David Core Response #5

 McPherson suggests the genre-hybridity in 24 – with elements of action-adventure, political thriller, and soap opera – is reflected in a protagonist with a nuanced masculinity that’s both heroic and vulnerable. In other words, Jack Bauer fits into typical action-hero paradigms at work – and one with a technological proficiency reflecting broader digital trends – while also being a ‘soapy’ emotionally vulnerable husband and father.

True Detective Season 1 offers a nuanced commentary on masculinity through the melodramatic storylines of its protagonists, Detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart. Their private and professional storylines, when linked to the show's exploration of serial killers, provide a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the broader theme of masculinity, which nuances the strong/vulnerable binary of '24'. I feel like True Detective is in many ways reflective of how genre-blending really serves to nuance characters. Its fusion of crime drama, neo-noir, and Southern Gothic (as well as what Feuer calls melodrama) really nuances its presentation of toxic masculinity through Rust – animated by a nihilistic and isolated male psychology – and Marty –  a more traditional male figure who stands against the perversity of male deviancy in his professional life and yet destroys his family with his infidelity. In True Detective – the swamps of rural Louisiana muddy the lines between the men on the ‘right’ side and the perverse serial killer deviants. It seems like an evolution on Jack Bauer – whose professional and personal lives intersect – but remains a morally upstanding figure in a world with clear black and white moralities.