In the Fall of 2011 I began researching for
my doctoral dissertation American ambivalence on the topic of torture as
reflected in film. I felt that the examination
of popular films containing Americans torturing Middle Easterners would give
insights into the nature of our ambivalence when confronted with evidence of
torture during the war on terror. The
recent controversy surrounding the film Zero Dark Thirty has only proven
the salience this topic.
My research examined films released from
2001 to 2011, a logical ten-year time span after 9/11. One of my main findings
after reviewing big budget "Iraq War films" containing torture scenes in them,
was that when torture was used to benefit American interests, three characters
were utilized: the torturer, torture victim, and a third individual whom I have
called "the onlooker." I found that the use of this triad is an important
psychological tool for allowing audience members through their identification with
"the onlooker" to maintain their ambivalence. From this position audience
members can passively participate in and apparently benefit from the torture,
while not having to administer it. Furthermore, across the films I
examined, "onlookers" were depicted in
the same way, as turning their head away and cringing in discomfort while
torture was being conducted nearby. In contrast to this triad, in films
where torture was administered on behalf of Middle Eastern interests, there
were only two characters in these scenes: "the torturer" and "the torture
victim," suggesting that the audience's relationship with the torture was far
less complicated than when Americans were doing the torturing.
When I saw Zero Dark Thirty I was not
surprised to find that this film, too, uses an "onlooker." Jessica
Chastain who plays the character "Maya," fits the pattern of "the onlooker" that I had found in other films.
While she becomes more aggressive as the film progresses, as shown through
swearing, as well as her becoming more proactive in torture scenes, she always
maintains the position of passive participant, never actually torturing
herself. Perhaps the closest Maya comes to torturing, is where she aggressively
pushes the torturer's arm directing the torturer to hit the torture
victim.
While it would be easy to argue that Maya is
a hero in this film due to the fact that she risks her own life in pursuit of a
"terror free" America, she is also a participant in torture. In the
opening torture scene, she cringes and fusses with her sweater while the
torture victim is waterboarded. Then, in a particularly telling moment
after the torture victim begs for her help, she sternly replies "you can help
yourself by being truthful." Her position on torture after this scene
appears unclear at first glance, however her passive participation, standing by
and not stopping the abuse, indicates her collusion in this abuse. One
might wonder whether a person who stands by knowingly as a crime is committed, and
willingly uses the products of that crime might in fact have the same degree of
guilt as the person directly committing the crime.
While much of Washington seems focused on
whether Zero Dark Thirty promotes the effectiveness of torture in the
hunt for Osama Bin Laden, it seems that Maya's ambivalence and the audience's
identification with her is a fact yet to be talked about by this country.
Perhaps suggestive of the power of the public's identification with her
character "Maya," is Chastain's Oscar nomination for best actress.
In essence, in the films I studied for my
dissertation, as well as in Zero Dark Thirty, the onlookers, including Maya,
were more subjectively portrayed than the torture victims and torturers.
Close-ups highlighting "the onlooker's" struggle and discomfort, in addition to
camerawork and lighting which sensitively captured their need to look away
while the torture was being performed, was present in all films containing this
triad. Meanwhile torturers and torture victims were narrated in a relatively
flat light, without any kind of narration of their inner struggle. Cries of pain were often paired with visual
references of the "onlooker's" discomfort rather the torture victim's visual
display of physical discomfort, which seemed suggestive of the onlooker's pain
rather than the torture victim's.
In light of the dynamic that occurs between
the torturer, "the onlooker" and torture victim, it seems that two possible
metaphors among others for how Americans may feel about torture emerge: 1)
torture is acceptable, as long as we feel uncomfortable about it, our discomfort
absolves us of blame; and 2) it is acceptable for us to outsource our sadistic
impulses onto another person.
While American ambivalence is nothing new
(such as Americans' ambivalent attitudes towards guns, particularly in the wake
of the Sand Hook Massacre), perhaps Americans should rethink a celebration of
Chastain's performance. With so much focus on the brilliance of her
performance, suggestive of the public's strong identification with her as the
character Maya, it will be interesting to see if she actually wins the Oscar
for best actress.
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