack Bauer was a man I followed enthusiastically, and I tried to live and
make decisions the way that he did. I still hope to work for the government in large part
due to the confidence in myself that Jack Bauer inspired in me.
The difficult situation in the essence of such a man as Jack Bauer is that he stands
as a role model for one specific way of life. I chose to look up to the man that is Jack
Bauer because I felt like he embodied most of the ideas that I believed in but had
difficulty expressing. Now I am not saying that I am an aggressive or violent person, but
the gender role of taking positive action in defending one’s family and country IS an
appealing way of life to me. But that’s just it; what if I had wanted nothing to do with
what Jack Bauer’s version of manhood represented? Jack’s persona feeds society’s
gender hegemony superbly. The scarred, buff, deep voiced Bauer often butts heads with
his CTU coworkers on the course of action. The scrawny men, and material women that
he argues with represent patience, societal institution, and facts, ideals that are perfectly
sound and alternatives to Jack’s personality. In the end, Jack’s instincts and rashness will
always lead to thwarting terror plots, thus deeming useless and hampering any
personality other than the macho manliness of Jack Bauer.
The characteristics of Jack Bauer serve to plant often unconscious reinforcement
of the male gender as a decisively brutal, patriotic, and territorial human condition for
many unaware youngsters. 24 provided me with a positive gender choice and a true
realization of many of my underlying beliefs, but surely alienated any young men who
felt otherwise or in the words of Jack himself, “Weak! Unwilling and unable to look evil
in the eye and deal with it!” (Gordon, 24).
Works Cited
Gordon, Howard. (2001-2010). 24. Hollywood: Fox