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Lara's Identity Confused By Exploitation?

Posted by simoniker on from the or-just-needs-a-good-game? dept.

Thanks to BBC News for their article exploring whether the diversification of the Tomb Raider brand has helped lessen it. The author points out: "Rather than consolidating the brand, the multiple incarnations [games, comics, public appearances, adverts, movies..] of the character seem to have diluted it which begs the question - who exactly is Lara today?" In fact, he suggests that the public may be forgetting Tomb Raider was a game: "At least Angelina Jolie seems to be giving the stunts and iffy dialogue of The Cradle Of Life her all. As such, she is arguably now more Lara than the original digital incarnation." As well as there being no single 'image' of Lara Croft, he concedes videogame quality may have a lot to do with it: "The [most recent] game itself is such a source of irritation that the personality of its heroine gets subsumed into the negative experience of playing it."

4 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. 007 by LordNimon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How is this any different than James Bond?

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  2. But the question remains... by mmaddox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Who really gives a shit?"

    This isn't some big icon of popular culture that's going to go down in history as a symbol for the age - it's a videogame and a couple of mediocre movies.

    Sheesh.

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    What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?

    1. Re:But the question remains... by neglige · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This isn't some big icon of popular culture that's going to go down in history as a symbol for the age

      I wouldn't be so sure of that. Ask anyone on the street if they know a figure from a computer game. I guess that the two most frequent answers are "Mario" and "Lara". Perhaps "Pac-Man". Or "Gordon Freeman". Or "Duke Nukem".

      Hmmm... sounds like a ./-poll.

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  3. Feminist icon? by GuyMannDude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There was once a time when she was being hailed as a "feminist cyber icon", a character who not only starred in a great game but also managed to become a household name.

    I doubt she was ever hailed as that by anyone with brains. She was the ultimate teenaged boy's dream: sexy girl with incredible knockers who kicks ass. A true "feminist cyber icon" would have kicked ass without the 42DDs and the daisy duke shorts.

    GMD

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