Abstract
In this paper, I explore the role of popular television imagery of torture in shaping the U.S. legal and political debates over the definition of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. Taking the popular show 24 as an instance of a dominant imagery of torture, I analyze how this imagery of torture informs the definitional distinctions adopted by the United States. I argue that the popular imagery of torture with its emphasis on physical brutality continues to influence the legal and political discourse on torture. Apart from legitimizing a narrow definition of torture, the popular imagery also allows the United States to create an arena of acceptability for apparently less severe forms of violence. Thus, the need to call rose by another name is not just an attempt to deny the presence of torture by using narrow definitions but in addition because of the popular imagery, the present time is represented as an actual moment of progress from earlier more brutal times.
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