August 19, 2007

Alexander R. Galloway, "24/7, 16.8: Is 24 a Political Show?" Afterimage 35.1 (2007): 18-22.

"The characters on 24 need to be understood not simply as a paramilitary force, what Louis Althusser calls the repressive state apparatus, but as a post-Fordist labor force as well. These are employees who quite literally cannot clock out. Like a sweatshop, they are chained to their jobs. This principle is demonstrated in the basic premise of the show, that the work day is no longer nine to five, but extends throughout all twenty-four hours. The show's 'day' is a work day. It is an economic state of exception, wherein the normal rules of fair labor practice (periodic work breaks, personal injury protection, overtime pay) are tossed out the window, and willingly so by the employees in question. Modernity brought the 'I'm just doing my job'--leave me alone in my penance, I'm just 'working for the weekend'--attitude. But the information age has an entirely different emphasis: 'Just let me do my job.' In this mode there is a heightened ownership of one's labor within an ethic of self-worth and spiritual achievement. Real life is an anti-labor blockade, an interruption. The goal is not to uncouple from the sphere of labor, but instead to enter it entirely and sincerely. Inefficient extra and inter-labor distractions must be cast off. 'Just let me do my job, OK?'--these words are vocalized in the show at least one time per espisode" (20-1).