Paper by Emilia Shahani.<\/p>\n
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This quote was written by Lord Acton. Acton famously in 1887 in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton as part of his argument that moral standards should apply to everyone, regardless of one\u2019s level of power. This sentiment regarding power is apparent in society today, as well as the ideals that no one should have unchecked authority. Those in power in the military and government often prioritize doing what is politically expedient rather than doing what is best for their country, specifically because they hold that power. In the film Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012), there is a scene in which the main character, Maya (Jessica Chastain), accuses her superior of giving into this tendency to serve his self-interest rather than making the hard choices necessary to find Bin Laden, which is what is truly best for the country. Elements including the dialogue, power dynamics, political context, and cinematography of this intense and telling scene all support her accusation. The subject matter of political expedience\/personal agenda over long-term success for the benefit of the country is crucial to understand because of the current political environment in the United States and longer lasting political conflicts around the world.<\/p>\n
Zero Dark Thirty is a thriller based on the decade-long mission that the American government, CIA, and Navy Seals undertook in order to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden, the orchestrator of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks against the United States. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by Mark Boal, and produced by both Bigelow and Boal in addition to Megan Ellison. It was noteworthy for its time in that it was directed and produced by a woman and dealt with a female lead in the government\/military operations. While the film industry has historically been very male-dominated, with jobs at the highest tiers (writers, directors and producers) being almost exclusively male for decades, the subject matter of terrorism,
\ngovernment, defense and military strength is obviously also a masculine domain. Bigelow was widely celebrated for her balanced vision of this world, giving equal weight, or arguably more weight, to Maya in comparison to her male counterparts. It’s also important to highlight that the character of Maya was largely based on and inspired by a real life female CIA agent, Alfreda Sheuer, who played a central role in finding Bin Laden, including being present during the torture and interrogation of an Al Qaeda suspect in 2012.<\/p>\n
Zero Dark Thirty takes as its central character Maya, a young CIA recruit who dedicates
\n10 years of her life to finding Bin Laden, and is largely credited for driving the mission forward
\nand ultimately locating his hiding place. Throughout this movie, audiences see torture techniques
\nthat were utilized against Al Qaeda suspects, mulitple political events following 9\/11, different
\ntiers of power that were involved in the mission, and a recreation of the actual assassination of
\nBin Laden and some of his entourage.<\/p>\n
There is one especially pivotal and emotionally charged scene that signifies a turning
\npoint in the film and illustrates the tendency of those with authority to make decisions based on
\ntheir own political expediency rather than the greater good. The first shot of the sequence shows
\nPresident Bush on the news speaking to the country about how the terrorists that attacked the
\ntwin towers find American freedom threatening. The shot is handheld, and taken from outside
\nthe room looking in, which is revealed in the next shot to be exactly Maya\u2019s point of view \u2013
\noutside looking in. The fact that Bush is addressing the nation lets the viewer know that
\ndefeating terrorism is still of utmost importance to those at the highest levels of authority. Maya
\nis pacing, waiting to catch her superior, Bradley (Kyle Chandler), as he walks down the hall.
\nBradley appears to be in such a hurry that when Maya asserts, \u201cI really need to talk to you about
\nbeefing up our surveillance operation on the caller\u201d he simply walks right past her and replies,
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have an operation on the caller,\u201d outwardly denying the operation\u2019s existence and by
\nextension, Maya\u2019s role in the mission. Bradley expresses that there was almost an attack on Time
\nSquare and that what Maya is pursuing is much lower priority compared to the ongoing attacks
\non U.S. soil. Maya contends that it is in fact an essential operation because it\u2019s the key to Bin
\nLaden, to which Bradley replies, \u201cI don\u2019t fucking care about Bin Laden, I care about the next
\nattack\u201d and goes on to explain that Maya\u2019s role in the mission is going to shift. The scene then
\nescalates. As Bradley attempts to walk away, Maya pushes past him and turns to stop him,
\nexplaining that Bin Laden is responsible for the very attacks he wants to stop. She tries to make
\nhim realize that their goals are the same, because through finding Bin Laden, these deadly
\nattacks will be stopped. Maya\u2019s passion and anger intensifies, she accuses Bradley, \u201cYou just
\nwant me to nail some \u2018low level-mullah-crackadulla\u2019 so you can check that box in your resume
\nthat says while you were in Pakistan, you got a real terrorist. But the truth is, you don’t
\nunderstand Pakistan, and you don\u2019t know Al Qaeda. Either give me the team I need to follow this
\nlead, or the other thing you\u2019re gonna have on your resume is being the first Station Chief to be
\ncalled before Congressional Committee for subverting the efforts to capture or kill Bin Laden.\u201d
\nMaya reasserts what resources she needs, and then walks away, leaving Bradely stone-faced as
\nhe walks into his next meeting.<\/p>\n
This scene is pivotal in the film. Maya outwardly threatens her superior, which reveals
\nher determination to get the resources she needs to find Bin Laden and her lack of fear to speak
\nup for herself and the purpose of the mission. Maya is also uncharacteristically emotional here,
\nbeing pushed to her limits and willing to do whatever it takes to get what she feels she needs to
\ncomplete the mission. However, she also clearly holds the power in this scene, which stems
\nfrom her intrinsic knowledge gained from her singular obsession with the enemy. Virtually all
\nshots include her, and cinematically, Bradely is shown with a dark background, while Maya
\nalways has a bright background, with either a white wall or white curtains. Her final rant is also
