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Lara Croft As The Final Girl
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Apr 25, 2006 05:40 PM
from the psychology-of-teenage-boys dept.
from the psychology-of-teenage-boys dept.
Clive Thompson, over at Wired, takes a look at the appeal of playing as Lara Croft ... and doesn't focus on her physical assets. From the article: "The Final Girl theory emerged in 1985, when Carol Clover -- a medievalist and feminist film critic -- was dared by a friend to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Back then, most feminist theorists loathed slasher films, and regarded them as classic examples of male misogyny. It wasn't hard to figure out why: Thousands of young men were trooping into theaters to cheer wildly as masked psychos hacked apart screaming young women. That really didn't look good. But as Clover sat in the theaters, she noticed something curious. Sure, the young men would laugh and cheer as the villain hunted down his female prey. But eventually the movie would whittle down the victims to one last terrified woman -- the Final Girl, as Clover called her. Suddenly, the young men in the audience would switch their allegiance -- and begin cheering just as madly for the Final Girl as she attacked and killed the psycho."
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Lara Croft's Big Comeback 96 comments
Next Generation has a piece talking to Eidos marketing chief Bob Lindsey about the restoration of Lara Croft's good name. From the article: "Lindsey says the negative associations surrounding Lara will be swept away with a single decent iteration, arguing that Lara, far from being a one-decade wonder, has legs. 'Eidos has learned in spades that just because we make it, does not means they will come,' he says. 'Users are very discerning about what is a good experience and what is not. If you create a big franchise like Tomb Raider, one that has sold more than 30 million units globally, you can't afford to burn it with something that does not deliver.'"
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May the best X win! (Score:5, Insightful)
The summary at least misses the point. The audience didn't "switch their allegiances"; in each conflict, they were cheering for the better (generally smarter) of the combatants. That's why those films seldom just have people being killed. Instead:
Then, at the end, we get to see someone who didn't exhibit these character flaws win.
It has little or nothing to do with sexism, and everything to do with cheering for people with survival traits.
--MarkusQ
Re:May the best X win! (Score:5, Insightful)
Survival traits? Sorry, not even that. And I could, for example, make a pretty good case for greed BEING a survial trait for you and yours.
No, such films are nothing more than grown up versions of the boogyman stories parents would tell their children, all about what happens to little kids who do bad things.
Parent
Re:May the best X win! (Score:3, Insightful)
I could, for example, make a pretty good case for greed BEING a survival trait for you and yours.
Greed (trying to acquire more resources than you could reasonably need) may have been a survival trait before we became so social. Now, it's anti-survival, but the urge is still there (which is probably the strongest argument for it once being pro-survival). In the kludgefest that is evolution, it hasn't been eliminated, but patched over with various greed-limiting mechanisms.
The question is, are we applyi
Re:May the best X win! (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think the audience members really care who it is thats being hacked to bits... is it the bad boy or the naughty girl. Whatever, its somebody being hacked up. Its sensational, it stirs up all sorts of things, I think people often identify with the killer at first because well, the alternat
Re:May the best X win! (Score:3, Interesting)
True Neutral? (Score:4, Funny)
This is why (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, I have an MA in Literary and Rhetorical theory, and this kind of crap is why I left Literary study for Rhetoric and Digital Media when I went for the old Ph.D. The worst part is, I can probably cite most of the papers and books that this woman read, without even finding her references. It gets predictable. Want an alternate reading/viewing? Lara Croft is a modern female version of the "American Adam" archetype, as laid out by R.W.B. Lewis in 1955 in a book by the same name. She's "an individual standing alone, self-reliant and self-propelling, ready to confront whatever [awaits her] with the aid of [her] own unique and inherent resources" (p.5).
The point - and I do have one - is simple: the beauty of cultural criticism is that everyone can debate it endlessly, and everyone who's got the right sources can be right! Yay!
Re:This is why (Score:3, Funny)
No no no, the BEAUTY of it is that everyone can debate it endlessly and PRETEND that it's not about huge tits, when it's clearly the case that it is. That, my friend, is the beauty of cultural criticism.
Re:This is why (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This is why (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Kill Bill (Score:4, Interesting)
Cheering? (Score:5, Insightful)
I call shenannigans on this... (Score:3, Interesting)
Lara is indeed a girl that every boy wants to be with, but not in a plutonic way; they want to control her, and have her be the object of their sexual fantasies.
What are they cheering for? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe the men weren't cheering for the psycho or the woman, but for the violence itself .
Buffy Anybody? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a much closer analogue to Laura Croft, or other fictional kickass ladies like the Major in Ghost in the Shell.
I say bullsh*t (Score:5, Informative)
However, I really don't think of Lara as the "Final Girl". She's just a tough girl, period, if not a sex symbol. C'mon, we all know she was famous for her gravity-defying measures, but later was slimmed down to appeal more to the feminine public. I much less identify with her.
Now allow me to compare to another famous treasure hunter.
Indiana Jones
Family: A devout religious man (Junior?)
