Computer-age sexism

July 25, 2001
Issue 

Blatant sexism and gender stereotypes in action films are not new. Nor are unbelievable feats of daring unexpected in your average action flick. Predictable and tacky plots along the lines of the film Tomb Raider's "dutiful daughter fights to fulfill rich daddy's mission to save the world" are pretty much the norm.

But it is relatively unusual for the action hero to be a woman. Tomb Raider's Lara Croft is tough, uncompromising, insightful, demanding and cunning. The fact that Lara Croft is a computer game character makes the hype around Tomb Raider even more bizarre.

Lara Croft has been a media star since her creation in 1996, and Angelina Jolie's role in the movie is one of many human incarnations of the computer character.

Like most computer characters, Lara Croft's body — tiny waist, huge breasts — is a physical impossibility. She is a computer-age Barbie — a woman with her body would not be able to walk, let alone save the world.

Having done as much as they can with real-life supermodels to enforce impossible images on women, it seems that the only way now that game designers and film directors can push the boundaries of impossibility is through computer generation.

This unreal expectation of women to "look the part" has a disturbing impact. Along with the rise in eating disorders, women undertake more and more horrific cosmetic surgery. Some women remove a lower rib in order to appear thinner (Lara Croft would probably have to have a few ribs removed if she were to exist in a human form).

The "beauty industry" is big business. The computer-generated image of Lara Croft is worth more than $400 million, appearing in commercials and rock concerts.

She even turned up in a car ad which featured Angelina Jolie beckoning the viewer toward a beefed-up Land Rover, captioned "come and get some".

Accompanying text says "there is plenty to like about the new Tomb Raider film, for the excitement isn't limited to Angelina Jolie jumping around in Lara Croft's gear. There are plenty of cool cars and bikes to drool over as well".

Sexism sells!

Some have attempted to paint Lara Croft as a feminist icon. Emma Tom wrote in the June 30 Sydney Morning Herald, "Lara Croft joins a long history of kick-arse chick icons whose feminist pedigrees are somewhat tainted by the fact that they were invented by blokes".

You have to question Tom's reasoning. Sure, Lara Croft rides fast, throws quick punches, resists the pressure to "be a lady" and she can't cook (having a butler helps). This no doubt appeals to young women's desires to break out of the "woman as doormat" mould — but this doesn't make her any more a feminist icon than a light globe.

The problem isn't that she was invented by a "bloke", but that she is the creation of a sexist media industry — designed to sell more products and reinforce the idea of women as sex objects.

Tom claims "anatomical irregularities aside, Lara Croft still runs rings around the alternatives. At the end of the day, I'd much rather see an impossibly glamorous woman who has the know-how and fire power to look after herself than one who sits round screaming until some he-man turns up to do it for her."

But in the context of a sexist media industry and gender stereotypes, it is impossible to separate the created image of Lara Croft and her "know-how and fire power". In the Tomb Raider film, the power of Lara Croft is constantly, if subtly, attributed to her "beauty". From the power pout to the "sexy" stride, she is constantly on show.

There is also the typical love interest sub-text, and it is the bad guy's attraction to her that saves her in at least one situation that not even Indiana Jones would have escaped.

The sexual innuendo starts with the first scene and continues right through the film, as do the scenes no doubt written into the film for the "drool effect" (how many male action heroes do we see showering after their first fight?).

Tom, like most in the corporate media, want us to see a feminist role model as any woman with "attitude", regardless of what that attitude is, whether pro- or anti-feminist.

To "kick arse", they argue, you have to conform to a Hollywood stereotype of "beauty" — an oppressive strait-jacket if ever there was one.

BY KATHY NEWNAM

[The author is the Adelaide branch secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party]

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