The “male gaze”, a concept introduced by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, describes how women are depicted in visual arts and literature from a heterosexual male perspective. This framing objectifies women as sexualized subjects for male pleasure, particularly in Hollywood films, where male producers shape representations to reflect their values. The term highlights not only how women are portrayed but also how this portrayal influences the experience of being seen, affecting both on-screen characters and viewers, reinforcing narrow and objectifying representations of women in the broader culture.
Video games are very different from the films discussed by Mulvey. Uniqueness of Video Games and Meaning of Interactive Gaze Theory in Video Games The three main differences in practice are: the ability of the player to move the camera and take on the role of director, the rules of video games and how they are played. This allows players to control the characters and active female characters and how they are still represented as objects of male fantasy. Video games put the player in the director’s position, allowing them to choose what they see, but the game rules limit their ability. Even though the player may not have complete freedom, they can still engage in voyeurism, and the gameplay encourages the player to objectify female characters, Hoffswell, J.M. (2011).
The Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game series launched by Eidos Interactive in 1996. The game features the iconic protagonist Lara Croft, whom players control on thrilling adventures.
The “male gaze” has influenced this game’s design, marketing, and character development, especially in the image design of Lara Croft from 1996 to the 2000s. Early designs emphasised her as a sex symbol through exaggerated body proportions, such as a thin waist and large breasts, more in line with male fantasy. Lara is an adventurer exploring harsh environments, but she often wears revealing tight tank tops and shorts that are not practical, Dey, Ayesha R. (2019). While her intelligence, bravery, and independence are core to the character, these qualities are often overshadowed by her sexualised appearance.
The early promotion of Tomb Raider has too much emphasis on Lara’s appearance rather than her abilities as a formidable adventurer. Advertisements and magazine covers often featured her in provocative poses or sexy scenes.
The player’s task in the game is to guide her through these dangerous environments and solve complex puzzles, fight powerful enemies. While Lara’s visual design caters to the male gaze, her active participation in the game also allows players to see Lara as a hero. But even in the game, voyeuristic scenes still exist. The camera angle often focuses on Lara’s body in certain low-angle view scenes, such as climbing or swimming.
In 2013, the Tomb Raider reboot and redesigned Lara Croft’s character image, moving away from the male gaze with a more realistic physique and a deeper background story, more about her resilience and growth as an adventurer, no longer a sex symbol. The rebooted version focuses more on Lara’s journey rather than her appearance.
However, some people think that in an industry that is still struggling with gender representation issues, can characters like Lara Croft break away from the male gaze?
Reference List:
Dey, Ayesha R. (2019) Contemporary Action Heroines: The Quest for Emancipation from The Male Gaze. Masters thesis, University of Huddersfield.
Hoffswell, J.M. (2011) Female video game characters and the male gaze, Northern Illinois University.
Mulvey, L. (1975) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. London Afterall Books.
This exploration of Lara Croft’s portrayal and the “male gaze” in video games is really interesting! I love how you tied Laura Mulvey’s theory to gaming’s interactive nature, showing how players’ choices interact with game design limitations. Your insights on Lara’s early design—a mix of intelligence and sexualization—are spot on. It’s fascinating how her appearance often overshadowed her skills. The comparison between the original and the 2013 reboot highlights the industry’s progress in gender representation.The question of whether characters like Lara can escape the male gaze is thought-provoking and encourages us to think about deeper biases in the industry. It could also be interesting to explore how player demographics might have influenced her redesign. Overall, this blog post is a fantastic starting point for discussing gender representation in gaming. Great job!
Hello! Your blog provides an in-depth analysis of the image of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, specifically her shift from a sexualized symbol to a more realistic image of an adventurer. Here are some of my points that I hope will broaden our discussion.
You mentioned that the 2013 reboot of “Tomb Raider” was a correction to Lara’s sexualized image, focusing more on her growth and tenacity. However, is this change really motivated by the pursuit of gender equality, or is it a product of “political correctness” under the pressure of the market and public opinion? In recent years, the game industry has come under tremendous pressure due to genderization controversies. For example, the “Resident Evil” series has also adjusted the image of female characters, trying to gain player recognition through more realistic design and storytelling. But this change is often seen as a form of “superficial empowerment”, more a marketing pander to awakening feminist consumers and public opinion expectations than a genuine reflection on gender issues. Although the image design of Lara Croft in the 2013 reboot rejected exaggerated body proportions, she was still given the extreme label of “tenacity” and “independence”. Has this monolithic narrative formed another stereotype – that in order to escape the male gaze, female characters must be presented as “super women”? Does this empowerment narrative to some extent mask the game industry’s consideration of commercial interests? What do you think of this change as more a compromise to the pressure of “political correctness” than a genuine respect for the diversity and complexity of women’s roles?
In addition, since its restart in 2013, Lara’s exterior design has become more “realistic” and less sexualized, but does this mean that it has completely shed the “male gaze”? In fact, there may be a problem with this shift: in the process of trying to avoid sexualization, the designer has gone to the other extreme – that is, trying to appear “political correctness” through “deliberate desexualization”, but inadvertently making the female characters lose their charm or complexity? Lara’s image has become more realistic, but in some scenes, its facial design is tired and simplistic due to the excessive pursuit of “toughness”. Is this deliberate change reinforcing an implicit discipline that women cannot be sexy or beautiful because it would be seen as appealing to the male gaze? Is it possible to get rid of the male gaze by vilifying women or diminishing the diversity of female characters? The “male gaze” is not just about the appearance of women, but more about how to give characters complexity and subjectivity. Do you think designers should find a balance between “getting rid of sexualization” and “keeping characters multidimensional”, rather than just solving problems through extreme transformations in appearance?
Finally, you mention that Lara’s reimagining is meant to emphasize her adventurous spirit and independence. However, does this “de-sexualization” really give her more narrative initiative? In the 2013 version, although Lara is more subjective in the story, her actions are still limited by the rules of the game and the language of the camera. In some scenes, players are still guided to observe her body movements through a specific perspective, suggesting that the “male gaze” has not disappeared completely, but has become more recessive. Moreover, I believe that empowerment does not necessarily mean the complete removal of sexuality. A female character can be both attractive and a subject with depth and complexity. For example, the image of Diana in Wonder Woman is both visually appealing and shows her wisdom and power. Do you think that de-sexualization should not be the only path to empowerment, and that true empowerment lies in giving characters variety and complexity, rather than a single deliberate transformation?
The “male gaze” has been a significant factor in the portrayal of female characters in video games, particularly Tomb Raider. The game’s design and marketing historically objectified Lara Croft, while showcasing her as a capable adventurer. The shift from traditional film media to video games allows players to shape the narrative, raising questions about agency and the role of players in objectifying female characters. The 2013 reboot of Lara Croft’s character serves as an example of how the industry can move towards more nuanced, empowering representations of women. Future games could offer deeper interactivity to challenge traditional gender stereotypes.