Lee-Ming Zen PWR 3-05 Research Paper September 24, 2004 Dr. Alyssa O'Brien

Finding the Woman Who Never Was: Gender Role Exploration Through

An amalgamation of five thousand polygons, two arms, two legs, one head, a pair of big

pistols at the hips, and a pair of even bigger breasts is no oddly-shaped monstrosity, but instead,

sex icon and celebrity Lara Croft (Eidos, screen 1). Except Lara Croft is neither human nor real;

she’s the protagonist from the popular videogame series . Her voluptuous figure

has been the subject of countless reviews, articles, and commentaries and her “badass” attitude

and “kickass” ability have been the basis for the Tomb Raider series’ success. However, she is

much more than just an action heroine. In order to recognize this multilayered aspect, one must

examine Lara Croft through visual appearance and delve into the psyche and inner thoughts

represented by her images. By investigating the various expressions of Lara Croft and the

evolution of her aesthetic character, we are offered a chance to explore the various cultural and

sociological aspects of our understanding of gender, especially in relation to videogames.

Despite these references that assume Lara’s sex, Lara Croft can be neither male nor female

because “she” is a digital figure and it is this unique androgyny that allows her to provide a way

to understand gender roles and identity. 1 In particular, her evolution parallels the different

stages of gender exploration that adolescents experience and struggle through. In order to

understand this complex parallelism, this paper will analyze the visual representations of Lara

Croft starting from her first days in the original Tomb Raider game up to her most recent

incarnation as the Angel of Darkness.

1 It is important to understand the exact meaning of androgynous because it does not mean neither male nor female. Instead, it refers to a state that is defined as “strong in both [masculinity and femininity]” (Basow and Rubin 26). Zen 2

The Woman Who Never Was

Tomb Raider, developed by and published by Eidos Interactive, has been one of the most successful series of computer games to have ever been released. The first Tomb

Raider which spawned a variety of sequels, including the upcoming Angel of Darkness, was released in 1996 and enjoyed a great amount of success by selling over twenty-six million units

(MobyGames “Tomb Raider Series,” screen 1; Poole “History of Tomb Raider,” screen 2). The succeeding games did not sell as well as the first, but still reached a significant portion of the market. In each of these games, the star is Lara Croft who was created by Toby Gard, an artist at

Core Design (Poole “History of Tomb Raider,” screen 2). Though the original character for the game could have been either male or female, Core decided to choose Lara “as a refreshing antidote to the muscled meat-heads that usually populated videogames” (Poole “History of Tomb

Raider,” screen 2). Lara Croft’s beginnings were never as a sex symbol or national celebrity but a girl with a wild streak (Poole “History of Tomb Raider,” screen 2). Nor was she ever meant to be real, as her creator states that Lara is simply “a caricature of a feisty attractive women [sic]”

(Gibbon, screen 4). In fact, her concept and the reasons for casting Lara as the protagonist of the

Tomb Raider series seem to indicate that she is a prototypical tomboy. However, Lara Croft is far more than that and in order to gain this perspective, I will begin an examination of the evolution of Lara Croft.

Building Gender Roles for Lara Croft

Figure 1 – A star is born: Tomb Raider I box cover. Source: ChesireCat. Zen 3

The evolution of Lara Croft begins with the first Tomb Raider game’s release and the most impressionable image related with it: the picture of Lara Croft depicted on the box cover of the game packaging (see Figure 1). The box cover provided a variety of attention drawing mechanisms and for most viewers, it was their first chance to see Lara Croft. The first means of attention drawing is the shape of the box itself. Most games published at the time were shipped in rectangular boxes, but Tomb Raider had a trapezoidal box which not only drew attention to the box and image but also illustrated the novelty of a three dimensional shooter game. Once the viewers’ eyes were on the box, they were drawn to three key points: the title, Lara’s face, and

Lara’s breasts. Her tiny, disproportionate waist emphasized her large, unrealistic breasts which are almost centered in the image and, as such, appear to the viewers as the central focus of the image. Her arms are skinny and her face, accentuated by her short, shoulder-length hair, has a serious expression pasted on it. She wields a set of guns at ready and her pose indicates a sense of caution. Thus, this first image of Lara Croft provided a variety of contrasting messages about

Lara to the viewers especially in relation to her masculinity and femininity.

These messages are well summarized by Anne-Marie Schleiner who enumerates the possible interpretations of “Lara as female Frankenstein,” “Lara as drag queen,” “Lara Croft is a dominatrix, a femme fatale,” “Lara Croft is a positive role model for women and girls and a possible entry point for women into the male discourse domain of computer games”, and “Lara

Croft is a vehicle for the queer female gaze” (“Does Lara Croft”). Each of these configurations presents a compelling argument for the image of Lara Croft on the box cover.

