Realism, reactions and that “r” word … the Tomb Raider debate
Last month Crystal Dynamics went into damage control on the new Tomb Raider game’s rape controversy. Studio head Darrell Gallagher, attempting to get ahead of the wildfire discussion, claimed that it is incorrect to define the infamous scene from the “Crossroads” trailer as an “attempted rape.”
“While there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that have already been shown publicly. Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme we cover in this game.”
No longer limited to the gaming press, this new take on Lara Croft has hit the mainstream and is likely already too far gone to be reeled in by quasi-apologies from Crystal Dynamics. The unfortunate simplification has become “Lara Croft gets raped in the new Tomb Raider,” and gamers have taken sides. Vikki and I wanted to put a casual discussion out there and wrap our heads around what this issue says about games and gamers.
VIKKI: I’ve been staring at this post for days. I know what I want to say – I think – but I’ve started and deleted so many attempts I’ve simply lost count. So bear with me: this’ll be less an academic-esque commentary than it will be a meandering (and sometimes confused, no doubt) and personal perspective. Many have already represented my own thoughts already (and most more successfully than I, let’s face it), but here it is anyways. Ready? LET’S GO.
As some of you may have already seen, I’ve been deeply and vocally disappointed by Crystal Dynamics’ reboot of classic Croft. If I’m honest, the newly imagined Tomb Raider has perturbed me from the get-go, for no matter how impressive the dynamic environments and achingly realistic graphics, Croft’s continual sex-sighs are so mind-numbingly off-putting, I can’t bear to hear her. I know: that seems stupid. Even writing it, it seems stupid, but I can’t help it. Like many others, in spite of those torpedoed breasts, I idolised Croft growing up. She was strong, confident, independent and feminine. Yet from the moment we saw that reveal trailer, one thought popped into my mind, and it persists as one of many nagging signifiers suggesting that this game hasn’t been shaped for the likes of me.
And by me, I mean a hetereosexual woman.
In an earlier draft of this piece, here sat a section about feminism – what it meant, what it didn’t mean (at least, not to me), and whether or not it was even relevant. I decided that it wasn’t and promptly yanked that bit out because you know what? It doesn’t matter. How or why or even if I choose to define myself is immaterial. All that matters is that I was turned off by Croft’s alarmingly sexual moaning way before the rape controversy hit.
And then the rape controversy did hit.
JOE: I first heard the “Lara gets raped” quote from people I follow on Twitter who also play games and read comics and are into what most people probably consider nerd media. I had not seen the footage in question at that point (and I only saw the E3 2011 footage without much audio, so I missed the whole sex sighs thing as well.) The tone I saw in the complaints was that rape is a pretty lousy way to add “depth” to Lara’s character. For those of you coming in late, it has been made apparent that the new Tomb Raider is a reboot/prequel. Lara is much younger – like, a teenager – and this is supposed to be the adventure that thrusts her onto the path of eventually becoming a world-class archaeologist explorer.
Then I saw the footage, at E3, during a guided tour with the developer. And I was like, Oh, that’s it? Not to demean the topic, but the complaints about a rape scene seem to presume facts not in evidence, as they say.
VIKKI: I get it, incidentally: I understand that it’s an origins story. It pre-dates Croft as we know her, intimating how the happenstances of her life shaped and guided her development as the woman she ultimately becomes. As gaming’s most badass female, and I wholly appreciate that someone, somewhere, figured an origins story was about due … it’s just how Crystal Dynamics has set about doing that that puzzles me.
While CD have formally and unreservedly backtracked from any notion of “rape” from that now infamous Kotaku interview, the fact remains that – to give the character depth and resilience – Croft, as a teen, is essentially sexually assaulted. Whether it’s attempted or actual, we don’t know, but it’s undoubtedly an unconsented, physical violation. And yeah, I know: we haven’t seen the assault scene in context but to be honest, I’m not sure what added-value context would bring to this debate. He’s groping her. She very clearly doesn’t want him to do so. That is assault. End of.
