Racial Profiling on 24 with Spoilers!

The BBQ Pit
1

I’ve been a great fan of 24 for the last 4 years. I have the first 3 seasons on DVD and love to watch them on the treadmill. I never miss an episode.

Last week I saw a small bit talking about racial profiling and stereotyping on 24 and I got to thinking that it really is quite egregious.

So, for your amusement and outrage I present you with the bigotry, racism, and sexism that is the world of 24. As far as I can tell, the following is inviolate within the context of the show.

Black Women - You simply cannot trust a black woman. All black woman are highly intelligent but incredibly manipulative and amoral bitches. They have no concept of morality.

Black Men - Black men all have positions of power and responsibility. However they are total pussies and incapable of decisive action due to their wishy-washiness. They talk a nice game about making moral stands, but they are ultimately hypocrites.

Skinny white women with short hair - These women are either stupid and worthless or else they are complete psycopaths with all the manipulative ability of black women with an added fanaticism and urge to kill that would make Hannibal Lector blanche.

Women bosses - Female bosses are shortsighted and driven by politics. They will choose poorly, make stupid orders, and block competant people while letting their personal lives and feelings interfere with the workplace and the safety of the nation

Young ladies - Young ladies are simply unequipped for survival in the world of 24. Their lives are simply one long series of emergencies based on their own stupidity. The direness of the emergency is directly related to their attractiveness.

Young men - Young men will inevitably get killed, seriously wounded, lose a limb or end up in jail as a result of their association with young ladies (OK, so I guess this one’s accurate.)

Computer nerds - can control anything instantaneously. They are damn near omnipotent, but have no moral direction or self-starting abilities. They must be manipulated or told what to do or else they will just stare at their screens blankly.

Men with English accents - Men with English accents are always turncoats or traitors.

Men with Foreign accents other than English -They are always evil.

White American Males White American Males are intelligent and adaptable and goal oriented. They never fail to see the big picture, and always make appropriate moral decisions within this context. They are the only people that really no what’s going on and can generally only be manipulated or bested (albeit temporarily) by skinny white women with short hair. White American Males are physically indestructable and can be knocked unconscious, tortured, and even killed with little effect, due to their supreme willpower. They can even kick heroin cold turkey.

Hispanic men Hispanic men fall into two categories: In the first you may consider them as White American Males in training (or Incompetant White American Males.) In the second category they are drug dealers with open shirts who sneer a lot. Sometimes they pose as one kind while being the other, but you can always seperate what kind of hispanic you are dealing with by whether or not he sneers.

Muslims Muslims are fanatical terrorists. Every single one. Women, children, babies, it doesn’t matter.
I think that’s it.

2

I almost forgot:

Men with Glasses - Men with glasses may be treated as if they are black. They are well-intentioned but lack the backbone to be effective, and are easily manipulated.

3

Have you got the complete casting instructions for the show?

4

Humm, sounds like somebody got it right for once. All of those seem dead on. For instance, I am a white male. Here is your description.

White American Males White American Males are intelligent and adaptable and goal oriented. They never fail to see the big picture, and always make appropriate moral decisions within this context. They are the only people that really no what’s going on and can generally only be manipulated or bested (albeit temporarily) by skinny white women with short hair. White American Males are physically indestructable and can be knocked unconscious, tortured, and even killed with little effect, due to their supreme willpower. They can even kick heroin cold turkey.

Fits me perfectly.

My wife is a skinny white woman with short hair. Here is your description:

Skinny white women with short hair - These women are either stupid and worthless or else they are complete psycopaths with all the manipulative ability of black women with an added fanaticism and urge to kill that would make Hannibal Lector blanche.

She’s not stupid but she is a manipulative psychopath.

My Boss is Female. Here is your description:

Women bosses - Female bosses are shortsighted and driven by politics. They will choose poorly, make stupid orders, and block competant people while letting their personal lives and feelings interfere with the workplace and the safety of the nation

Exactly.

5

Great list :slight_smile:

Wasn’t there an Middle-Eastern diplomat in season 2 (Yusuf?) who was actually a good guy?

6

Well, we’ve got the profiling, but I’m still waiting for the spoilers. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Don’t remember Yusuf, but Reza probably counts as a good guy from season 2.

8

Usef is an interesting case. Recall that he was a Muslim who worked as an English Spy. Most importantly though he had an english accent. In this particular instance, the English accent takes precedence over being Muslim. Since he had an English accent everyone at CTU knew he would be a turncoat or a traitor and were instructed to shut him out from any information until it could be determined what it was he was a turncoat or a traitor against.