Schleiner describes the role of female Frankenstein as that of a “monstrous offspring of science, an idealized, eternally young female automaton, a malleable, well-trained techno-puppet created by and for the male gaze” (screen 4). This idealization of Lara as an image made “for the Zen 4 male gaze” fits neatly with the centering of her breasts on the box cover as a way to increase her sexual appeal toward men. At the same time, she fits the other analyses that Schleiner presents.

Lara acts as a drag queen in a certain sense due to her androgyny because aside from her massive chest, she evokes a certain masculinity that comes from her masculine-featured face of big cheek bones, pronounced brow, and sharp protruding chin, as well as the stereotypical image of gun- toting men. These two analyses combined serve to facilitate the idea of Lara Croft as a “vehicle for the queer female gaze” as she is an attractive woman and possesses a masculine side that may appeal to lesbian women. In addition, her serious stare alongside the dangerous pistols she totes play on the typical images of femme fatale and dominatrix. Last, but most simply, her three dimensionality contributes to her image as a positive role model for females because Lara Croft has broken the mold and the barriers by becoming a woman in a shooter game, setting a new precedent. Despite representing all of these views, Lara Croft cannot be one and all at the same time. Or can she? A look at the psychology of the gender identity and role behind Lara Croft may shed light upon this question.

Psychologically, I argue that Lara Croft’s gender role development parallels that of an adolescent’s. The formation of gender roles and identity has long been a topic in psychology including discussion from Freud. One of the most compelling models of gender role development is the Parsons and Bryan model created by Jacquelynne Parsons and James Bryan at the University of Michigan. In their model, they view the first stage of gender role development as “[u]ndifferentiated gender-roles” where the subject “is unaware of gender as a social category” (Parsons and Bryan 16). This state of ignorance is similar to that of Lara Croft in the first version of Tomb Raider – she does not have a clearly defined role nor is she completely aware of it and cannot conform to any of the roles that she may be able to fulfill. She Zen 5 also exhibits some aspects of the second stage where some stereotyping does occur such as

“activities, dress, social roles and some personal characteristics” (16). Similarly, Lara Croft does dress and act in certain ways, but her gender-role cannot be clearly defined in these terms.

Lara Croft’s Androgyny

Figure 2 – Man or Woman? Lara Croft with Robert Nideffer’s patch applied. Source: Nideffer.

Continuing her development is the next installment of the series, Tomb Raider II, for

which a patch (a program that modifies the original game) was released by artist Robert Nideffer.

In his patch, Lara Croft gained a moustache and a goatee; and, aside from its breasts, Lara Croft

could be mistaken for a man (see Figure 2). Despite Core’s attempt to make Lara more feminine

by attaching the long, braided pony tail to the heroine, many of her masculine facial features

were retained and the patch by Nideffer only worked to accentuate those aspects of her

masculinity. This image again fits the variety of roles that Schleiner presents with the exception

of Lara Croft as female Frankenstein because she has ceased to be female. She can still act as a

role model for women as a masculine woman or a feminine man and she can still be the drag

queen or obsession of the queer female gaze. However, Lara Croft still remains androgynous

and more so than ever due to having both breasts and abundant facial hair.

Examining the developmental analysis of Parsons and Bryan once again illuminates the

psychological nature of this particular instance of Lara Croft. In their model, after the first two

stages of gender-role development by children, they enter a step called “Gender-role

differentiation” where they “realize that girls and boys can do many different things without

altering their gender” (Parsons and Bryan 17). For girls in particular, they “begin questioning Zen 6 the prescriptive nature of gender roles during this period and maybe begin to move toward androgyny” (17) just as Lara Croft is in a state of androgyny exhibiting both male and female features.

At this point, it seems logical to examine the terminology being used and how it applies to this study of Lara Croft. In a text published by the American Psychological Association, gender is defined as:

[…] a psychological and cultural term that refers to the meaning attached to being female

or male in a particular culture. It is distinct from sex, which refers to the biological

aspects of being female or male. Gender roles are based on societal evaluations of

behaviors as either masculine or feminine; these gender expectations vary from one

society to another. Gender identity refers to one’s subjective feelings of maleness or

femaleness. Thus, gender role identity (sometimes called sex typing) describes the

degree to which an individual identifies with the definitions of masculinity or femininity

constructed by a given society (Basow and Rubin 26).

