Croft, Lara Croft

Lara Croft is an interesting fictional figure because while being a strong, independent woman she is created by men and, most probably, for men. She may appeal to female audiences but she is a hyper-real and highly sexualised representation of women. I am interested in whether or not the approach to representing Lara is sexist and macho or whether it is empowering to women.

Lara is certainly intended to be eye-candy for men due to the fact that she wears a tight top that eccentuates her tiny waist and large breasts but she also challenges the male's ability to look at her. In the Kennedy reading I found a quote from a guy called Mike Ward that talked about how he felt uncomfortable when confronted with a photograph of a Lara Weller posing as Lara Croft where she looked directly at the camera. The article claims that what disturbed Ward was that when the subject looks at the camera it signifies that they are aware about being the object of the gaze. In this way, the photograph was taking away the voyeuristic pleasure that depends on being empowered to look without being seen (Kennedy 3). As great as it is for women to be empowered by looking at the camera and striking strong poses, Lara Croft will remain an image in the power of men so long as her over sexualised image is manipulated and used by men. For women to truly be empowered by a figure such as Lara Croft, control of how she is represented must be controlled by women.

I do not think that Lara Croft is a very empowering figure because she is still just something to be looked at even if she is depicted as strong and powerful in a way that transgresses the view that women are not as strong as men. Croft perpetuates the pressure on women that in order to gain a man's attention, one must have a figure like hers. Indeed, as Kevin pointed out, many women have undertaken plastic surgery to make themselves look more like the character of Lara Croft which is outrageous since she is not a real person. This kind of thinking does not empower women but rather makes them feel more self-conscious about the way they look. A truly empowering figure would be one who has an athletic yet realistic body with a focus on charisma and intellect, and who wears clothes that covers them decently!

I have never played Tomb Raider so I am probably making a lot of assumptions about the game. Perhaps there is dialogue in it in which Lara comes across as a charismatic and intelligent person but that does not eliminate the fact that she is highly sexualised and has become an object of desire for guys (E.g. Special mention to Kevin's friend who made Lara kneel and walk backwards for a few hours) whilst being a figure on which to model oneself on for girls (E.g. plastic surgery to look more like a fictional character).

This blog may have focused more on a critique of the sexualised figure of Lara. However, according to the Kennedy reading, many girls do play Tomb Raider and enjoy it because the character is pretty "kick-ass" and is a girl which is really great and means that obviously Tomb Raider is getting something right and maybe it's not the game's fault that some people take it upon themselves to model their body on this male ideal but I do think that there needs to exist some alternatives to such over-sexualised figures.

Thanks for listening (maybe?),

Alicia