Poll: Lara and the Tomb raider controversy

[Moonlight Butterfly]

It's sexist because they think that a male audience can't relate to a strong female character and they have to make 'protecting' her the main focus.

Your basing this off of what? Hasn't protecting the main character of a video game, also know as keeping them alive, sort of been the point of games at least since Mario. Also main protagonists get beaten up all of the frelling time. It's called overcoming and is a sign of strength rather than weakness.

What the developer said at E3 he said that gamers will want to 'protect and help' Lara. Is it impossible for guys to relate to a female protagonist directly or something?

How about Adam Jensen. In the beginning he gets his ass kicked and then augmented, a process which he was expressing moral reserve before getting his ass kicked.

He's about the only one I can think of that goes through it 'on screen' and even then he bounces back and is back to kicking asses.

Other protagonists more often or not have their wives killed or their girlfriend kidnapped to try and provide them with motivation. Which is also a terrible couple of tropes. (Hell even Jensen think his wife is killed or kidnapped for the majority of the game)

Stop trying to sound like that there is a issue at hand, because there is no issue here related to this product.. with you on the other hand? no, no real issue, aside from attention seeking.

Mate if I was attention seeking I would post some pictures cosplaying with my boobs hanging out or agree with everything anyone says.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people even go so far as to hate me on this site for having an opinion, if they even care that I exist at all :/

 

[Able Seacat]

I'm pretty sure a lot of people even go so far as to hate me on this site for having an opinion, if they even care that I exist at all :/

Aw don't say that. At least people are discussing it so there is awareness of sexism in games. Hopefully when the game comes out we'll be able to get a clearer picture of how they've handled it.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I'm pretty sure a lot of people even go so far as to hate me on this site for having an opinion, if they even care that I exist at all :/

Aw don't say that. At least people are discussing it so there is awareness of sexism in games. Hopefully when the game comes out we'll be able to get a clearer picture of how they've handled it.

I actually going to buy this game and I hope HOPE that they get it right.

Lara Croft is one of my favourite characters and I don't want them to mess it up. I guess that's why I come across as a little het up about it.

 

[Orbot_Vectorman]

You all do know that the game isn't out yet... right?

Any how, the worst that can happen is the attempted rape scene will be handled poorly, and then you know what will happen?

Nothing... yea, a little fan outroar, and media backlash, but hey their trying at least to make a stronger female lead.

 

[TheReviewGrid]

What the developer said at E3 he said that gamers will want to 'protect and help' Lara. Is it impossible for guys to relate to a female protagonist directly or something?

I am responding to what I know about the game not what someone said somewhere that won't matter once the game comes out anyway unless it becomes a disaster of Other M proportions.

He's about the only one I can think of that goes through it 'on screen' and even then he bounces back and is back to kicking asses./

Main difference is that while Tomb Raider is a chained sequence of events, Jensen has six months to deal with what happened. Also Jensen is more of a player avatar than Lara seems to be in Tomb Raider. While not many Male characters go through their defining traumatic experience on screen, not many female characters do either it's just how most video game stories are told.

Other protagonists more often or not have their wives killed or their girlfriend kidnapped to try and provide them with motivation. Which is also a terrible couple of tropes. (Hell even Jensen think his wife is killed or kidnapped for the majority of the game)/

Alright as far a Jensen's story goes. she is his ex-girlfriend not wife. Also her story has little to nothing to do with the main story line until she comes back towards the end so her "death" is not a major motive for Jensen. Sure there is a side mission, SIDE MISSION, that is based on what happened to her but that is the single part of the game that is motivated by her fate.

As far as games doing the kidnapped, murdered, or dying lover, as a basis of the main characters actions, I completely agree.

 

[anthony87]

Does the pope shit in the woods?

Hey man, where his holiness does is business is his business!

OT: No, it's not sexist. At all. And people who think it's sexist? They're wrong.

 

[anthony87]

It's sexist because they think that a male audience can't relate to a strong female character and they have to make 'protecting' her the main focus.

Your basing this off of what? Hasn't protecting the main character of a video game, also know as keeping them alive, sort of been the point of games at least since Mario. Also main protagonists get beaten up all of the frelling time. It's called overcoming and is a sign of strength rather than weakness.

What the developer said at E3 he said that gamers will want to 'protect and help' Lara. Is it impossible for guys to relate to a female protagonist directly or something?

Yes, because god forbid they actually portray a character that we care about? Seriously, what's the bad thing about that? I cannot for the life of me figure it out.

 

[RatRace123]

I don't think we can really judge until it's out.

