'Zero' Gender Walls

Zero Dark Thirty destroys gender walls. Female director, Kathryn Bigelow, creates one of the most talked about films of the decade centering on the ten year manhunt for Osama bin Laden. Very, very, very rarely do we see an action film such as this directed by a woman. Before the films release, we already knew that there would be talks about gender. After its release, these talks escalated on the back burner while the depiction of torture in the film took over as the controversial subject that was buzzing on the internet and eventually into the United States government. It is because these two coexisting subjects that I believe Bigelow shattered gender borders.

The depiction of torture directly effects the depiction of women in the film. Yes, you have the easy answers that support the feminism--confident, unique and smart characters (Maya). What really propels feminism in this film is how Bigelow challenges gender roles head on. In multiple instances, Maya is referred to as a "killer." Early on the "killer" references subtly challenge Maya's somewhat reserved and relaxed behavior. We see many examples of torture in the film, even in the first half hour. At first Maya is uneasy about the subject of torture. Her fellow analyist, Dan, says she can just watch the torture on tape if it makes her more comfortable. Dan asking this is vital because it fulfills the stereotypical man thinking the woman in the room can't handle something heavy like torture. Maya then demands that she is in the interrogation room when it happens. She demands this. Showing confidence and destroying a gender stereotype. Does this endorse torture? No. It depicts it. Does this make Maya a killer? No. She isn't a killer but her destruction of gender stereotypes increases with correlation to her demeanor.

In a tense scene where Maya's frustration begins to take over, she screams at the CIA director. Take out the dialogue in this scene and what you get is a room full of men taking orders from a CIA director and then some woman storms in. This scene is one of my favorite and one of the best scenes in the film. Maya obliterates gender roles completely with a very interesting line. "I'm the motherfucker that found this place, sir." Maya blurts this line into a conversation two men are having about a location. However, have the CIA director ask the question before Maya's line, "Who's the motherfucker that found this place?" You would assume, or the director would assume, that he is looking for the man who found this place. The actual line is Maya blurts into the conversation and the CIA director asks her, "Who are you?" I'll admit, when I hear the word "motherfucker" I think that whoever used the word is using it in reference to another man. Maya, in a room full of men, says that she is "the motherfucker." This scene encompasses what the whole film does, in terms of gender roles.

Maya is a character who is placed in a scenario that is dominated by men. She is in situations that men handle and tasks, like we see in the film, men don't think women are capable of doing. People do things at war that are hard to deal with. That's what Zero Dark Thirty is about. While people have focussed on the torture part of the film and whether Kathryn Bigelow supports torture, the film is more about feminism in war. Bigelow depicts torture, just like she depicts strong women in the CIA field. She uses both topics to depict one another. If she supported them, then one would win over the other and the film would lose its destruction of gender roles, its important depiction of torture, and lack a lot of value.