Part Two. (continued argument from part one)

Kennedy describes Lara Croft in Tomb Raider as a new cultural icon and she uses the character to compare and contrast various representations of sexuality and femininity in video games of past. She brings up the question ‘Lara as a positive role model for young girls or just that perfect combination of eye and thumb candy for the boys?’, and in my own effort to answer, I have come across with several opinions which I liked to discuss. Kennedy states “there is no doubt that Tomb Raider marked a significant departure from the typical role of women within popular computer games. Although a number of fighting games offer the option of a female character, the hero is traditionally male with females largely cast in a supporting role.” Hence regardless of genre, women characters in most video game narratives have very little participation and influences. They merely have choices and actions to make things happen in the game sequences so their presences and functions are optional. However it is always refreshing to include female characters with male protagonists because they express ‘fantasy female figure’ in most provocative images. They function as sub-text, for example female characters tend to create romantic or sexual intrigue which is little apart from the main narrative but it expressively spice up the game. Furthermore, female characters have more importance as objects that are ‘desired’ by players rather than ‘needed’ to precede the game and this is the main reason Lara Croft created such phenomenon when Tomb Raider was released. Kennedy describes the game “Tomb Raider reworks a male-dominated genre and features a female central character: Lara totes a gun as she navigates a hostile landscape fraught with danger… female figures which, through their performance of extraordinary feats undermine conventional understandings of the female body.” I see the representation of femininity and gender role through character of Lara has both ‘subject’ and ‘object’ sides. Her power as ‘subject’ in the game context is inevitable for she is the one and only protagonist and of course this is revolutionary but I sense strong hypnotization of her as ‘sex object’. Well… no one would have ever noticed this game in the first place if Lara was ugly. Despite the fact the expression of her sexual identity (which opens to conjectural appropriation) is absent; she appeals audiences very actively and provocatively with her pretty face and sexy curves. I think this representation of Lara is the primary source that creates such immersion that Kennedy also describes “Having to play Tomb Raider as Lara, a male player is transgendered: the distinctions between the player and the game character are blurred.” Actions of ‘controlling’ female character and ‘looking’ her performance are very important encounter to be immersed in the game and this is where male players develop sexual desire and fantasy of feminine body. Nonetheless, I would agree with Kennedy’s idea of “Lara’s occupation of a traditionally masculine world, her rejection of particular patriarchal values and the norms of femininity and the physical spaces that she traverses are all in direct contradiction of the typical location of femininity.”