On the New Yorker's website, Jane Mayer talks over scenes from 24, offering up some of the ideas from her article in the current issue (previously). She sounds more polemical speaking on the clip than she does in writing. At the end of the video, she lowers her guard a little and lets on that she actually does like the show, or at least that she finds it riveting. (This kind of audio commentary over video clips might be a good idea for In Media Res or other forms of online media criticism.)
One more thing... Lots of 24/torture links at the blog CineFile Video, well worth checking out.
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CineFile says this, at least, "More disturbing still, the article claims that some soldiers in Iraq have mistaken the show for real life– mimicking scenes from 24 in their interrogations. (Yeah, yeah, I know. TV doesn’t influence behavior.)"
And Human Rights First has actual recommendations for how to represent torture.
And now here's an interview with Surnow in TV Guide in which he sounds pretty frustrated. To me the interesting thing isn't just that the show is influencing the conduct of the war (which seems indisputable), but that it's such a popular and well-regarded show at a time when there is widespread questioning of the war's conduct. That's what made the Mayer article so interesting to me--how it seemed addressed to people who like the show and should really think twice about it.
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