Female, but not Feminist: Gender in "Zero Dark Thirty"

While gender is not directly at the center of the 2012 motion picture Zero Dark Thirty, it plays an integral role in analysis of the film. The controversial film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, whose other credits include 2009's The Hurt Locker. This film was lauded by contemporary critics and received a number of awards and nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Bigelow became the first and only female to receive an award for Best Director, ironically beating her ex-husband James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar). Much of the attention given to the film stemmed from the fact that it was a war film helmed by a female director, a rarity in Hollywood (not to discredit Bigelow's work).

Zero Dark Thirty recreates, or at least attempts to recreate, much of this success. Like The Hurt Locker, the film focuses on U.S. military operations. With Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow controversially focuses on the 10-year manhunt for Osama bin Laden. The film was No. 1 at the Box Office and received five Academy Award nominations. Zero Dark Thirty is an example of a film with a "reverse gaze." That is, the movie does not employ the "male gaze," which puts the audience into the point of view of a straight male. Unlike The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty is not just directed by a woman, but it also places a woman at the forefront of its plot.

Maya, portrayed by Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Jessica Chastain, is an outstanding CIA analyst who is surrounding by alpha males. Maya seems uncomfortable with the film's initial scenes of intense torture during interrogation. Despite her soft-spoken, delicate voice and feminine demeanor, Maya is described as a "killer." Still, her colleagues refer to her as a "girl" and seem reluctant to give Maya the responsibility that she needs to carry out her mission. It is not until Maya aggressively demands it that she is given full responsibility.

I would not describe Zero Dark Thirty as a feminist film simply because it has a female protagonist. Maya must assert her own "masculinity" in order to get what she wants. However, this is potentially realistic for many women in patriarchal environments. For Bigelow, this may be a reflection of her position in the male-dominated film industry. Based on my own conversations with females and LGBTQ-identified individuals in the military, it holds true for the armed forces. Kristin Beck, a Navy SEAL and a member of the elite SEAL Team 6 that captured bin Laden, later came out as transgender and wrote about her experiences about the military in a memoir entitled Warrior Princess.