So a lot of controversy is revolving around the Mike Acton's twitter [http://kotaku.com/5917400/youll-want-to-protect-the-new-less-curvy-lara-croft] sums up one response, ...rape as character device is sexist, lazy bullshit...
I happen to disagree.
Sexism is happening in the new Tomb Raider development affair.
It is not appropriate for Lara to get raped, or nearly raped.
But the rape thing is distracting us from what is going on, where the sexism is, and what needs to be changed.
To be sure, Rape, or sexual assault happens, and happens a lot. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape] It's a terrible and tragic thing that sucks for the victims. The repercussions of sexual assault are often permanent, affecting the victims, their families and loved ones. The world is a better place the fewer incidents we have.
Rape also a real thing, and fiction is often meant to reflect reality. Worlds that exist without sexual assault, while safer, are also further removed from reality, and from the issues with which we, as real people, identify and are often forced to face. So, in contrast to Mr. Acton, I think rape is perfectly acceptable as a character device. Intrinsically, this isn't sexist at all.
But here's where it gets tricky. Sexual Assault, like any other intense trauma[footnote]We've seen this kind of dismissal of trauma affected by media in other arenas, such as torture. Countless action heroes have been able to withstand hours (if not days) of torture without breaking, and walk away without harm, whereas three minutes of sustained waterboarding without cracking is a notable upper limit for victims of Women in Refrigerators [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques] thing.[/footnote]. Rape as character device involves the repercussions, the sexual dysfunction, the change of outlook regarding sexes, regarding sexuality, regarding family, regarding one's self worth. When rape is used well as character device, these don't get ignored. They don't get handwaved with magic psychotherapy or the conclusion of a violent revenge fantasy.
Sexual assault is also one of the tropes that, when used, expresses that shit is real. It's like killing children (or the dog) onscreen, or a bomb's detonation interrupting someone's last words. It's Blofeld just shooting James Bond dead.
To cite an example, it's been commented more than once that we [guys] wouldn't complain if a male protagonist got raped (or just evaded doing so) in the course of a game. Whether or not this is true, this is exactly what occurred to one Vito Scaletta in Mafia II [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_II], a game about bad people doing bad things.
I wouldn't say that Scaletta's experiences in jail were offensive as a story device. This sort of thing does happen, but it changed the tone of the game. After that I realized that in Vito Scaletta I was watching the tale of Mr. Blonde unfold.
After that, every cop on the street was a reflection of the guards in prison. They were no longer servicemen with families just doing their job, but sociopathic bullies with uniforms, and in Mafia II, there were oh so many causes and gleeful opportunities to cull their numbers.
Plenty of stories feature this kind of narrative. In Velvet Assassin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Assassin], for example, Violette Summer's psyche, riddled by war trauma, teeters on the brink. In game, she hallucinates. She loses track of time. And with each silent kill she loses more and more of her humanity.
Lara Croft [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lara_Croft] isn't Violette Summer. Nor is she Mr. Blonde.
Lara is a classically educated, privileged, athletically trained adventurer. She's used to the hazards of the bush. She's educated regarding the territories she travels (though, actually she's an antiquarian hobbyist rather than an academist). Lara has the practiced and drilled cool of a SEAL bomb-disposal expert. She doesn't do "trapped animal." She can handle herself against natural predators far bigger, stronger and more agile than human men.
Rape generally turns one crazy, man or woman. It's the kind of personal event that shapes everything that follows for the character. And through her many adventures, Lara isn't plagued by those kinds of personal demons. Granted, the new design team can change this. They could make a darker edgier adventure girl and name her Lara Croft, but I think such a character would no longer be relatable to the Tomb Raider paradigm, not as its fans know it.
Oh, and Incidentally, I for one when playing Tomb Raider, tend to identify with Lara Croft[footnote]What's not to like? Father issues and back pains aside, she's rich, smart, athletic and attractive and gets to travel to exotic locations. Who wouldn't want to be her?[/footnote]. It might be that Rosenberg is personally inable to identify with a woman, and instead need to imagine himself as a patron guardian guiding her every move, but to project that inability onto the rest of us, to assume we cannot identify with a human being because of differing genitalia, is being sexist, against men.
238U[footnote]Uriel-238 is a San Francisco based part-time writer and game designer who really needs to start a blog.[/footnote]
I happen to disagree.
Sexism is happening in the new Tomb Raider development affair.
It is not appropriate for Lara to get raped, or nearly raped.
But the rape thing is distracting us from what is going on, where the sexism is, and what needs to be changed.