JOE: Again, I wonder just how much blowback this scene would have received if CD had not made a big deal about “they try to rape her” and then act like that’s some kind of heroically formative moment. Because that’s the meme that’s grabbed hold in the Awful Bro Gamer land, that Lara Croft is raped. If we take Crystal Dynamics at their word, there’s nothing more that happens than what we saw at E3. There is clearly an intended sexual assault. These are dangerous men. But Lara fights her way free. I feel like the collective terrible assumption at work here is that Tomb Raider is going to include some kind of ghastly rape minigame where you fight off advances by pressing buttons, or, even worse, NOT fight off advances by pressing buttons.
VIKKI: Whether or not you believe in rape as a valid narrative device is kind of immaterial here, too. As a gamer, I wholly support any attempts to validate gaming as a very real and meaningful art form, and whilst I personally find rape portrayals in most media abhorrent (and rarely justified, as it’s chiefly used just to intimate what dirty old bastards men are), I’ll defend our rights as an industry to use it. After all, is rape any more despicable than murder or child abuse? Are gamers too immature – or fragile – to deal with mature themes? I suspect not – but then, I’ll admit that I don’t think that this is the pertinent issue here, anyway. No, the issue here lies more in why CD have opted for such an inclusion, rather than the fact that they’ve done it at all. Allegedly this is a deliberate device necessary to push Croft to the very edge, to make her weak and cowed, and ultimately propel the player into wanting to protect her.
JOE: It’s not like her hours up until the sexual assault have been wonderful. In the E3 demo, we see her nearly dying of exposure, getting ridiculously slammed down mountains and rocks. Hell, she WALKS OFF a bear trap injury.
But back to the “protect Lara” thing… is that genuinely how devs think we play video games, or is Lara Croft getting sidelined here simply because she’s a woman?
VIKKI: I rarely feel the desire to protect other lead characters.
JOE: Lead characters, no. Secondary characters, yes. Because generally that’s what the game is driving you to do… like the Mio/Mayu relationship in Fatal Frame 2. Or Yorda in Ico. Even, in a cheesy b-movie kind of way, Ashley in Resident Evil 4. Sort of sadly obvious that all of these “protect me/guide me” characters are female… even if the lead character is also female or a ten year old boy.
VIKKI: Whilst we can legitimately debate about the hypersexual and heterosexually-lensed portrayals of gender in gaming (not to mention the bloody clothing/outfits), the fact remains that we’re rarely – if ever – coerced into feeling protective of lead men. Even when presented in more vulnerable settings – take the teenaged Nathan Drake, for example, as witnessed in Uncharted 3 – most can thoroughly take care of themselves. Even those depressed and broken male characters – Max Payne, instance – are almost exclusively that way as a result of the protagonist’s partner being attacked/killed/abducted/whatever. With Mafia II as the one (if slightly different) example, it’s never as a result of a sexual assault, which brings us to question … why, then, are CD choosing to do this to a young Lara Croft?
JOE: This is storytelling shorthand. It’s like “Finding Nemo” beginning with the mom fish being killed: losing a parent is a shortcut to sympathy. Surviving a rape is a shortcut to sympathy for female characters. Having Lara Croft survive this experience is supposed to show the danger she’s in. It’s too convenient. It’s too easy. And, given how much else Lara has to suffer through, I doubt she’s going to spend the rest of the game having horrifying flashbacks to that one guy groping her (unlike, perhaps, an actual victim of sexual assault). It’s crazy that Crystal Dynamics put so much attention on this, like it’s some kind of bold story choice on their part.
Then there’s the “baby fat” comment, where CD mentions that they wanted to make sure the de-aged visual redesign of Lara Croft included some baby fat. How much more evidence do we need that Lara Croft is nothing but an object. If you’re still applying the phrase “baby fat” to a late-teens young woman, you are seriously creepy.
The truly disgusting thing is that CD’s perhaps-innocent “she survives a rape and that’s dramatic” press has merged with the horny gamer culture take of “I sure would like to see actual Lara Croft sex scenes instead of all this half-assed amateur fan-porn I downloaded.” Maybe Crystal Dynamics was naive on this score, and intended that the de-sexualizing of this new, younger Lara Croft would prove they were going to take Lara seriously this time. And then they opened their collective mouth and kept talking about her like she’s an object anyway… an avatar to be protected rather than inhabited.
It reminds me a lot of Capcom circa Resident Evil 5, when the company was fundamentally unaware of the racial triggers found in that first trailer. Capcom rebounded, and I’m sure Crystal Dynamics can as well. Tomb Raider‘s delay into 2013 should be just the thing to put plenty of distance between this ugly issue and the game itself.
