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Jack Graham

Jack Graham writes and podcasts about culture and politics from a Gothic Marxist-Humanist perspective. He co-hosts the I Don't Speak German podcast with Daniel Harper. Support Jack on Patreon.

3 Comments

  1. Flynn
    January 17, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    I actually felt Zero Dark Thirty was relatively objective in its portrayal of what happens, since it focuses most of its time on Chastain and her reaction/development through what all happens. The way the climax is pitched is very important to that, since it very deliberately avoids the sort of gun-blazing jingoism that one would expect from the film, and instead paints it in a rather stark and uncompromising way- letting the catharsis of the moment itself come from Chastain's character and her reactions.

    I mean, the problems you mention still exist, but they're less of a concern then they would be because it's not where the film is focused- it's really more of a character study around Chastain, and it treats the events as things that just happen, rather than things that are intrinsically "right" or "wrong".

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  2. Jack Graham
    January 17, 2013 @ 1:47 pm

    Let's say, for the sake of argument, that it is 'objective', and that it avoids jingoism, and that "it treats the events as things that just happen". That makes it worse.

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  3. Flynn
    January 18, 2013 @ 12:12 am

    I don't know if I'm entirely convinced, though- it's merely a case that the film is more interested in things other than the political ramifications of the events (namely, the way the central character is developed through the film and how the events affect her). I'll admit I'm not really seeing the intrinsic problem there.

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