The West Wing

"Isaac and Ishmael," broadcast October 3, 2001, NBC

Chris Dahlen

Aaron Sorkin has a lot on his mind. He has many thoughts on the recent terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. All of his thoughts have been broadcast before on the news programs that most of us watched incessantly after the disaster. But Sorkin wants to share them anyway.

I just finished watching the "special episode" of Sorkin's hit The West Wing, rushed into production after the tragedy so it could be aired before the regular season starts. In this episode, the White House is locked down when an Arabic White House employee is suspected of being a terrorist. John Spencer and the secret service sit down to interrogate the suspect. The rest of the cast shuffles around killing time and lecturing us.

On this particular day, a group of high school political science overachievers - high school being the last time anyone who studies poli sci is an "overachiever" - is visiting the White House. They provide an audience for the characters' lectures on who terrorists are and why they hate America. These scenes are painful. Rehashing facts and opinions broadcast many, many times by other talking heads, the characters lecture the kids about what this crisis means, turning a potentially interesting crisis show into a dorm room bull session. Last I checked, fiction was interesting because it shows how people react to tough situations. I don't remember Bruce Willis taking time out during Die Hard to talk about engineering.

The West Wing has always tried to set an example for the country. Maybe more than any other mainstream drama, it pushes an agenda: it tells us how the country should be run and what kind of people should run it. Martin Sheen's character is so mature, fatherly, and principled as to almost be snarky in contrast to the popular image of President Bush. Until tonight, however, the show has demonstrated more than it dictated. There's a fine line between setting an example and preaching. Is it more effective for Sorkin to have the characters address us, preach to us, and even break down the fourth wall, as they did at the beginning of this special episode? Or will Sorkin annoy us more than he convinces us?

The Bush administration has to weigh similar issues: it can sway the rest of the world and those who would do us harm by setting an example of a better political and economic system; or it can defeat those opponents and shove good ideas down their throats. Maybe it's better to trust people to think for themselves. And if we decide to take the latter approach, what would the targeted cultures prefer: missiles, or listening to Bradley Whitford?

Related resources

There's no shortage of commentary on this episode and other facets of The West Wing. Instead of listing that, here's a link to the official site.