Yes, some of the development team have said some asinine things, like how you'll want to protect Lara rather than relate to her. I can say for me personally, that's bullshit. Given the apparent story of the game, I can very easy to relate to her.
But that's just one guy's foot-in-mouth comment and it shouldn't reflect on the game as a whole.

The game looks interesting to me. I don't see it as degrading, but I'm a man, so my word on that means pretty much nothing.
I see it more as looking at Lara's origins as a character rather than looking at her based on her gender. Really the tale of "Inexperienced young person trapped in dangerous jungle, forced to toughen up and survive on their own" is a pretty gender neutral story. I think part of the reason they chose to tell it with Lara Croft is because of franchise recognition and also a survival game can actually work within the bounds of that particular series.

I can say that people are harping on "attempted rape" as if that's what the game is entirely about, and that kinda irks. Yep, that's all that will happen to her, all that stuff about surviving the treacherous jungle, hunting for food, avoiding deadly traps, nope just people who are trying to sexually assault her, that's the only thing that happens in the game.

 

[Project_Xii]

Sexist? People think this one is sexist? But... but... the last Lara was sexist cause all she was was a pair of boobs on legs with a lot of guns and very little human emotion. This Lara is real. Vulnerable. Yet, as that excellent article says, she doesn't let anything stop her from getting back up again. She has strength, and for that I've only ever viewed the new Tomb Raider as the start of a "growing" character. We've seen all the parts where she takes the beatings, I expect by the end of the game she's going to come out a much stronger, tougher person, and for anyone who can survive all that I have nothing but respect.

Sexist my arse. Some people will find drama in everything, given the chance.

CAPTCHA: Ten Four.
See? Even the captcha agrees

EDIT: Also do people know that we actually see the "attempted rape" in the trailer? It's the part where the dude puts his hand on her arm, and then she knees him in the nuts. That's it. That's all it needs to be, we got the intent. I don't know why people are kicking up such a hoo-hah about it.

 

[sethisjimmy]

No. Despite moving more into a negative gender stereotype with the rape issue and making Lara more of a victim, they clearly aimed to change up the character, focusing FAR less on her as a sex object, and more on her as a character, and her motivations and humanity.
Seems like a step in the right direction to me.

 

[Voulan]

Of course not. The focus is on an average person in an extreme situation, and how they get stronger because of that - she's only female because it's Lara, and it's Tomb Raider.

 

[The Madman]

I don't think its sexist, I just think it looks tasteless, stupid, and not the damnest little bit like a proper Tomb Raider game. If the developers wanted to make Uncharted: SAW Edition then they should have done that without shoehorning Lara Croft into the whole mess.

Of course I also obviously haven't played the game myself so it's also a wee bit too early to judge beyond an initial impression.

 

[Martin Toney]

good point buddy

 

[Martin Toney]

Good reply buddy
Glad to see some folks have their head screwed on tight

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

Of course it's sexist, female protagonist only?!
What the hell are you playing at here, you saying only women can be heroes or something??
I demand a gender option!

This should have been the end of the discussion.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I don't care, it's just a game. If I load it up and it calls my mother **** I don't care because it's just a game.

The more we all talk about it, the more 'controversial' it's going to seem, let's just wait until the game comes out m'kay?

 

[felbot]

you know i wanna discuss this but all i can think is "will this thread get 700+ posts like the others?"

OK on topic: no i dont think its sexist, the raving bandit tries to rape her and he gets promptly kicked in the nuts, people really gets their jimmies rustled over this?

its there so she can have a reason to kill in self defense and with that, she becomes open to kill others, like she did in the older games.

and while i am at the old Lara, wasn't she pretty much the poster child for bad female characters? i mean only now does people give old lara any praise, before she was hated and now when they change her she is suddenly the best thing ever? fan ta er i say.

 

[Archer666]

While its still a bit early to call it anything, I'd have to say that looking at the game makes me uncomfortable. Watching how beat up, bloodied and nearly raped Lara gets along with the way (Not even starting on the psychological trauma's, but I don't think we'll have those because that would just be too realistic~) just makes me shudder.

I'd be the same if it was a male character who'd be going through that stuff. Although that actually would be better since a vulnerable male character in video games hasn't been done much. The fact that its a digital human being who's acting realistically to the pain she endures makes me cringe and I won't be picking this up most likely.

Also, I like how in one of the interviews I read it had a big LARA SHOWS PITY TO THE DEER SHE KILLS AND SHE'S UNCOMFORTABLE WITH KILLING PEOPLE and then you look at a trailer where she sets people on fire and shoots them with a bow. Good job, that.