Zero Dark Thirty

In Zero Dark Thirty the main character, Maya is a very strong and powerful woman who is determined to find Bin Laden. Some may say she has man-like qualities, but I choose to look at it is strong and powerful. In the beginning of the film Maya experiences the torture of her enemy face to face. She is with a man who doesn’t show any emotions to the humiliation he is putting on his prisoner. He is very abusive to the man, he pushes him around into small areas and he chokes him. You can tell that Maya is very disturbed by what is going on in front of her, but over time her feelings towards this man and torture begin to change.  She starts to feel really alone as she sees her friends begin to die around her. Her boss is always talking down to her and she feels as though she is alone. She puts that all aside though, and she hides all of her emotions and goes onto fight and find the man that is killing all of her friends and country. When they get to the possible location to where Bin Laden is, Maya’s transformation is really noticeable. In the meeting that was being held with a bunch of executives, Maya really let her voice be heard. When one of the executives asks who she was, she responded with “I’m the mother fucker who found this place, sir.” I thought that was really a powerful moment because it was then that everyone realizes just how serious and strong she really is. She was standing up for what she believed in and was not afraid to stick up for herself.  I think by saying “I’m the motherfucker who found this place sir” really put her on the map with the men that she is working with. They have more respect for her because she wasn’t afraid to put her foot down. This is all based on gender stereo types because if Maya hadn’t have said that, then would the men would probably still have looked at her as lesser than them, but she showed that she deserves respect just like everyone else.