"Protecting" Lara Croft

http://kotaku.com/5917400/youll-want-to-protect-the-new-less-curvy-lara-croft

I've been wanting to discuss this for a while now, thanks for this topic.

Alright, so I think crystal dynamics are quality devs and that this game is in good hands. I read this article and agreed that the tone of it was way too sensationalist, and this guy said a lot of REALLY stupid things about it in this interview that I hope is a gross misrepresentation of the cool things the game has shown off so far. But then I started thinking about it more, I don't really know how much that guy really said and how much was editorialized in. Did he actually use the word "rape" that much? A lot of crazy lines weren't direct quotes so I don't know exactly what I can go off of. Then the white knight "sensitive guys" started rolling in.

To me, a character like Lara Croft just can't win. Apparently now all of a sudden everyone just loved the past few games, but I know that on here I'm probably the only person that's mentioned them at all (in a very positive light as well) and the rest of the world either shrugged or complained about how she was in a cocktail dress one level (because Bond never does his assignments in formalware?). They toned down the stupid marketing of the 90s and were responsible in their image of Lara without being over the top last gen, which was very good. But lets be honest; nobody paid any attention to it! The series was going in a fun, Mission: Impossible sort of direction, and I loved anniversary. But I know that, for my end, bringing up that I was playing any of the new tomb raider games brought a lot of side-eye. When I saw this reboot I was instantly hooked. To me, it feels like LOST meets Uncharted, and that's fantastic!

But then the white knight brigade has to start coming out, saying that now, Lara isn't oversexualized in a way that she's confident and "sexy" and might be promoted in marketing material in that way. She isn't the character they always loved...despite the fact that the Tomb Raider series is a long running joke to a lot of folks? They ask a lot of questions that seem every bit more sexist than the article itself.

A female character shouldn't be developed this way! It isn't right! It isn't fair! It's sexist! It's blah blah blah. It raises a lot of questions, how can Lara be written then? Is there no female character in a video game that such a circumstance can be brought up to? I guess this isn't shooting down a T-rex but I think this game has a bold new direction. I saw the mercs touch her and honestly didn't think anything of it, I don't know if that makes me a terrible person or something but I read people going on about how these men have a clear intent to rape and blah blah and I was like "are you serrriiioouuuusss? RE5 racism all over again" but this director interview... People are being pretty stupid about the whole thing, but this producer did the team no favors by not picking his words clearly, I think the mercs attacking her and it being somewhat sexual is playing into an obvious gender bias that would exist when brutish thugs are presented with a vulnerable, attractive young woman. Not to say its natural but c'mon, people would probably complain if she went through that scenario and it didn't come up.

I think the game looks solid, and the controversy is good for the character. Controversy creates cash.

I hate to play the comparison game, but video games showing women in compromising positions or being overtly sexualized is nothing new, Lollipop Chainsaw is coming out tomorrow and I'm pretty sure the white knight brigade of sensitive guys (tm) hasn't had any issue with that game. Or (not to pick on Suda) how about the raped assassin in No More Heroes? What makes what's happening to Lara different? Is it because Tomb Raider is more serious, more visceral? More brown? Because she spends time being hurt in a video game?



That said. I'm a little upset that this seems to have such a focus on action so far, the interviews assauged my fears a little bit and promised a lot of exploration, so we'll see what the balance is. I don't need side areas, just some gorgeous, sweeping vistas to look at (and maybe dive off of...)



tl;dr: kinda sick of a bunch of guys going around dictating what makes a woman in the video game world, there's a lot of messiah complex sexism and it's really irritating to constantly see. I mean how many articles does kotaku run weekly about women's armor not being adequate (usually right after they run a gallery of sexy cosplayers), or destructoid asking what women think about video games! Blah blah blah. Gender dynamics and equality has its place in the video game world, and needs to become more apparent, but look at the nerdos leading the charge :|

-Dreamknight