24 And How It Fits Into Many Genres
A genre is a group of texts that have similar features(Messere,2006) ; genre is another word for category (1957, Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language). In television shows are placed in categories such as situation comedies, soap operas, cartoons and all types of dramas. Sometimes a new show comes along and can not be placed in to any existing category without denying certain aspects of that show(Creighton,2003). The show takes bits and pieces from different categories and then must be placed into its own category. The show I looked at Fox's 24 dose just that. 24 takes from different genres such as crime dramas, political dramas, espionage dramas, and political dramas and makes a genre all for itself. On top of that 24 has something that no show has, it is brought to you in real time. Real Time means that every minute on the show is actually a minute in the characters lives; one show takes an hour out of your life as well as the characters. This plus the fact that 24 borrow all theses pieces from different kinds of dramas will help me prove that 24 is a Real time crime/political/espionage drama with romantic tendencies(Cochern,Surnow,2001). To further help me prove this I will be looking at the show through the critical method of genre criticism. Through out this essay I will exhibit the certain parts of 24 that make me think that this show is in a genre by itself.
The text I analyzed is Fox's 24, which stars Keither Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit (C.T.U) agent Jack Bauer. Bauer with the help of other C.T.U agents, government officials, other law enforcement agencies, and snitches must foil a terrorist threat in America. In this particular season (3), Jack has been undercover working to bring down the Salazar drug empire. He has just taken care of that case when a dead body carrying the Corrdia virus is left at an Los Angeles Health Unit . Jack is thrust back into action to find out where this virus and the body came from, and if...
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