In terms of this study, we may take gender roles as the configurations that Schleiner applies to

Lara Croft and gender role identity as the perception of others of Lara Croft. Before digging deeper into the psyche of Lara Croft, it is important to recognize how the gamers’ role in their interactions with Lara Croft affect the gender role and gender role identity of both Lara Croft and the gamers themselves. In relation to this interaction, Parsons provides a persuasive account of the formation of gender roles. In particular, she writes:

Four factors are clearly of prime importance in the acquisition of gender-role and sexual

behavior: (1) the behaviors of the individuals around the child, (2) the child's

interpretation of the behaviors of these individuals, (3) the reactions of these individuals Zen 7

to the child's behavior, and (4) biological changes within the child. Biological changes

may be especially critical for sexual behavior patterns at puberty (36).

These factors are essentially how gamers interact with a game. They observe the characters within the game and interpret those characters’ actions. Based upon these interpretations, the gamers form their own actions which are then interpreted by the computer characters in the game.

Essentially, what Parsons describes is the same input-feedback system that constitutes a videogame. By playing Tomb Raider, gamers have put themselves in very unique positions to observe changes in themselves and the characters in the game. In fact, Lara Croft facilitates this type of interactivity according to Gerard Jones who writes: “The image of woman automatically created room for a teenager's imagination to project emotions onto [Lara Croft] that he (or she) couldn't project onto the classic stiff-necked male adventurer” (162). The game space environment and the digital identity of Lara Croft then help form both the gamer’s identity and the gamer’s perception of gender role identity of Lara Croft because it is the gamer who experiences the androgyny of Lara Croft and the gamer who ultimately decides upon his relationship with the game’s characters. Consequently, through experiences of games such as

Tomb Raider, a gamer may find himself looking at his own gender identity and forming opinions about Lara Croft’s gender role, identity, and gender role identity. The female gamer too experiences and explores these same concepts albeit from a different perspective than that of the male gamer.

Figure 3 – Seeing the World through Lara. Source: Core Design, Tomb Raider III Screenshot This interconnectedness between the gamer, Lara Croft, and her gender role is well

illustrated by the mechanics of the game itself. Tomb Raider uses a third person three dimensional perspective and this creates interesting viewpoints for the player who sees the action Zen 8 from behind Lara’s shoulder, thus, seeing both the world from Lara’s perspective and Lara at the same time (see Figure 3). Mary Flanagan provides an interesting take on this concept of game influencing identity and gender role formation by seeing this interaction as a relationship between the players and Lara Croft wherein “ ‘She’ exists for [the players] as a site of becoming-

-winning or losing the game, adventuring, controlling, pleasuring, moving, fighting” (430). Thus, the player can take the role of either Lara or a third party observer. This dichotomy is best expressed by a gamer who states:

“Lara was in Xi'an, looking for the treasure, when I jumped up onto this hill to fight the

monks. They immediately attack me so I fought back with a gun and the knife I had in

my pocket. Then she found what she needed and we were off to the next location” (qtd.

in Flanagan 431).

In this example, the player takes the perspectives of being Lara at some points, being an observer at others, and both himself and Lara Croft at the same time in other instances. With this ability, a male gamer could be both male and female or male and drag queen or any other of the variety of gender roles that Lara Croft accommodates. Similarly, a female gamer could be both female and a man in drag or female and androgynous or any other multitude of gender roles that fit the image of Lara Croft. This seamless ability to move between perspectives allows the players to explore their conceptions of gender for both themselves and Lara at the same time.

However, despite this generous amount of freedom, the player is also restricted by Lara

Croft. In regards to this limitation, Steven Poole writes about the fact that “the bolted-on possibilities of movement that are added in each [Tomb Raider] sequel only serve to remind the player how odd it is that Lara can run, swim, crawl, and jump, but cannot punch or kick an assailant for instance. She cannot even sit down” (Trigger Happy 53). Therefore, the limited Zen 9 freedom that Lara Croft experiences applies to the player; and, being an interactive part of the system, players may interpret this limited control in the same ways that women feel that they lack control. In this manner, male gamers and female gamers alike have the chance to explore the Freudian issue of penis envy, described by Irene Fast as a state where “[the] penis [is a] focus for [the female’s] sense of loss and her demand for restitution is not a wish to be male but a wish for unlimited possibility” (31). In taking the role of Lara Croft and having multiple perspectives available, the user crafts an experience through both his own doing and the game’s restrictions.

Similarly, female gamers may also find that this experience is a way for them to explore and deal with penis envy. Hence, the art designers and the gamer share a role in shaping the gender role identity of the gamer and Lara Croft.

