2014

Batman, Detective: Final Part

Working in the System: Truth, Justice, and Cooperation Fundamentally, the project of tracking and trapping these criminals is too great for Batman to complete alone. Despite his reputation and demeanor as a loner, Batman’s effort as detective is a communal one. Truth and justice need a social grounding. In addition, Batman sometimes makes mistakes and …

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Batman, Detective: Part 5

Villainous Games: Profiling & Confronting Criminal Distortions Since Holmes opposed Moriarty, several famous detectives have faced off against recurring villains, who view the committing of crimes as an elaborate game of wits with their opponent. Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, and a myriad of others have offered crimes as challenges to the Dark Knight. Early in his …

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Batman, Detective: Part 4

Uncovering the Truth: Infiltration, Interrogation, & Intimidation  Detectives trade in information, and there are various ways they collect this information. Detectives cross-examine suspects, often in coercive and even violent ways. Detectives pick locks and discover further ways to break into spaces that others would want to keep hidden. And finally, at least since Sherlock Holmes, …

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Batman, Detective: Part 3

The Obsessive Detective: The Quest for Justice Is a Quest for Truth Why did Batman become a detective? Many of us know the dark origins of his story. Batman was a victim of one of the most severe crimes; the murder of his parents fueled his ambition to become one who opposed such evil. Writers …

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Batman, Detective: Part 2

Detective Fiction, Pulp Magazines, and the Origins of Batman It may be a subject for debate about who is the most famous detective–Batman or Sherlock Holmes or Scooby Doo? And even though Sherlock is the eldest of the three, even he cannot claim to be the first. Usually that literary honor goes to Edgar Allen …

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Ethics in Live Another Day

As a final assessment of the ninth season of 24, I wrote a guest blog for Blackwell’s Philosophy and Pop Culture series, which highlights the moral reasoning of Jack Bauer and Margot Al-Harazi, evaluating what truly separates them, despite the fact they both declare they are doing “what must be done.” Along the way, I …

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It’s a Personal Decision: Hour 8 (200th Episode) of 24: Live Another Day

Near the start of the episode, President Heller and Jack Bauer have a heated discussion about Heller’s plan to hand himself over to Margot Al-Harazi. Heller argues that his choice to sacrifice himself is a personal, not a state, decision. This scene is the heart of the episode, and the rest is the execution. Heller …

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Please Don’t Leave Me Here: Hour 7 of Live Another Day

Though this episode is largely an extended cat-and-mouse game between Team Al-Harazi and Team Bauer, there are a few crucial moral moments. In one particular scene, Jack is hurriedly escorting a wounded Simone out of the hospital, reporting that Simone’s mother is sending a drone to destroy the hospital to eliminate her. When Simone expresses …

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