“Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo? On the Limits of Textual Analysis” by Helen W. Kennedy is a really interesting read. Lara Croft is a little passe these days, but the analysis remains quite trenchant. Here is the intro:
As the title suggests, the feminist reception of Lara Croft as a game character has been ambivalent to say the least. The question itself presupposes an either/or answer, thereby neatly expressing the polarities around which most popular media and academic discussions of Lara Croft tend to revolve. It is a question that is often reduced to trying to decide whether she is a positive role model for young girls or just that perfect combination of eye and thumb candy for the boys. It is also increasingly difficult to distinguish between Lara Croft the character in Tomb Raider and Lara Croft the ubiquitous virtual commodity used to sell products as diverse as the hardware to play the game itself, Lucozade or Seat cars. What follows then is an analysis of the efficacy and limitations of existing feminist frameworks through which an understanding of the kinds of gendered pleasures offered by Lara Croft as games character and cultural icon can be reached.
The essay, published in December 2002 in the periodical “Game Studies,” can be accessed here.