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Thanks for this, Vikki & Joe. Great read, and I think game culture could use more thoughtful “issues” features. It’s true we should support creators’ right to tell the story they want to tell however they do choose – and pound them later for bad decisions. Here, a questionable approach that may well bd entirely unnecessary is catching fire before the game is out and fully played… and the worst elements of game culture are making if hard not to stay neutral until we actually experience the whole story. Now, many will approach the game with a skeptical eye, the full experience tainted by the shrapnel from a heated moral argument. I really hope CD innocently backed into the controversy, RE5 style.
But, here’s my real rant. Lara isn’t really about deep emotional trauma or a densely woven origin story or even baby fat. To me, even as a young, sexy woman-swayed teen Tony, the original Tomb Raider felt tense, atmospheric and epic. That’s what made it iconic. I played for the game, not to leer at Lara. You DID inhabit Lara, get lost in her adventure, and forget very quickly about her pile of polygons mimicking an attractive woman. Lara was more than shorts and ponytail and torpedo breasts…she was a legit badass explorer, always in danger and highly capable of finding ways to survive against overwhelming odds.
The story was negligible. Backstory about Lara wadn’t really an issue. This reboot is ABOUT that, and I get that same feeling I got about Metroid: Other M’s softening (to say it one way) of in an attempt to explain how she became a kickass warrior. It can easily backfire, come off as inauthentic, tacked-on, unnecessary. I’m intrigued by a return to Tomb Raider’s roots and a good faith effort to recreate the magic of a classic game I loved for a new/older/lapsed audience.
Don’t call it a comeback.
I could care less about the story, if the game captures the spirit if the original – in that there were moments of genuine surprise, pride and fear throughout. I remember my heart pounding when I’d miss a jump and send Lara into a chasm. I was lost in the experience, living the adventure with her, not feeling the need to protect her at all. I felt liked Kara was clever and agile, which made me feel clever and agile.
I worry about such a heavy focus on backstory drama. I get it, that’s what games “do” now. But tacky and off-putting choices like sexual assault and commentary about baby fat? That doesn’t inspire confidence that I’ll walk away from this game with a love of Lara, fresh and new. It all depends on the gameplay and immersiveness of the game itself. I felt lost and alone and in danger and somehow ready for anything in TR1, a hundred years ago on my Sega Saturn (!), and THAT is what endears the original to me today.
I suspect everyone experiences and absorbs games differently. But I will say I often choose female characters in games when possible. Don’t know why or if it’s relevant, but maybe I instinctively gravitate to badass female heroines because I appreciate a break from Bro Gamer culture. The whole sexist macho testosterone muscle guy hero thing never appealed to me. Duke Nukem was someone’s idea of a great time, but…give me Lara any day.
I hope this game doesn’t suck. Tomb Raider is like Sonic. We keep hearing it’s back, but it’s not. I hope it really is, and for the right reasons. Lara Crift belongs in a cave, shooting wolves…not in a Lifetime movie version of her unasked-for awkward teen years.
Thanks for your thoughts, Tony. Really interesting – iPhone typo-bombs and all. ;)
Of course. I find they add a certain awful charm.
“I love Linda Craft!”
Forgive the 150 autocorrect abominations that plague my comment. I didn’t know it’d be that long when I started. Perhaps iPhone wasn’t the best tool for the job there!
“Kara?”
I too am eagerly anticipating the next chapter in the adventure Kara Crift.
What disturbs me – as well as the vague sexism discussed above – is the vague racism. What most Tomb Raider fans haven’t cottoned onto yet (or don’t care about) is that (according to Q+A on the official Eidos forum) the new ‘Lara Croft’ will not be an aristocrat, will not be an archaeologist, won’t be University educated and won’t be 100% English. Way to disrespect a British cultural icon, almost Anglophobic. The “development team” haven’t just weakened her “strong female” personality in game, but they are diminishing her status all around.
Whilst it would be unfortunate if they were indeed focused on diminishing her status (great phrase – I shall steal it and use it as my own ;)), I don’t necessarily agree that this constitutes racism. It reads more as an apathetic and unsympathetic interpretation of the original story rather than wilful discrimination.
