Oh Lara, what have they done to you?

[janegray]

So, those of you who have been reading my LJ for a while may remember that, when the TR reboot was announced with a teaser trailer, I was feeling extremely sceptical. I worried Lara would be the latest victim of the "from strong female hero to infantilized faux action girl" disease that has already struck Samus Aran and Aya Brea

Comments

[darkmanifest]

No. NO. Can I ragequit a game that hasn't even come out yet? Can I do that? This exactly why I hate grimdark bullshit, because there's only one fate for women in those kinds of stories.

[janegray]

Seriously. This was discussed in the comments too, I liked the reply.

Comment: I don't want to be that guy but no one else seems to realize that rape itself is synonymous with woman. You want to degrade a woman to the lowest point? Rape is what comes to mind. As bad as it is that is the truth. A person that looks as good as she does(even half) is caught on an island by BAD GUYS will be threatened with rape. If she wasn't I would honestly question why. It's a sad but real truth.

Reply to comment: I find it interesting how guys will defend rape as realistic in unrealistic media. You get the suspension of belief for guns and jumping and fun video game stuff but SORRY LADIES you don't get to escape the constant fear and threat of rape. Now excuse me while I shoot alien monsters in my buff epic hero. How nice for you! Also, prison rape is ridiculously common, in real life men are often raped when they are captured by enemy combatants or put in jail, yet FOR SOME REASON in videogames the male hero is never threatened with rape in prison

[darkmanifest]

Oh, I like that comment. I hate hate hate that "but it's realistic!" defense for rape in stories. Someone else brought up in the comments the one time anyone can remember a straight male character getting raped in games and that was in the F.E.A.R. series. But that character's attack wasn't part of a dismantling process to develop him as a hero. God spare me from rape as a female character's special gauntlet to glory.

I watched the clip for myself and what gets me the most about it is this creepy emphasis on how ~fragile~ Lara Croft is, how her eventual treasure hunting fearlessness is forced on her by desperation instead of a destiny she makes for herself. "I hate tombs, teehee!" Seriously? If she had been male, I bet her turning point would have been her going after the first man she killed in a rage, it would have been her moment of triumph, of taking control, instead of her lowest point. But okay, getting into headcanon here. I just hate everything about her characterization now. Give me giant boobs any day.

Re:

[ariseishirou]

that was in the F.E.A.R. series. But that character's attack wasn't part of a dismantling process to develop him as a hero

That was me who brought that up (lol now you know my Gawker handle), because it is literally the only time I've ever seen a male character get raped in a video game. Actually, I think it's the only time I've ever seen a male character even get threatened with it. I sincerely hope someone on Kotaku can think of another, but I sure can't, and I play a lot of vidya.

But no, it's not. Becket is an awesome soldier right from the start, and he only gets better when he gets his bullet time. Everything about that scene was horrific and frustrating and futile and ultimately disempowering - the opposite of everything they seem to be going for with Lara. What is with this male fantasy that raped women become super awesome and get revenge on their attacker? You see it in media ranging from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to this new Tomb Raider reboot. They seem to realize that it's victimizing and destructive and horrible

[aphelion_orion]

Jesus. Did this guy really just go, "YAY RAPE IS AN EXCELLENT METHOD OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT :D"? Because that's fucking disgusting.

[bayonetta]

You said exactly what I wanted to say.

I'll just leave this here

[purple_kama]

Re: I'll just leave this here

[janegray]

Hey, guarda un pò chi si rivede :D

E' bello risentirti :)

[purple_kama]

Sì, è passato parecchio tempo dall'ultimo post. Nutro sempre l'intenzione di recuperare il journal e scrivere riguardo quel che è successo nel frattempo, ma non so mai da dove cominciare.