Alicia Vikander, ‘not that kind of Lara Croft’, shows she’s the real deal after all
Gaming in the 1990s wasn’t easy. There’s a flighty resonance with our parents’ stories about walking miles in the snow, barefoot, to get to school, when you compare voice commanding and VR headsets to early console and PC gaming. Back in the day, for us who are practically ancient in tech years, you had to be double-jointed in the thumbs or work really hard and quickly to manoeuvre your hero to do anything. The combination-key moves could break the springs in your grey PC space bar if you wanted to get to the end of a game.
Whether it was Sega’s Mickey Mouse in the
Castle of Illusion (darker than you might think with a red-eyed genie the “boss” to clear the game), the Prince of Persiawith his problematic mazes and difficulty of move-and-jump simultaneously or to get Liu Kang to do a bicycle kick in Mortal Kombat, played at the arcade, you had to practise, practise and try again.
Then there would be software crashes if someone removed a cartridge or CD incorrectly and friendships would be over sooner than you can press “eject”.
Your gaming skills, finding dealers in cheats, upgraded hardware at Christmas or birthdays, gave you street cred.
And there was something anti-establishment about females who enjoyed gaming. There were also few female heroes.
Early console games were never gender divisive, I mean, who didn’t love Donkey Kong?
COOL KILLER, THAT LARA
But when Lara Croft became the PC game to have in 1996, with her penchant for shooting wild animals, finding lost artefacts deep in jungles, and an image of a smart girl who happened to have a killer twopistol shot, she was so cool.
Then Lara was redesigned as the fantasy of some young boy’s wet dream, and was even criticised by Germaine Greer for her backward feminine ideals.
Yet, her adventuring skills, agility and Oxfordschool accent made an awkward teenage girl feel a little more powerful than she might have been in her high school technical-drawing class.
Eye-roll at how male gamers insisted on a naked mode written into the code at one stage and then she started to morph into a Barbie-disproportionate body shape.
In 2001 Angelina Jolie played an extreme version of herself in the movie.
While fans complained about her unimpressive chest (what!) Jolie gave them the middle finger and spoke about kicking villains in the head.
It took more than another decade for Lara to evolve into a heroine less objectified for her looks and revered for her skills.
When Alicia Vikander played the Tomb Raider this year, the hot pants were swapped for more practical cargoes, and the films were about her work as an archaeologist, her bravery and athleticism, rather than her out of proportion body.
Vikander mentioned that she had to beg male friends to play the game as a teen, often confined to playing the safe, indoor parts.
In this movie she excelled where the storyline did not, with a lack of bouncing bosoms. She said: “I’m not that kind of Croft.”
And for awkward teen girls who liked playing Lara for her strength and smarts, Vikander is the real kind of Croft.