Abstract:
The present research is concerned with the analysis of Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark
Thirty (2012) and its representation of the Middle East and the Muslim characters in the post-
9/11 era. The study aims to reveal how the film carries on the legacy of Orientalism by
examining its construction of Middle Eastern space, its portrayal of Eastern characters, and how
the film’s narrative structure and cinematic techniques challenge or reinforce American
exceptionalism. To attain our objective and provide clear answers to the questions raised, we
relied on the orientalist theory as it is explained in Edward Said's Orientalism (1978), in
addition to Jack Shaheen's Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2001), and Linda
Nochlin's essay "The Imaginary Orient" (1983). After analyzing the movie’s setting, characters,
narrative structure, and cinematic techniques, we have come to the result that Zero Dark
Thirty does not solely challenge Orientalist discourse but rather modernizes it to fit in the post-
9/11 political climate. The film’s documentary aesthetic creates an illusion of neutrality that
conceals its ideological assumptions, while its narrative structure reinforces American
exceptionalism as opposed to the oriental Muslim terrorist. The film, therefore, is not a neutral
historical reconstruction; it is a cultural text deeply embedded within post-9/11 neo-Orientalist
discourse
