The concept of a singular female figure being worshipped by many people – men more specifically – has been a trope in our literature, cinema, and our gaming from the moment of their inception, and in 2013 when rebooting a legendary gaming franchise centred around a female figure this was not changed. Of course the RPG genre is built upon a history of delivering “badass” single protagonists to control regardless of their gender i.e. Assassin’s Creed or Prince of Persia which doesn’t make the attention placed upon Lara Croft problematic in itself, except when coupled with many other problematic aspects of this game’s conception. Admittedly I do love Lara Croft, and Tomb Raider (2013) seems to have made an effort to desexualise the character design of Lara herself, which has been ridiculed heavily since Tomb Raider’s inception, but there seems to still be much to do when it comes to creating and respecting women in the gaming industry.
The myth associated with Tomb Raider (2013) is one of Himiko the Sun Queen of a place called Yamatai. Throughout the game we learn more about this myth and the basics are as follows: Himiko is bound to a mortal (a woman) and when she needs to move on from her host they conduct a fire ritual in order to pass the soul of the goddess from one body to the other. This myth encapsulates the concept of the singular powerful woman, the only one who seems to matter, whilst all other women are cast aside or killed for the succession of the Sun Queen. While the ‘Ancient Scrolls’ within the game seem to inform us that historically women and girls believed this to have been an honour, the experience of both Hoshi and Sam, who both do not consent to this ritual, tell us a completely different story. Hoshi becomes a martyr figure in the game as she kills herself and traps the Sun Queen in order to prevent more women from being used in this barbaric ritual. Sam is kidnapped and forced to undertake the ritual, albeit unsuccessfully. Every single woman used by the ritual has been reduced to their physical body and has become completely dehumanised, introducing them as vessels to be filled and used by the Sun Queen. The myth itself connotes rape by the loss of agency for the women and the reductionist nature of the ritual.
The two white men who decide what Sam will do with her body!
Additionally, this ritual in itself becomes an analogy for the entirety of the Tomb Raider franchise, which has passed it’s gameplay down through the multiple empty vessel’s it has created in Lara Croft. Lara, unfortunately, does not always appear in previous games as a fully developed or well-rounded character, instead she wears shorts and crop tops, performs handstands for our viewing pleasure, and has the breasts of a Glamour model. The ‘vessel’ that Square Enix has created in Lara is just one more vehicle for them to use commercially for their own financial success, showing once more a complete disregard for women’s agency and a focus upon a singular aesthetically pleasing woman (who is basically seen a sex-doll, let’s be real.)
Game Developers: She is desperate to survive, but she still must be sexy. I know! Cleavage!
While I have mainly focused upon the narrative and mythos behind the game its design and gameplay also factor into the sexist undertones of the story. Most notably the game has shifted in its concept from a mostly puzzle-solving adventure game to one of horror and gore, but additionally becomes a glorified shooter game, carving away the intellectual nature of its predecessors in a barbaric effort to combat its competitors on our current gaming market. As such Lara is seen frequently surrounded by dead bodies, parts of dead bodies, and even once swimming through a river of blood. In addition to this every time you fail to progress in the story i.e. an opponent kills you or you fail a quicktime movement, you are shown a short, but grim scene in which Lara is killed gruesomely, sometimes with a spike through her neck, or a tree branch through her chest.
Violence against women becomes a huge part of this game in which – until about halfway through, and perhaps not even then – Lara feels very much powerless and hunted by an island of white men whose intentions are never quite clear. They find Lara twice and both times she is found hanging in a room amongst other dead bodies, never do they kill her. They don’t need her for Himiko’s ritual as they have Sam and it is assumed that Sam is some form of descendent of either Himiko, Hoshi or one of the other previous inhabitants of the land which is why Himiko accepts her and Mathias verbally announces this, but with an ambiguity that may mean that Sam is suitable simply as she is Japanese (additionally Himiko and Sam are voiced both by Arden Cho, which solidifies their link.) Thus if Lara is not needed for the ritual there are very few reasons to keep her alive after her capturing (except that the game obviously needs that for progression). One could assume cannibalism, but we see many dead bodies throughout the game – not skeletons, the Solari also do not hesitate to kill Roth, Grim and Alex (notably they are all male, do you see where I am going with this one?) I don’t think I need to make any more hints about the rape that is constantly implied within this game.
Totally not rapey screencap!
Constantly rape is used by the media to shock it’s audiences, from Game of Thrones’ constant use to the many horrific ways rape is discussed in our news outlets, you can see that rape is used as a ploy for entertainment whilst also being quite frequently misunderstood. It is a harsh reality that in a game centred upon a female protagonist that rape and sexual assault would seem to play a pivotal role. It does explicate, however, a truth that reflects Tomb Raider (2013)’s target audience: That a young, attractive woman’s biggest threat is the gang of white men who want to use her body for their own purposes.
For more information:
https://beyoungandshutup.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/is-it-feminist-tomb-raider/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/13/tomb-raider-lara-croft-rape-attempt
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/03/12/a-feminist-reviews-tomb-raiders-lara-croft/
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/02/25/tomb-raider-review-2
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