Tomb Raider: The Lara Croft rape controversy
Lewis Denby June 13, 2012 - 12:42 pmNews: Minor internet controversy has broken out after Crystal Dynamics reveal that Lara Croft will be subjected to an attempted rape in the new Tomb Raider.
Because everyone’s always after a bloody controversy, it has been suggested controversial that Lara Croft will be subjected to an attempted rape in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot. Hardly a new RapeLay, Tomb Raider is attempting to showcase a more vulnerable Croft after years of her being an invincible animal-slaughtering machine with breasts so big they made her fall great distances from clifftops. There’s little suggestion of it being gratuitous – especially given that developers Crystal Dynamics say they’re hoping to desexualise her.
“The ability to see her as a human is even more enticing to me than the more sexualised version of yesteryear,” producer Ron Rosenberg told Kotaku. “She literally goes from zero to hero… we’re sort of building her up and just when she gets confident, we break her down again.”
The argument, however, is that Crystal Dynamics may risk weakening one of the strong female characters in gaming – and Rosenberg’s use of the word “protect” when referring to how players feel about this new Lara probably didn’t help. I don’t think it’s more malicious than some incredibly unfortunate phrasing, though, and from what I can tell the developers should be commended for trying to steer Lara away from ogling male gazes and tell the story of her human side: how she became the fearsome heroine we all know and love.