To be sure, Rape, or sexual assault happens, and happens a lot. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape] It's a terrible and tragic thing that sucks for the victims. The repercussions of sexual assault are often permanent, affecting the victims, their families and loved ones. The world is a better place the fewer incidents we have.
Rape also a real thing, and fiction is often meant to reflect reality. Worlds that exist without sexual assault, while safer, are also further removed from reality, and from the issues with which we, as real people, identify and are often forced to face. So, in contrast to Mr. Acton, I think rape is perfectly acceptable as a character device. Intrinsically, this isn't sexist at all.
But here's where it gets tricky. Sexual Assault, like any other intense trauma[footnote]We've seen this kind of dismissal of trauma affected by media in other arenas, such as torture. Countless action heroes have been able to withstand hours (if not days) of torture without breaking, and walk away without harm, whereas three minutes of sustained waterboarding without cracking is a notable upper limit for victims of Women in Refrigerators [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques] thing.[/footnote]. Rape as character device involves the repercussions, the sexual dysfunction, the change of outlook regarding sexes, regarding sexuality, regarding family, regarding one's self worth. When rape is used well as character device, these don't get ignored. They don't get handwaved with magic psychotherapy or the conclusion of a violent revenge fantasy.
Sexual assault is also one of the tropes that, when used, expresses that shit is real. It's like killing children (or the dog) onscreen, or a bomb's detonation interrupting someone's last words. It's Blofeld just shooting James Bond dead.
To cite an example, it's been commented more than once that we [guys] wouldn't complain if a male protagonist got raped (or just evaded doing so) in the course of a game. Whether or not this is true, this is exactly what occurred to one Vito Scaletta in Mafia II [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_II], a game about bad people doing bad things.
Vito Scaletta's story began as a first-generation immigrant who joined the mob after watching his father drink himself to death under the weight of honest work and family responsibility. He was an up and coming errand-runner who gets ratted out for a petty but federal crime during WWII, and is given ten years hard time. Prison guards were abusive to Scaletta, but the final straw snapped when a guard wittingly took a smoke break to let three guys gang rape Scaletta in the showers.
I wouldn't say that Scaletta's experiences in jail were offensive as a story device. This sort of thing does happen, but it changed the tone of the game. After that I realized that in Vito Scaletta I was watching the tale of Mr. Blonde unfold.
Mr. Blonde, aka Vic Vega was hardened by his years in jail, worsened by his refusal to turn state's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_state's_evidence]. His time was augmented by the warden implementing techniques to motivate him to change his mind, including bunking Blonde with the friendly Gorilla. Blonde stayed silent his entire term proving his loyalty to Joe Cabot. During the heist, Blonde unhesitatingly murdered several civilians once the alarm was triggered, but he's most well known for capturing officer Marvin Nash and, once alone with the him, cutting the officer's ear off on screen and burning him to death with gasoline.
After that, every cop on the street was a reflection of the guards in prison. They were no longer servicemen with families just doing their job, but sociopathic bullies with uniforms, and in Mafia II, there were oh so many causes and gleeful opportunities to cull their numbers.
Plenty of stories feature this kind of narrative. In Velvet Assassin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Assassin], for example, Violette Summer's psyche, riddled by war trauma, teeters on the brink. In game, she hallucinates. She loses track of time. And with each silent kill she loses more and more of her humanity.
Lara Croft [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lara_Croft] isn't Violette Summer. Nor is she Mr. Blonde.
Lara is a classically educated, privileged, athletically trained adventurer. She's used to the hazards of the bush. She's educated regarding the territories she travels (though, actually she's an antiquarian hobbyist rather than an academist). Lara has the practiced and drilled cool of a SEAL bomb-disposal expert. She doesn't do "trapped animal." She can handle herself against natural predators far bigger, stronger and more agile than human men.
Rape generally turns one crazy, man or woman. It's the kind of personal event that shapes everything that follows for the character. And through her many adventures, Lara isn't plagued by those kinds of personal demons. Granted, the new design team can change this. They could make a darker edgier adventure girl and name her Lara Croft, but I think such a character would no longer be relatable to the Tomb Raider paradigm, not as its fans know it.
Oh, and Incidentally, I for one when playing Tomb Raider, tend to identify with Lara Croft[footnote]What's not to like? Father issues and back pains aside, she's rich, smart, athletic and attractive and gets to travel to exotic locations. Who wouldn't want to be her?[/footnote]. It might be that Rosenberg is personally inable to identify with a woman, and instead need to imagine himself as a patron guardian guiding her every move, but to project that inability onto the rest of us, to assume we cannot identify with a human being because of differing genitalia, is being sexist, against men.
238U[footnote]Uriel-238 is a San Francisco based part-time writer and game designer who really needs to start a blog.[/footnote]