Developing Gender Roles for Lara Croft

Figure 4 – A sexier, bustier Lara Croft. Source: Core Design, Tomb Raider Last Revelation Screenshot.

Lara Croft’s evolution continues in the future editions of Tomb Raider and these editions

push her developing gender role even further. Because the focus of her evolution is primarily in

her image, I will skip over the third installment in the Tomb Raider series because it uses the

same (the graphical program that supports the game) as the second edition. Though

with a good smattering of updates in the game, Lara Croft barely changes at all (Davis). The

fourth game of the Tomb Raider series used a new graphics engine and Lara Croft’s image was

altered once again (see Figure 4). This time, her elbows and knees were made to look more

seamless and the overall goal was to give her a “beautiful seamless, single skin appearance”

(Davis, screen 12). Along with this seamlessness were rounder breasts and a softer face and Zen 10 though it still exhibited the hard lines of determination, it lost some of its masculinity due to the clipping of the chin, softening of the cheek bones, and the accentuation of the hour-glass shape due to the shrunken waistline. Essentially, this new version of Lara Croft was a sexier, bustier

Lara. At the same time, she gained a new slew of moves which “opened up new exploration possibilities” (Davis, screen 12).

This change parallels that of an adolescent as described in the Parsons and Bryan model.

In addition, this change presents a new set of ways in which gamers interact with Lara Croft because of the dramatic increase in the possibilities of exploration. According to the Parsons and

Bryan model, the first part of stage four, the transitional phase, begins after the move toward androgyny in stage three of gender-role differentiation. The fourth phase is marked by the move away from androgyny and the expectation that the subject “become a sexual being and to begin relating to members of the opposite sex” (Parsons and Bryan 17). In particular, there may be a

“rigidification of stereotypes and a re-emergence of a confusion between gender identity and gender-role identity” (18). This kind of confusion and regression toward social acceptance through stereotypes seems to mirror the change that Lara has undergone. After her move toward androgyny in Tomb Raider II, stage three of the Parsons and Bryan model, she has regressed to following stereotypes in a hope to gain “acceptance by the opposite sex” (17) in Tomb Raider IV.

In doing so, Lara continues to parallel the adolescent development of gender role by following up the androgynous face and possible facial hair with rounder breasts and a sexier, shapelier body that emphasizes her femininity; and by following her every step of the way, the players are able to explore their own gender role identities as well.

Because of her regression toward stereotypes, it is important to understand what some of these stereotypes are and how they affect the way that she is perceived and the way that gamers Zen 11 perceive themselves. According to Henry Jenkins of the MIT Comparative Media Studies

Program, “The central virtues of the 19th century ‘boy culture’ were mastery and self-control.

The boys set tasks and goals for themselves which required discipline in order to complete.

Through this process of setting and meeting challenges, they acquired the virtues of manhood”

(12). The importance of nineteenth-century boy culture in the twenty-first century is apparent in videogames which act as the play spaces that nineteenth century boys had. In contrast to the boys, girls’ gaming culture consists of a more domestic setting where girls have “a space of secrets and romance, a space of one's own in a world which offers [them] far too little room to explore” (23). Applying this difference in play space to Tomb Raider, we see that in the past, the series offered a more open form of exploration whereas in this fourth iteration of the series, the levels must be completed in a set order (Davis, screen 12). Thus, despite Lara’s image becoming more stereotypically feminine, the game itself has become more stereotypically masculine. This duality of stereotypes suggests that though Lara Croft has moved to stage four in the Parsons and

Bryan model, the gamer ought to continue considering the implications of this movement as a viewpoint of stage three where the move toward androgyny still exists. Alternatively, this duality may be a plea for the gamer to reach gender role transcendence, a possible outcome of the second part of stage four in the Parsons and Bryan model (Parsons and Bryan 18). According to the study, “adolescents who are exposed to androgynous models, who are forced to think about the relevance of gender-role for their life decisions and who live in an ‘egalitarian’ environment are likely to grow into gender-role transcendence” (18). Therefore, Tomb Raider IV both reaches toward a transcendence of gender roles in the reader; but, at the same time, reshapes

Lara Croft into the alternate possibility of phase two of stage four: the basis of behavior “on the gender-role stereotypes of our society” (18). Zen 12

Reaching a New Gender Role Conception

Figure 5 – Concept Art for a new, hip Lara Croft in Angel of Darkness (Core Design)

Lara Croft’s developmental journey through her “adolescence” is almost complete and as

soon as Angel of Darkness, the sixth installment of the Tomb Raider series is released, she will

complete the fifth stage of the Parsons and Bryan model. In Angel of Darkness, Lara Croft will

have a whole new persona conforming more to a Generation-X image (see Figure 5). Her

breasts are no longer as well emphasized though her hourglass shape is retained and she is less

muscular than her previous iterations. She sports a more fashionable hair style, and essentially,

