You be the judge

Crystal Dynamics recently revealed that along with the rips, tears, and bruises of a much younger and inexperienced Lara Croft in their upcoming reboot Tomb Raider, Ms. Croft will also face an attempted rape.  This statement was later clarified by Crystal Dynamics where they claimed their words were twisted by online gaming website Kotaku during the interview that has seemed to outrage fans of the series and the gaming population in general.  So what’s the big deal?  Why can’t a video game explore a more mature and vulnerable storyline involving a female that is usually strong and very dependent? Movies, novels, etc…seem to be able to get away with telling these stories, so what’s wrong with a video game telling the same thing?

Rape is something that is not to be taken lightly.  It is a serious offense and can damage the victim for years to come.  People are often afraid to speak about it or even mention the term which is one of the reasons that I believe that the idea of a video game character being in that situation seems so hard to grasp.  After all video games are long considered to be a form of escape, a creative outlet, and gives the player the chance of playing out events that can otherwise send a person to jail.  So do gamers really want to see an attempted rape.  Probably not, but we are talking about something that can be done in other forms of entertainment without a single word being mouthed about how it shouldn’t have been done. A fantastic case in point is the 2002 novel The Lovely Bones and the 2009 movie adaptation, The Lovely Bones where a young girl is lured by a disturbed man who rapes her, murders her, dismembers her body, and dumps the remains in a sinkhole.  I’m not sure how many of you remember the critiques that came out by those that read that book and famed movie critiquers such as Robert Ebert seemed disappointed that the movie did not follow in the book’s footsteps of showing the brutalization of the young girl.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert on The Lovely Bones Wiki

On the movie side of things, in 1999′s hit Boys Don’t Cry starring Hilary Swank as the main character who is a female leading the life of a male as a transgendered.  Swank’s character Brandon falls in love with Lana who returns his affections, however is heckled by two other men who cannot accept that Brandon has female genitalia.  Both of the men end up beating, raping, and eventually murdering Brandon in front of Lana.  Boys Don’t Cry was hailed in the media for tackling tough subjects especially after the killing the openly gay Matthew Shepard.  Boys Don’t Cry ended up receiving 43 awards including Hilary Swank winning best actress at the Academy Awards.

So what is with the double standard?  Why do people gravitate towards movies and novels based on the same touchy subjects however when it’s presented in a video game, people tend to back away from it?  Or does the problem with the term rape being spoken about a female character in a game that you play as just spook everyone?

Take Atomic Games, Six Days in Fallujah that Konami dropped out of publishing.  Completely different subject matter, but again the same touchy subject involving the Iraq war.  Why is it that the thought of playing these events out in a video game disgust people, but yet we can turn on the news and listen to the stories of the events that transpired that day or even watch a beheading or hanging over the internet?

It’s a double standard in the entertainment industry and one that I believe should be crossed.  If Lara Croft’s backstory includes an attempted rape, why can’t the subject be in the game in a way that Crystal Dynamics would see fit? Knowing the full story to a character causes a person to root for them even more and in this case with Lara Croft where we are seeing her origins, why wouldn’t you want to know what happened to Lara before she became the *** kicking, pistol toting, female badass that we know and love?

 

 

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As long as the game is appropriately rated, I think its the developers right to tell the stoty they want, and us as a consumer to say if thats ok

Why not indeed. The whole "games are for kids" mentality needs to end, now. They're just another form of media like movies and books, they can do whatever they want. There's a rating system, so there shouldn't be a problem.

After I had posted this, I was reading about what other gamers were saying about Crystal Dynamics and the whole Lara Croft raped thing, and I was actually apalled by the responses because it seemed alot of people were against it. I just don't get it.

As horrible as it is, that type of mental, physical, and spiritual anguish is an emotional driving force. If handled correctly it could also be used to bring attention to the horror someone feels when they go through this and even an outlet for for recovery in a character that goes through similar trauma.

After I had posted this, I was reading about what other gamers were saying about Crystal Dynamics and the whole Lara Croft raped thing, and I was actually apalled by the responses because it seemed alot of people were against it. I just don't get it.

Some people have no mind to think outside the box. Thats why they put a rating system on the games, if you dont wana deal with it dont buy it. If its just thrown into the game for a sex saleand shock value forget it. But if its done in a way that inhances the story and i doubt theres gona be anything hardcore, go for it. Ive read the artical on the game in IGN and it sounds like a worthwhile game. The only beef i can see is some kids gona get his parents to buy it and his folks are gona see the rape and the crying from rooftops will start(but thats a diff issue)

Exactly, Irish, and the parents will blame video games, cable news will break their necks reporting on it and no one will even think of the parents that bought that game for the child.

Most parents won't let their children watch R rated films but they're clueless when it comes to games. If the media would finally point to the parents who are buying these games for their children, maybe they'd start accepting responsibility in all this. Maybe they'd start paying attention to the ratings and treat them as they do with movies.

Well, based off what I've seen and read I don't think it's going to go nearly as far as other media has taken it. An implied ending to what is to come if she doesn't act. Baby steps, but I do agree that games should NOT be held to this crazy double standard. I, for one, am incredibly excited for this game. The grittiness of it, and what I see as a game that will garner very large emotional attachment to Lara and her situation. As those that played the latest Max Payne know, there is no reason a game can't have the same pull as a movie or a book. I truly felt like I was playing the action scenes in a movie with Max Payne 3.

No, there shouldn't be double standards. Sit down and shut up all you complainers. You same complainers that, in the past, tried to have books banned due to content. Emotional art has to be true to itself, and if you don't like it don't participate.