You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft (50% off on PSN this weekend)

[Kefka Jr.]

http://kotaku.com/5917400/youll-want...rvy-lara-croft

In the new Tomb Raider, Lara Croft will suffer. Her best friend will be kidnapped. She'll get taken prisoner by island scavengers. And then, Rosenberg says, those scavengers will try to rape her.

"She is literally turned into a cornered animal," Rosenberg said.

A lot of people are pretty creeped out and angered by this interview, saying it's sexist and ruins a beloved female character.

However, I've already been down that road, and as sensationalist as this article is, it sounds like they're focused on actually doing something with her character.

"The ability to see her as a human is even more enticing to me than the more sexualized version of yesteryear," he said. "She literally goes from zero to hero... we're sort of building her up and just when she gets confident, we break her down again."

I mean, like, who can argue with that? Especially if this is an origin story, it's good that they understand how it has to go. This is Joseph Campbell ****. I'm in full support of this. I AGREE with this.

And frankly, I have more confidence in a Western developer dealing with a renowned heroine.

ON THE OTHER HAND~

"When people play Lara, they don't really project themselves into the character," Rosenberg told me at E3 last week when I asked if it was difficult to develop for a female protagonist.

"They're more like 'I want to protect her.' There's this sort of dynamic of 'I'm going to this adventure with her and trying to protect her.'"

[DK]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' 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

"They're more like 'I want to protect her.' There's this sort of dynamic of 'I'm going to this adventure with her and trying to protect her.'"

This sounds exactly like what all those people want, game of the year all years.

[Jehuty]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

When a character is strong and stoic, they call them uninteresting and eye candy.

When a character is weak and emotionally troubled, they call it sexist.

[Goufunaki]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

Lara falling down and getting beat up: "omg wtf are you doing??? So sexist!" *pleasures self anyway*

Horse from shadow of the collosus falling: "omg poor thing I cried." ........*pleasures self anyway*

So there you have it. People just prefer sarah jessica parker over lara croft.

[Duel]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

And shes hot

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i...-BL7NczR-L.jpg

[Perversion]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

Glad this was brought up too, actually, because even though I do not align myself with any "white knight brigade," I was a bit creeped out by the E3 Tomb Raider demo. I'm not a Lara Croft fan by any stretch of the imagination, as I've never really played any of her games (my first one, actually, is this Guardian of Light game I got for free from PS+), but I did like what they were doing with the character when I first read that Game Informer cover story where it was announced.

That being said, the E3 demo seemed a bit gratuitous. It really seemed as if they were showcasing, "Let's hurt her as much as possible, and make her as bloody and beaten-up as we possibly can by the end of the demo." Dunno...yeah, it makes her more real, I guess, but on the other hand, it seemed a little...ummm...I dunno. It seemed to be exploiting some underlying "I like seeing women in pain" thing that some people might have. As much as you guys think that a lot of what I play might be creepy, I personally found that demo a bit creepy.

[Jamos]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

If they put a man in the same situation we wouldn't hear a thing. So who is truelly sexist? Honestly, I like this new direction of Lara Croft. I never gave a **** about Tomb Raider until this little reboot popped up. Before the series built her so guys would rather play Womb Raider than Tomb Raider. Now I'm finally up for some serious tomb raiding.

Also, Perv you are creeped out by the wrong things!

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

If they put a man in the same situation we wouldn't hear a thing. So who is truelly sexist?

If it were a man he'd be proclaimed the ultimate badass for going through so much pain and agony, but still coming out on top. But the main people complaining are feminists and white knights. ie.people who lack common sense and logic.

[highwind]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

Sounds like college kids trying to sound smart and apply whatever they just learned in their mass communication, women's studies, gender roles in the media 101, etc. class.

And if you think I'm being dismissive that's because I am. I find this type of analysis and faux-outrage to typically be completely self-serving and used only to flex one's mental fortitude more than actually being meaningful or helpful in any way.

[Perversion]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

Devil's advocate: So if The Last of Us releases, and there are scenes in which Ellie gets bruised, bloodied, and battered really similarly to the way Lara Croft was during the Tomb Raider demo, would that be acceptable? Or because she's a child (but still a female), would you take offense to that?


I dunno...this one is really difficult for me (for Tomb Raider, I mean). Horror movies have shown women bloodied and battered for ages, and everyone seems to take that for granted. I myself never liked them much, because seeing women in pain like that, seemingly for exploitative purposes, is not and never has been my thing, although nobody except hardcore feminists seems to have a problem with it.


Honestly, I kinda liken that E3 demo to something similar. It really just seemed exploitative to me. But then again, maybe because it's an area that's really never been explored before in games, and is something we've really not seen before, that it is more impactful.


I agree with gender equality in games (if guy characters get beaten up and bloodied regularly, why shouldn't female characters also instead of being overtly sexualized?). But I'm reeeallly still on the fence with this one.

[Alzar]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

i think the only people who get offended are turned on by it and don't wanna face their inner demons

[American Hero]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

I always find it irritating when the "sexist" label gets slapped on stuff like this. Laura Croft is beaten up? Bloodied? Assaulted? Big deal. She's a video game character. Besides, no one is outraged by male characters being done this way (I know it has been said already) But it seems silly that people are offended just because it is a female character this is happening with and that they call it sexist when logically it seems they are the ones who hold a different set of standards between males and females.

[Perversion]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

To clarify: I'm not offended. I just think what they showed seemed exploitative and titillating for the sake of controversy and thus, for the sake of more money down the line, as DK alluded to.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: You'll 'Want To Protect' Lara Croft

The Last of Us E3 demo seriously disturbed me. It completely turned me off to the idea of playing the game when I saw it. Wasn't until I read the write-up about how differently the scenario could play out that I was interested in it again.