CONCHO: Are you familiar with the term “carnography”?
Hahaha actually I wasn’t. That’s pretty interesting that they’ve actually coined a word for this stuff. The film westerns are interesting to think about — even though they didn’t have torture scenes, what they almost always had is the good guy that knows right from wrong and does what he has to do, even if it might involve bending a law or two. I guess the whole Jack Bauer “24” thing ties into the same mythology — these darned bureaucrats just don’t understand! A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do to keep this town safe!
Maybe this whole torture thing in the media is just a new twist on an old theme. Although Dirty Harry didn’t torture people, he was pretty nasty to the bad guy, and he didn’t bother himself with little details like due process or the courts. Of course in the movies, Eastwood’s judgement is always right, and when Charles Bronson goes off on the bad guys in one of his “Death Wish” movies, he never gets the wrong man. It’s too bad life isn’t always like the movies!