Lara Croft has been criticised, especially in her earlier iterations, for being overly sexualised, having unrealistic body proportions, and catering solely to the male gaze, whilst prominently being known as a video game sex symbol. While, in the first few ‘Tomb Raider’ games especially, a lot of this criticism is valid, it is easy to ignore the aspects of Lara that make her such a great female character, and one of my personal favourites.
Lara is considered a breakthrough in video game development history, being one of the first famed female video game protagonists, and perhaps the single most iconic one. In an industry dominated by male developers and players, Lara gave women and girls a strong-minded, tough and intelligent female character to play as. Lara is an archaeologist of extreme intelligence, knowing how to speak several different languages, and an expert in her field. She is independent and fearless, pursuing dangerous destinations and tasks most often alone and undertaking strenuous physical tasks.
Playing 2006’s ‘Tomb Raider: Legend’ as a child on my PlayStation 2 was my favourite pastime. I would not have loved it as dearly as I did if Lara was not the playable character. Her witty one-liners, constant outsmarting of her rivals, and, of course, her iconic cliff dives, had me hooked. I did not care that she was wearing shorts and a low cut t-shirt. Being able to play as a strong, smart woman when I had previously been playing male-fronted titles such as Sonic and Crash Bandicoot was enlightening for me. She will always be my favourite female video game character, and one of my favourite female characters of all time!
