Tomb Raider Anniversary: blog tasks

Language and Audience



1) Genre: Action/Adventure- communicated through the props. The gun suggests that the game uses violence and that Croft will need to defend herself- it acts as an 'action code'. The holsters, clothing, back pack and tied back hair suggests that she is going on a quest. The tunnel/door behind her is an enigma code as we both, Croft and the audience don't know what is behind it, which reinforces the adventure aspect. The monochrome and de-saturated colour scheme and low-key lighting gives a feel of Indiana Jones (intertextuality).

2) The way that Lara Croft is posing positions the audience to focus on her physique - particularly her bum and breasts as they frame the game title and are in brighter light. This plays into the Male Gaze (Mulvey), as it encourages the male players to view her in a more sexual manner. Also, the costume is revealing and is not only impractical, but also accentuates her body and offers visual pleasures.

3) The cover may be empowering for female gamers because Croft is the only character on the cover of the game. This highlights her autonomy, dominance and her confidence, which would be empowering for the female demographic as they too would feel a sense of confidence and power through Lara Croft. Also, her autonomy is reinforced through the fact that there are no male characters on the cover. This makes her the clear focus and does not downplay her confidence at the expense of showing a male character. Also, her 'kick-ass' expression suggests she needs to protection or any male help. 

Gameplay analysis

1) The gameplay involves:

• Third person perspective
• Camera angles- POV, almost FPP
•  Cut and action scenes
•  Sounds (footsteps, gunshots and waterfall) and SFX

2) 

• Genre: Action/adventure portrayed through the setting, in a tomb and on a quest.
• Narrative: On a quest- presented on the front cover with the background setting.
• Mise-en-scene: Costume- revealing, has a backpack, wears holsters and boots. Lighting- low key and dim, the colours are de-saturated and monochrome are conventions of action/adventure films, Actor- she is solo, on a quest (action and enigma codes- where is she going?), Make-up- she has make-up on her face which is unrealistic but also makes her look seductive, Props- gun, holsters and backpack, Setting- a tomb.
•  Camera shots: High angle shots to see the view, low angle shots to expose her body, POV (360 angle)- make it more realistic and almost FPP.

3) Audience pleasures: 

•  Diversion: experiencing fantasy to escape from reality and experience an alternative reality from the perspective of another person.
•  Voyeuristic pleasure: experiencing pleasure through Crofts character, such as sexual pleasure by her noises and body.
• Sadistic: killing the dinosaur seen as cathartic
• Personal identity/relationships: wanting to succeed and building a relationship with Croft. Seeing a reflection of yourself (through success?)
• Nostalgia: it was especially made for the 25th anniversary of the game.

Representations

NME feature on the evolution of the character of Lara Croft.

1) Stats: 

• Lara Croft has been on the cover of 1,100 magazine covers
• Tomb Raider has sold over 58 million video game units worldwide

2) The article describes how conversations surrounding women's equality has changed entirely. Lads' mags that tend to sexualise and objectify females have been taken out of circulation and women are now calling out sexism. The #MeToo movement has encouraged women  to 'call out' and raise awareness of everyday sexism and harassment that women are forced to endure. 

The cultural changes have been highlighted through Lara Croft's costume changes. Rather than having the revealing and impractical outfit of hot pants and tight tops, she is now clothed in cargo trousers to encourage the audience to focus on her attitude, intelligence and athleticism.

3) The game was well received and many young females were inspired by the fact that there was finally a female protagonist in a videogame. People were excited and amazed at her strength, intelligence and her position as a role model for young women and gamers.

4) The 2013 re-launch is where audiences saw Lara Croft receive a completely new look. Rather than having her typical flawless, idealist body type and revealing clothing, she was covered in all of the things that adventurers would actually be covered in. She wore cargo pants, had scars, blood and dirt and the game highlighted the complexity of her character instead of encouraging gamers to just focus on her physique. It became the best selling game in the franchise.

5) 'Woke Lara': determined, courageous and physically able.

 Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft: feminist or femme fatale

1) Lara Croft is considered a polarising figure because there has always been a constant debate as to whether or not Lara Croft is an actual icon/role model or if she is used for male pleasure.  

2) It was typical to use the body features of women to help gamers distinguish them from the male characters in videogames. Designing other features such as longer hair was difficult to design due to the limitations in the technology and game construction so emphasising her breasts hips and legs was a method of feminising her.

3)  Her physical features were emphasised to market the game. She was overly sexualised to make the gamers look at her and buy the game rather than just buying the game to play. 

4) Lara Croft's characterisation has changed over time in order to adapt the game to the changing atmosphere and nature of the gaming industry. Also, as societal views on women's equality and femininity have shifted over time, Tomb Raider also needed to do so in order to maintain the standards. 

Industries

1) Lara Croft is considered an iconic figure in the gaming industry because she was one of the first female protagonists found in videogames that still maintains relevance and success even decades later.

2) Products and spin-offs:

•  TV series
•  Animations
•  Feature films
•  Advertising- Lucozade

3) She may be a postmodern icon as she is an example of a simulacrum (Baudrillard). Models dressing up as Lara Croft at events like ComiCon and for the front cover of 'The Face' magazine causes her fictional character to become part of the real world for audiences to experience her character on another level. This is an example of postmodernism as it implies that the copies of her character have become more real than her original character.

4) Case study in conglomerate: Core design was bought by Eidos Interactive (who published the original game). Eidos were then bought by Square Enix - a transnational publisher that is based in Japan. They vertically integrated with subsidiaries 'Buzz Monkey' and ' Crystal Dynamics', who created the game. This is an example of conglomerate ownership because it reflects the benefits of vertical integration and the control that companies can have as a result of doing so.

Grade A/A* extension tasks

1) Sarkeesian highlights how the camera angles promote a lot of emphasis on the body of Lara Croft. She also explains how the clothing and third person perspective serves as a way of sexualising her even further, as we saw in our clip, the gamer was going to a low angle to see her backside.

2) Lara Croft's body is presented in an overly sexualised manner in order to offer male players with a form of erotic/sexual gratification. This links to Liesbet van Zoonen's work which explains that "gender is constructed through media language". The costume and posture reinforces this idea.