The Passion of Bauer
Michael Pedersen, Copenhagen Business School
Rasmus Johnson, Copenhagen Business School
”I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and today is the longest day of my life.” »24« (2001)
In the face of the contemporary demand for worker self-management and the associated qualities of personal flexibility and self transgression, this paper discusses the modern employees’ criteria for success. We argue that the key figure of the Fox drama series »24«, federal agent Jack Bauer, can be viewed as exemplary in this regard. The paper focuses upon the character of Bauer; the challenges he meets and the demands he faces throughout the course of his work. In so doing, the paper also discusses the manner in which the shortcomings and failures of Bauer’s colleagues are constituted as shortcomings and failures only to the extent that they are by-products of Bauer’s status as a model employee.
The title of the paper refers to the curious ethological double binding that characterizes Bauer as a person and as an employee of CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit). Following the double meaning implied in the concept of passion, both as an eschatological narrative of pain and as an expression of deep feeling and personal will, the Passion of Bauer is both one of extreme physical suffering and one of vigilant will and ruthless action in the face of possible failure. In the face of imminent destruction, the messianic hope of the organization (and of the dynamics of organization) becomes objectified within the subjectivity of its most diligent employee, Jack Bauer. It is a game of affections, a game of influencing and being influenced: a game Bauer always wins because of his emblematic character. But success comes at a cost for this is also a game requiring severe personal loss alongside the always present threat of organizational collapse. Bauer’s identity and position in the organization necessitates a rigorous and meticulous conduct of control over both organizational and personal transgression.
Christ’s Sermon upon the Mount where He proclaims to have come not in order to abolish the prophesies but in order to fulfil them (Matt. 5, 17.) is here transformed into a conduct of versatile organizing. The double movement between focusing upon what comes next and turning back towards what came before, finds its nexus in the subjectivity – in the passion – of Jack Bauer. This game is Jack Bauer and this game is what Jack Bauer does best.
Such is the lot of the wilfully transgressive, self-managed, flexible employee.