A Bipolar Machine: Sovereignty and Action in 24

Abstract

This article examines the TV show 24 (2001–2010) and its one-season reboot (2014), tracing how they depict a fictional U.S. government torn between two paradigms of power: one centered on notions of sovereign power and one centered on the improvised, chaotic action of government agents and institutions. Using Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s notion of a “bipolar machine” as its conceptual framework, the article argues that the structure and style of the show can be construed as both a demonstration and critique of an economy poised between legality and transgression, and that the logic of this economy was part of the show’s harshly criticized indulgence in violence and torture. Finally, the article compares the original 24 with its reboot and argues that while the original show was preeminent fictionalization of the Bush Administration’s War on Terror, the rebooted show generates a critical fictionalization of the post-Bush era.