24 and Lost had a baby....and they called it The Event - Media Meditation #3

This spring I said good bye to the world saving ways of Jack Bauer and 24, as he finally took his last stand against a group of terrorists from I don't remember where and the bureaucrats of the United States government.

"Chloe it's Jack" Photo: http://www.rca.org/page.aspx?pid=3002

While I was wondering what life would be like post-Jack the other half of TV Land was getting un-lost with the series finale of the hit TV show "Lost".

Lost Photo:http://www.blurtit.com/groups/Lost

I never really got into Lost, like I did with 24. The science fiction thing was too much for me to handle at the time. I preferred the shoot em up, steal the SUV style of Jack. Feeling a little lost in TV Land without my favorite show to look forward to every Monday night (which usually come along with a home cooked meal from mom) I took a chance on a new show. I am usually a little apprehensive before getting into a new show. However I am now hooked on The Event.

The Event has it all. Aliens, time warps, Secret Service, CIA Aliens, fire fights, car chases, sleezey politicians and government operatives. It is a combination of Lost and 24 and is addicting. I am not necessarily saying that I think it is a well produced, well written show, but it is just so weird you have to know what is going to happen next. Each of the the four episodes so far has left the viewer saying "WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING TO HAPPEN?" Okay so maybe not all viewers but certainly me and my roommate.

My Event obsessed Roommate and I. Photo Cred: Dan Dubenetsky

I started to watch The Event a couple days after watching the film "Reed Bad Arabs" in class.



Short introduction to the film "Reel Bad Arabs"

This film, based on the book "Reel Bad Arabs" by Dr. Jack Shaheen discusses how Hollywood and the media can easily vilify and create a negative stereotype about an entire race of people. In the show 24 the villains were generally of a different race, either Arab, Mexican, Russian, or another race that was easy to believe would want to attack the United States. Then Jack Bauer would come in and save the day by defeating the terrorist and everyone would be fine.
In this new show The Event the "bad guys" are not even from this planet. They are extra-terrestrial beings that look and act like humans except that they age at a much slower rate then humans. The United States government has locked up the beings that they have found and are now dealing with their anger at being locked away like animals for over sixty years.

I found it interesting that this new show is not using an already established stereotype to create a villain but is using aliens from outer space. Is this the future of television and movies? Are we going to move away from vilifying the people we share this world with and start to build stereotypes about beings who might be out there somewhere in outer space? (insert twilight zone theme song here).