Mcoffey said:
Susan Arendt put it best: It's not about the falls. It's about her rising from them.
Which, while perfectly legitimate a thesis, still doesn't render the reboot exempt from criticism.
Just because you can argue that Lara will rise from the ashes a "stronger" character doesn't mean it's a well-judged premise or execution thereof.
And especially if you've grown tired of popular media's insistence on having female characters suffer through horrifying trials of fire involving the threat of sexual assault for that extra spicy exploitative contrivance, all simply in order to be validated as a character, chances are you're not going to think very highly of this new direction.
I also think it's worth noting that it's seldom male protagonists will have a traumatising ordeal happen to
them personally. More often than not, that baggage will be somewhat detached and familial (particularly often paternal) in nature.
Adam Jensen of
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a recent exception to the rule, but even he more or less shrugs the whole issue off within the first hour or so; utilising his newly found superhuman abilities to fight injustice and kick ass.
Their female equivalents, however, will more or less invariably see their own personal self victimised at some point, and be dramatically instructed to define themselves by their struggle to build themselves up again.
This reboot of Tomb Raider is looking depressingly like a case of this phenomenon. Hell, even Carla Valenti of the aforementioned Fahrenheit had to be the subject of an utterly pointless exercise in which her professionalism and competence was crippled by particularly gendered sequences of claustrophobia.
Naturally I cannot say anything with certainty until the game is released. But judging from what material I've seen and the impressively ignorant statements made by their producer, I see little reason to be anything but skeptical at this point.