Studies: Ph. D. in Archeology
Job: Archeology teacher in Barnett College, NY ("X never ever marks the spot")
Reasons for treasure collecting: "It belongs in a museum!"
Favorite Gadgets: His leather whip and a Fedora with a very high sentimental value (belonged to the man who stole the Cross of Coronado).
Sex appeal: "And my mother's ears, but the rest belongs to you."
Most used quotes: "I hate Snakes!", and "Don't call me Junior!"
Lara Croft
Family: Extremely Rich family (can you compete with the Countess of Abbingdon?)
Studies: At home
Job: What job?
Reasons for treasure collecting: Add to her dad's collection, and, once in a while, save the world
Favorite Gadgets: Dual 9 mm Pistols
Sex appeal: Boing, boing, boing!
Most used quotes: ?
I'll take Indiana Jones, thank you.
She's the one for me. (Score:4, Interesting)
And so am I
The fire, baby. It'll burn us both
There's no place in this world for our kind of fire
My warrior woman. My valkyrie
You'll always be mine. Always. And never
Counter interpretation (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually Lara Croft doesn't really fit with the final girl theory. In Carol's definition you can't start with the *final* girl. She goes through a metamorphosis and becomes more masculine as she survives more of the horror.
Interesting points about the final girl theory:
The theory is flawed (all failings acknowledged by Carol Clover, she doesn't assert that this theory is anything grand or definite) in that it assumes that only adolescent males enjoy horror movies. The theory is completely broken if you agree that any women enjoy horror movies.
The theory itself says that the adolescent boys can identify with the final girl without themselves feeling threatened by the killer (who is hunting women), but who demonstrates the traits of a stereotypical adolescent male masculine fantasy (surviving against all odds, strong, capable, etc.). The theory is that this is a way for young men to indirectly experience homo-erotic fantasies. The women are characteristically running from phallic, penetrating objects such as knives and other stabbing weapons. Yet the final girl is also an erotic object herself. She usually has an asexual name (like Sam) and carries a phallic object like a torch, stick, etc.
Yes, the world of literary theory is stranger than you know. o_O
Avert your eyes! (Score:5, Funny)
Suddenly, the young men in the audience would switch their allegiance -- and begin cheering just as madly for the Final Girl as she attacked and killed the psycho.
Dude, spoiler alert!
Angelina Jolie turned the genre around (Score:4, Insightful)
It speaks well of Jolie as an actress that she was able to bring off the role without it being a joke.
Re:"Medievalist and Feminist Film Critic" (Score:4, Insightful)
All groups extremists drag that groups name through the mud - misogynistic punks just like to forget that
Christian extremists drag the name of Christianity through the mud
Muslim extremists drag the name of Islam through the mud
Environmentalism extremists drag the name of Environmentalism through the mud
Animal Rights extremists drag the name of Animal Rights through the mud
Extremist feminists drag the name of Feminism through the mud
do I really need to go on or are you going to wise up and learn that the fundamental tenents of feminism are: equality of the sexes, the right to choose their roles for both sexes, respect between the sexes.
These extremists vary from that. There are whacko feminists who think all sex is rape, while I know several feminists who think porn awesome*: i'm marrying one of them and the other is going the PRODUCE porn. There are whacko feminists who really are "man haters" but they are not the majority by a long shot.
So GROW UP and stop trying to pretend that the minority is the majority: feminism is about equality - not all these things that Rush Limbaugh falsely attributes to it because of some it's more extreme members.
*except like.. snuff porn, and bukakke
(PS: I'm a guy and a *gasp* feminist because I believe in the equality of the sexes!)
Parent
Re:"Medievalist and Feminist Film Critic" (Score:5, Insightful)
There are several problems with feminism. One of them is the name. The name doesn't say "equality", it's all about women. Another one is the baggage. There've been so many radical feminists that have been embraced by the movement that there's an instant stigma attached to being a "feminist".
Personally, I don't instantly shut down when I encounter someone describing themselves as a feminist, but I have to admit that I'm slightly less likely to pay attention, because of all the ridiculous shit that's carried the feminist banner. I'm a humanist, or maybe an equalist?, and I do believe that all people should be considered equal until they prove that they aren't.
Parent
Re:"Medievalist and Feminist Film Critic" (Score:3, Insightful)
People are deeply self-centered, often don't understand others, or even themselves, and don't reflect upon the meaning of their actions. Society has been owned and run by men, and women have been second class citizens. When you're self-centered you just don't know and don't think about how your actions, such as running society, affects others, such as women. It's every little thing from public restrooms to drug trials, not always obviou
Re:"Medievalist and Feminist Film Critic" (Score:3, Insightful)
"Women who challenge patriarchal structuers, whether compulsory pregnancy, harassment on the job, or nuclear war, will be made to pay." (Barstow, Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch)... and this crap attempts to pass itself as academic history.
Let me restructure this sentance in a language you will understand
if ($person->isWoman() && $person->challenges(array("patria
Re:"Medievalist and Feminist Film Critic" (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a problem that is not unique to feminism. All political and social movements are vulnerable to the