Lara Croft has become more hip. Lara Croft’s hip-ness suggests her reaching the fifth stage of

the Parsons and Bryan model whereby she has resolved the crises presented at the end of stage

four and resolved into “an integration of masculinity and femininity which transcends sex-roles”

(Parsons and Bryan, 18). According to Meredith Finn, the new hip image and trendy clothing

style suggest a certain amount of androgyny (Finn). For Lara Croft, this new look of Generation-

X style and fashion add to her androgyny.

With her newfound androgyny, the previous gender-role analyses that Tomb Raider IV seemed to have made null through her femininity are all applicable again. Schleiner’s various configurations can once again be applied to the new Lara Croft and the possibility of character identity and association with Lara Croft can once again occur. Mary Flanagan’s assessment of the individual’s interconnectedness with Lara through gender is more than valid than ever.

But why this long, circular journey from androgyny and back?

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The Lara Croft Role Model

The reasons for the changes in Lara Croft throughout the years can be best understood by reexamining some of the issues that this paper has already dealt with: development of gender role and the relationship between gender exploration and game space.

As this paper has demonstrated, Lara Croft’s development throughout the Tomb Raider series has paralleled that of children developing their own conception of gender roles. In building this parallel, the creators of the Tomb Raider series illustrate the depth and the expanding boundaries of their own innovative work: the depth of having Lara Croft stand for so many things and the creativity of building a framework by which the user can tag along. By producing this developmental journey for Lara Croft, the creators of Lara have made a developmental journey for all of her fans as well. Each one of these fans is invited to take part in and on as many levels as he or she pleases. Lara Croft can be appreciated for the changes she has made in developing from a “child” to an “adult” conception of gender role. She can also be understood as a vehicle for the adolescent to explore his or her own confusion in searching for and understanding gender roles by playing the Tomb Raider series of games. Looking at the meta of these interactions illustrates the use of game space to build gendered meaning for players. The amalgamation of these levels and their complexity are the result of the journey through the Parsons and Bryan model of gender role development in conjunction with the Tomb

Raider series and Lara Croft’s evolution.

Ultimately, Lara Croft acts as “androgynous clay” for the adolescent player to mold while the clay itself has been changing according to the whims of Eidos and Core executives. The player can transform Lara into any gender role by manipulating the way in which he or she decides to interpret Lara Croft in both image and movement. Yet, in parallel, the creators and art Zen 14 directors responsible for Lara Croft have been shaping her image into their own concepts of gender for Lara Croft. In doing so, they have restricted the malleability of Lara. For new players of the game, this change means a lesser ability to explore gender roles; but for returning players of the series, this change represents another way for them to conceptualize gender roles and identity. By exploring important social issues such as gender roles and identity, the evolution of Lara Croft demonstrates the videogame industry’s shift and growing focus toward videogames as art. In addition, with insight from the concepts and issues presented in this paper, the games industry may have a better chance of building games that cater to both males and females (such as The Sims Online which is played by an almost one-to-one ratio of men to women (Keighly)).

Applying this understanding of gender roles and identity to the videogames industry may help further knowledge of how to increase and support the trend of more women becoming a part of the videogames industry as both employees and consumers. At the same time, the parallelism between Lara Croft and gender role development sheds light on the games industry itself. More and more women are becoming a part of the videogames industry as both gamers and specialists.

This recent trend signals that games are becoming more androgynous and the industry’s realization that it is missing an entire segment of the market. The comprehension that Lara Croft helps create regarding gendered play spaces may help further the production of videogames as artistic works by assisting the promotion of social issues such as gender equality and understanding. For example, a game released by Sega entitled Nights into Dreams features three characters: a boy, a girl, and an androgynous character that both the girl and boy turn into during their dreams who “[transcends] all the problems below” (Jenkins 37). As Henry Jenkins writes,

“Boys may need to play in secret gardens or toy towns just as much as girls need to explore Zen 15 adventure islands” (36) and Lara Croft is the first step toward achieving this goal. By building better game spaces that are aware of the gender associated with it, developers can help encourage males and females to truly explore and define what it means for them to be male or female and play with gender roles in a way that might not be possible in typical social settings. Sooner or later, more and more gamers will play in games spaces guided by characters like Lara Croft who will show people the way toward a future of sexual equality in the games industry, the higher adaptability of game spaces toward both males and females, and a growing understanding of gender roles.

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