Media Critique

Media Critique

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal, move “Zero Dark Thirty” was released in 2012. The cast includes Mark Strong, Jessica Chastain, and Joel Edgerton, apart from others (Anonymous, 2013). It is a thriller movie and shows the usage of a Rorschach test technique in the form of contemporary thriller of the geopolitical type. Bigelow and Boal were also behind the Oscar winning “The Hurt Locker” (released in 2009), and certain attributions are made between that movie and this one. It shows the story of terrorism in its most renowned face of Osama Bin Laden, the leader and founder of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, which was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks of 2011 on the World Trade Center.

Two main themes that are centered in this movie are of awareness and unawareness. The main character has been named Maya, and it has been argued that it is derived from the character named Jen in the book No Easy Day (about the raid that led to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden). The agents in the movie understand the crucial necessity of capturing and eliminating Bin Laden. They gather and connect data which is in pieces and work on the basis of the notion that they know something and that they want that information to turn out to be true. This could lead to disastrous results if applied practically, because it is more like the trying to alter the results on the basis of what has already been established. Interestingly, even though it apparently seems that the movie is “revealing” information, in reality, it is actually asking questions rather than informing the viewer/audience.

This can be seen in the first few moments of the movies as well. The opening title September 11, 2001 is followed by a black ...