As it turns out, he got killed before he could be definitavely stereotyped (which is always a hazard.)

9

Another interesting case is Chase.

Chase was in that delicate stage betweeen being a Young Man and becoming a full-fledged white man, and exhibited the characteristics of both.

Unfortunately he got beaten stabbed shot and tortured repeatedly before he had achieved full white man physical invulnerability. He became so pathetic that he had to be symbolically castrated and permanently relegated to young man status.

10

What about “Ensign Ro” (Lynn Kresge)? White woman – I’d say she’s fairly slim (not “skin-and-bones” skinny), and short hair. But not stupid or worthless or urge to kill.

Well, in the 24 world, this seems to apply to all bosses, not just the women.
Ryan Chappelle, George Mason, even Tony Almeida at the start of “Act 2” in season 2.

11

Where does Tony’s wife, Michelle, fit in here? As far as I know, she was a Hispanic woman who wasn’t young or a boss (at least, not all of the time) and managed to not get herself killed.

12

I don’t think Michelle’s hispanic - I’ve just looked it up on IMDb and the actress is called Reiko Aylesworth, so I’m (wildly) guessing she’s mixed Japanese/Caucasian. She’s only 32, too, so surely counts as young. :slight_smile: Anyway, she was in charge for a bit while Tony was shot, and let her distress influence her decisions and the Safety Of The Nation, so she probably fits quite well with the female boss category.

Personally I just think the world of 24 is populated entirely by sociopaths (and one cougar) who couldn’t read body language to save their lives, and more importantly can’t tell when the soundtrack is doing some serious foreboding.

And just what the hell was with that cougar, anyway?

13

Yup, unfortunately he was beaten senseless by a bunch of rednecks after The Bomb went off.

14

24 has big-time issues with women of color. Actually the show just presents a lot of bad women, period. This may be true of the action genre as a whole. I started watching last year and within a couple of episodes, I was saying this. Sherry was evil, Nina was evil, Julia was crazy, Chloe was a bitch, Kim was a moron. Michelle was fine. I guess this year isn’t as bad - Sarah is a bitch, Driscoll is a bitch and always wrong, Chloe is a hero, and Audrey is okay even though she hasn’t actually accomplished anything. There’s definitely no Michelle out there.

I don’t think this describes Curtis from this season.

15

Marley:

You’re kidding right?

“Gee, I dunno if we should torture this kid or not, but if you give me the order, I guess I will” Curtis?

or

“My evil manipulative bitch of a former girlfriend who just had sex with me to sleep her to the top so I feel so used, has shown up, ingratiated herself with my boss, so I guess I better not make waves?” Curtis.

He is without backbone.

16

No, I’m not kidding. He wasn’t comfortable with what Driscoll wanted and talked her down by threatening to refuse the order.

[quote[“My evil manipulative bitch of a former girlfriend who just had sex with me to sleep her to the top so I feel so used, has shown up, ingratiated herself with my boss, so I guess I better not make waves?” Curtis.[/quote]

What was he supposed to do beyond what he did, which was to say that he didn’t trust her and ask that she be specially monitored?

17

24 certainly isn’t the only show that does this, as do most movies and novels.

However, you do seem to have hit upon the writers’ cheat sheet.

As long as you mentioned spoilers, I suppose it is not unfair to mention that Terrorist Mom (whose name escapes me) was an Oscar nominee for House Of Sand And Fog and is originally from Iran…I mention this as I read when she agreed to do this role, she said she would only do it if it DIDN"T show all Arabs as fanatical terrorists. Thus, I think we are going to see a new type of Arab woman portrayed in this season as I doubt seriously they are going to kill off an Oscar nominee this early in the game, and if you have been watching the show, you now know she is one pissed off ex-terrorist!

18

Tony Almeida alone negates this assertion (though there are other examples as well). Essentially, when you write “White American Males”, you really mean “Jack Bauer”.

19

[quote=Scylla}Black Men - Black men all have positions of power and responsibility. However they are total pussies and incapable of decisive action due to their wishy-washiness. They talk a nice game about making moral stands, but they are ultimately hypocrites.[/quote]

Well I’ll have you know, I’m quite dicisive mostly, except when I’m not, then it’s her fault, except when I make poor decisions, which mostly never happens, except when it does, then it’s her fault, except ooh…shiny

Nope, I think Tony qualifies as Hispanic.

20

The Black Woman stereotype on 24 is pretty over-the-top. As soon as a Black Women shows up at CTU, you know there is going to be trouble.

Middle Eastern men are a close second, but there have been a few “good guys”. This season, my guess is that Behrooz “the Beave” Araz will be a big help to Team America.