Black -vs white comes down to "race", for me. That may be a personal problem.
It is a problem when you start applying race to other people's positions when they're not discussing it.
How do you define hero or good guy? Do you believe, in life and death conflicts that they exist in real life? If not (or, hell, even if you do) do you look to fiction for that purity, or do you not enjoy fiction less if it presents you a not-good guy as the protagonist (if Jack's not a good guy, what term do you use to distinguish him from both the good and bad guys?)
Who else isn't a good guy? Is Mal a good guy? Jack Bristow?
Forget "We Are The World" -- Michael is the whole world all unto himself.
Heh. I meant his charming little ditty "Black and White."
I know -- I was just riffing from there.
'K. Just checking. I can live with my quips being unfunny to anyone but me, but I do hate it when, funny or not, the references are obscure.
How do you define hero or good guy?
A hero is someone whose actions I should emulate. A bad guy is someone I should appose.
I should emulate Mal. He loves. I should not emulate Malwan. He does not love.
Mr. Bristow loves. This also pisses him off.
Jack of
24
does not love. He calculates.
Don't worry, Steph. No insect reflections here.
Jack of 24 loves, both big and small. He loves the big (the lives of the many) more than he loves individuals, and loves other people more than he loves himself.
Mr. Bristow loves. He loves one thing, with every fibre of his being. He wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice others, for that one thing's continued wellbeing. He wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice himself either.
Bauer saves the world because he cares about it. I swear, Bristow saves the world because it's his day job. And if his daughter didn't do it and/or didn't like it, he'd stop. Bauer would not. He might try, but it wouldn't take.
Is Jack of Lost a hero?
Ooh, battle of the Jacks!
(This is the part where the Alias/24 crossover in my head starts playing, which mostly consists of Jacks Bauer and Bristow speaking very slowly and quietly to each other, never breaking eye contact.)
Too damn many Jacks.
Jack Bauer does not give a fuck about the world, or the people in it. He cares about winning.
Jack Bristow gives a fuck about his daughter.
Jack of "Lost"
tries
to give a fuck, but he is not sure who should receive it.
In my version, Jessica, StarGate!Jack interrupts them snarkily to remind them they have a mission to accomplish.
Which is to off Lost!Jack, and they do handily.
eta: Gus, I guess here is where we part ways. I see Bauer ache with the need to save the lives of the many, and the personal sacrifices he makes to do so. I loves me some Bristow, but he's dangerous because he's so selfish.