\ncompletely uninterrupted, both by Bradley and the shot, as it remains steady on her face the
\nentire time she talks. Ultimately, Maya gets what she wants, and continues her mission. Without
\nMaya calling Bradley out on giving into political expediency and prioritizing his self interest, the
\nmission might not have been successful.<\/p>\n
Zero Dark Thirty is extremely political. The film features the most prominent terrorist
\nagainst the United States, and how the U.S. retaliated. This film also takes a stance on political
\nexpediency and its implications, as we will see later. Zero Dark Thirty is also effective in its
\nstorytelling because the film remains fairly objective, not painting the CIA or american
\ngovernment in a specifically good or bad light, as well as its depiction of the torture that was
\nused. One book articulates, \u201c Such a preponderance of ambiguity has the effect of producing
\npolitical ambivalence at the structural level: that is, the film itself literally becomes a container
\nfor contradictory ideas and interpretations\u2026\u201d (Lisa Purse, 132). This neutrality helps audiences
\nfocus more on what actually occurred rather than picking sides.<\/p>\n
Maya\u2019s character serves as a moral conscience in Zero Dark Thirty. In the midst of
\npolitical expediency and differences of opinion from her superiors, including the Station Chief
\nBradley, as well as years of work with very little to show for it, Maya remains steadfast in her
\ndedication to finding Bin Laden. This stems from personal motivations including that Bin Laden
\nwas responsible for deaths of countless Americans, the death of her closest friend, and how the
\nmission has taken years of her life. In addition however, Maya is not driven by her personal
\ninterests, which allows her to be the driving force of the mission, even keeping her counterparts
\non track even when it seems desirable or more effective to focus their efforts elsewhere. Without
\nMaya\u2019s overwhelming willpower, they may not have succeeded in finding Bin Laden in the face
\nof adversity and hopelessness.<\/p>\n
The global theme of political expediency is explored in, \u201cThe Brutality of Military
\nIncompetence: \u2018Paths of Glory\u2019\u201d by Andrew Kelly. Kelly explains, \u201cThe film then highlights
\nthree main areas; firstly, the ambition, incompetence, and brutality of the High Command;
\nsecondly, it provides a realistic, horrific portrayal of war; and thirdly, an argument on the class
\nbasis of conflict\u201d (Kelly, 220). Although this article analyzes the incompetence and brutality of
\nhigh military commanders, this can also easily be applied to politicians. Firstly, we see the
\nbrutality and lack of honesty in the U.S. government, as the film highlights their highly
\ncontroversial use of torture as a method to gain information. Secondly, we see a different side to
\nthe realistic and horrific portrayal of war, where the audience is exposed to real-life torture
\nmethods that the CIA used against their opponents. It\u2019s important to note that the film does not
\njustify, sanitize, or even pass judgment on the torture itself, but rather calls it to attention as its a
\ntough subject matter that needs to be addressed. Thirdly, the film also highlights class disparities,
\nas in the scene where the C.I.A director was asking his team about the compound and was
\nseemingly ignorant of the details of the operation. Meanwhile Maya, who is notably low on the
\ntotem pole within this scene, was the only one who knew the exact information and put in the
\neffort to discover it.<\/p>\n
Kelly highlights, \u201cThe motivations, rationale, and actions of these two officers differ
\nmarkedly with Colonel Dax who, though always a soldier and dedicated ultimately to orders, is
\non the side of his men and only accepts Mireau\u2019s decision to prevent being instructed to rest.\u201d
\nThis quote highlights that although Colonel Dax has good character, especially compared to his
\ncounterparts, there are certain instances where even he has to compromise his morality in order
\nto evade punishment and a further loss of power. This is applicable to Bradley, the Station Chief,
\nbecause he does not make his decisions off of a lack of morality or bad intent, but rather to
\nappease those above him and maintain his position of power. This is still classified as
\nself-interest, but it is due to a matter of circumstance\/pressure rather than ill intent. This question
\nof morality in times of social pressures is also visited in the article \u201cRediscovering Morality
\nThrough Asghar Farhadi\u2019s A Separation,\u201d where Joseph Burke asserts, \u201cEach of Farhadi’s
\ndirected films explicitly concern the pressures of social life and how human interaction develops
\nto pose deeply complex, some say intractable, difficulties\u201d (Burke, 2). This argues that morality
\nis not always black and white. Life is complex, and the right moral decision to make is not
\nalways clear. Bradley believes that he is in fact doing the right thing by trying to stop more
\ndeaths, however the larger truth that Maya pushes for is that finding Bin Laden is the biggest
\npriority because he is the source of those very attacks. Bradley tries to deny Maya more
\nresources, not out of bad intentions, but rather because the morally correct decision was complex
\nand unclear.<\/p>\n
No matter the reasons or personal justifications, the temptation for those in power to
\nplace their own self-interests over those of the greater good will always exist. The checks and
\nbalances afforded by strong individuals such as Maya, acting as a moral compass and holding
\nthose above her to task, even in the face of immense difficulty and lack of certainty, are
\ninvaluable. The higher one rises in any institution, and especially government, the greater the
\ndanger as that power increases. Hopefully, we can foster more Mayas in the world, to fight for
\nmore just and effective governments that benefit all.<\/p>\n
Works Cited<\/strong> Paper by Emilia Shahani. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This quote was written by Lord Acton. Acton famously in 1887 in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton as part of his argument that moral standards should apply to everyone, regardless of one\u2019s level of power. This sentiment regarding power is apparent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":504,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-papers","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/504"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48707,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48706\/revisions\/48707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n-2022-04-20\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"