I hope. :/
This is a hypothetical, but say they suddenly decided that Captain America was half American half Iranian because being 100% American was “not longer culturally relevant to today’s gamers”. Would that be character development or would you find it not only a bit disrespectful to an iconic figure like Captain America, but vaguely racist about Americans? If, as I suspect, Lara Croft has been changed from 100% English to 50% English, 50% American, what’s a good word to describe that process (on top of all the other changes, like saying the English aristocracy is not longer relevant and going to an English university is no longer relevant and living in England is not longer relevant)? Anglophobia?
Eew, I hadn’t heard that.. That’s awful. It’s like alternate universe Lara…this is becoming a harder pill to swallow.
Just put her on a damn island and let her discover a tomb to raid. Spoiled little rich girl surprises her self, her gymnastics and dance and whatever training have actually prepared her better for the experience than she thought. The rush of her adventure becomes addictive. Lara Croft is born.
Why kill off the Lara we knew and pretend it’s the same person? Why is that hard?
Ha! We might as well just rename her Kara Crift, apparently.
COMPLETE REINVENTION’d!
Very good read, well done guys. Not often do I read lengthily articles nowadays, but that was worth it.
I’m wondering now how people would feel if the exact same trailer was for a movie? Would it be looked at and analysed so heavily? I feel the same way about rape scenes in any form of media in which it’s okay if it’s necessary to the story and character building.
The only example I can give is in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Debating on how good the movie is aside, the rape scenes in it, as unpleasant to watch as they are, really told me who Lisbeth was and came to be. There are men out there that actually do treat women like this and actually do commit rape. I don’t think any story teller should have to shy away from that or any subject.
James Sunderland [did something not very nice] and Konami received little to no backlash for showing this in Silent Hill 2.
I personally don’t think this is a cheap shot at character building/development in any way. I think they’re brave for trying it and I’ll happily sit back until I can judge it in its final context.
To be honest I haven’t been impressed with a trailer for sometime and the new TR grabbed me from start to finish.
Sexual moans and groans aside as I didn’t notice them in the trailer. I’ll watch it again knowing this and see if they are too much…
Why bother with a sexual assault when it seems apparent that this is not a game about sexual assault. “Dragon Tattoo” may end up crafting a character with rape in the backstory, but is that really the kind of person Lara Croft is set to become? Like I said, I’ll be very much surprised if that single truncated assault is ever referenced again by the game. It’s just something else awful that happens to this poor woman, like nearly starving, drowning and breaking every bone in her body.
If you take out the rape, is the story changed in any way? From what I’ve seen, no. Her life still sucks; she still has to learn to survive.
Again, if they had not lost control of their tongue during that Kotaku interview, it might have ended up as nothing more than an exceptionally creepy groping scene that Lara brings to a swift (and violent) conclusion. But they had to act like sexual assault is some kind of awesome character-building event, so it makes you second guess everything they say… like the baby fat, the moans, the “you’ll want to take care of her” stuff.
It’s not so much what happens (since horrible things happen in video games all the time), it’s how they presented it and talked about it… blissfully unaware of their suggestion that rape is a hero-making event.
I’ve neither seen nor read the Kotaku interview. I have a feeling I should now though…
I guess looked at from the other direction you could ask the question why not bother having the sexual assault? I just think things like that shouldn’t be jumped upon. It’s probably so little to the story and character progression that it’ll be easily become distant when you are 20 or so hours into the game and she’s been through lots more hell since some barbarian grabbed her ass? I’m not saying that rape should be danced over but from what they’ve shown it’s more of a grope than a rape. I think if you took the grope scene away then maybe her killing the guy would seem too rash instead of simply immobilising him? Not to say that he would deserve to die for gropping her, and possibly more, it just adds that edge that no doubt pushes her to a limit that wouldn’t normally be reached?
I’m certainly in no way disagreeing with anything you’ve both said it’s a great article and read, just offering up other opinions.
The “baby fat” comments do sound creepy though.
Well well well … YatesyFoxy. ‘Ello, squire. OH HOW I HAVE MISSED THEE. Also: ZOMGZ SILENT HILL SPOILERZ.
