Despite the apparent contradictions evident across Bigelow's body of work, there are a number of qualities that lend themselves to a conception of her 'signature'. These include the ongoing interrogation of gender, of the arguable essences of 'masculinity' and 'femininity' and the concomitant embodiment of androgyny by several of her protagonists; the examination of technology not as fundamental to human progress, but as a tool used, and misused by those in positions of authority, power, and /or law enforcement; the self- conscious fascination and manipulation of the cinematic gaze; and the transgression of traditional genre boundaries (resulting in hybridized texts that resist easy classification). Critics and academics have had difficulty theoretically situating Bigelow and Bigelow herself plays with her status as an auteur. For example, there is a striking physical resemblance between Liz Hurley/ Catherine McCormack/ Kathryn Bigelow. Hurley and McCormack are two central characters in The Weight of Water, which is a very self- reflexive text that probes the psychologies of people who make their livings as writers/ poets/ photographers. Bigelow has created several female characters who embody both femininity and authority. One thinks of Megan Turner's prowess with a gun, and Angela
Bassett as Mace in Strange Days, the physically imposing protector of the effeminate Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes). Bigelow is exemplary of a female director who works not only within mainstream Hollywood cinema, but also within the traditionally male dominated genre of the action film, that in her hands, undergoes a transformation toward the creation of a new cinematic text.