Thanks for the comments. Most welcomed. :)
Dragon Tattoo is often an example thrown back as a validating instance where rape has been necessary for propelling a narrative forward, and it was chucked my way several times during, ahem, “discussions” on Twitter. Unfortunately I’ve not seen it, so I can’t comment on specifics, but as I said earlier, it’s not the gaming industry’s right to use rape as a device that I’m questioning. It’s this particular application, here, in Tomb Raider, that seems … unnecessary. Like you said: many games present mature and sometimes very uncomfortable themes (I think Silent Hill Shattered Memories is just one example). But that’s not the issue here for me.
As Joe said, about fifteen thousand shitty things happened to Croft before the Bad Man attempts to assault her. The latter point doesn’t make the other experiences less valid, and – in my opinion – doesn’t bring any added value to the development of Croft’s character, either. I took pains to concur that I agree that what we’ve seen in out of context … but I’m really not convinced that context will make the scene any more valid. It seems redundant to me, thrown in for controversy’s sake rather than any meaningful desire to explore the impact of sexual assault on the psyche and subsequent development of a young woman.
And sure: some might say that it’s not a video game’s place to explore such things … but if we’re grown up enough to utilise rape/assault in a narrative, then we should be grown up enough to explore the consequences of that. Can’t have your cake and eat it, right?
Finally: if it *does* become “distant” as you propel the story … well, that would be horrific, quite frankly. Using it as a throwaway device would be disgraceful. Ugh.
Re-watch the trailer, Foxy, and let me know what you make of dem moans!
Hello back atcha. My bad for the SH2 spoilers!!! :/
Let me tell you, I KNEW the second I wrote the ‘distant’ sentence I’d regret it. What I was implying was that when you look at the past ventures of Ms Croft she goes through some hell of a lot of shi..nnanigans. I was rather poorly suggesting that having tigers trying to eat your face off would be a little more troubling to her than what the guy did (albeit not as bad as what he could have done, but the fact remains in this instance he doesn’t get that far). Plus all the other mind boggling traumas she goes through.
I completely appreciate that she potentially is going to be raped, but it transpires that she doesn’t due to her self defending, in which a man loses his life. I guess they were showing you her first kill and felt that something needed to be potentially serious enough to trigger it. Rape isn’t ever really covered in video games and I think there enough mature gamers out there to be interested in how it could be dealt with. Surely it’s better than every other bloody cliche we normally get that triggers a kill or even the first kill (or revenge kill) – best friend killed, parents murdered…
I just want to be clear that I don’t look at rape lightly, nor groping or sexual assault. But I don’t have any real issues in people tackling the subject. The rapist is not the hero and I don’t think there is too much emphasis on her grope scene being the catalyst of her becoming a heroine. It seems to be the trigger for her first kill. I could be very wrong, and more often than not I am. It just seems that too big a deal is being made from this scene that could turn out to be useful to the overall story for that section of the game.
On another note, I’ve just read the articles in question and it’s fair to say that the guys that have been speaking on behalf of CD are douche bags! I cannot believe that they would be allowed to speak on behalf of them again. If this article was about how they’ve made a complete mess of it all after the backlash then I’m in total agreement.
So glad you didn’t @ reply my last comment – this would be a stupidly narrow column. :P AND YES YOU SHOULD’VE KNOWN BETTER RE: SH2. (Although I partly think – hey – that game’s been out ten years. If someone hasn’t played it yet MORE FOOL THEM.)
I know you don’t take rape lightly, mate: my comment was more an expansive response to gaming in general, rather than bespoke to your individual view. I disagree in that it might be useful to the story, though; I’ve still yet to see any evidence that that might be the case.
But yeah … they were bad bad BAD articles. Hence my wrath. :P
I should probably read more of your work as that was a great read for me, so I’ll make it my mission!
Did I mention I’m off to Tokyo in a month? Do you want anything bringing back? I could dig around for some Silent Hill goodies?
Bah. Show off. :P Think I now own pretty much everything Silent Hill-flavoured (you should see my collection now – it’s tres sad), but if you come across anything yummy, text me!
AND WHY HAVE YOU NOT BEEN READING MY STUFF ALL THIS TIME?! I am a FT writer now! THIS IS WHAT I DO! :D <3
FT writer? Female Tyrant? :)
I’ll message you on Twiter whilst I’m out there then, with pics if needed.
Let me ask one last question though and simply out of curiosity and not to rub you both up: What would you rather see be the catalyst for her first kill?