I can’t imagine that Core Design, the original creators of Tomb Raider could have foreseen that Lara Croft and her adventures would have become such a global phenomenon. Since 1996, there have been twenty games and three major Hollywood films based on our favourite energetic heroine. In my game library alone, I have every Tomb Raider game ever released up to and including mobile versions and I’ve watched each of the films several times. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of the series, but one wonders how much can be milked from such a cash cow.
As I mentioned in a previous article, Amazon will be publishing the next major game in the series (Shadow Of The Tomb Raider was released in September 2018) and the company has also confirmed that a new TV series is on its way, penned by none other than Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the star and writer of the TV series, Fleabag. As an aside, this announcement has caused an uproar in the gaming community as Ms. Waller-Bridge is seen as a woke feminist who ‘ruins everything she touches’. Her role in the latest Indiana Jones film and especially her influence over the James Bond film, No Time To Die, are frequently referenced as evidence of her woke intentions. I would have to watch No Time To Die another time in order to comment, but judging from her performance in Fleabag, which I had to abandon because it was so utterly trashy, I reserve comment for now. There is even talk of another Tomb Raider feature film being produced by Amazon, but we don’t yet know if Ms. Waller-Bridge will be involved in that; it’s possible because she has apparently been paid around $60M by Amazon for doing not very much at all.
In February this year, Tomb Raider Reloaded was released for mobile and I have no idea why, except maybe to milk more $$ out of the franchise. Since it’s free on Android and iPhone, I installed the game on my phone, played for less than five minutes, and promptly uninstalled it because it was so bad.
Back in 2007, a Tomb Raider anime was produced by GameTap and starred Minnie Driver as the voiceover of Lara Croft. GameTap later went bust and all the episodes were then made available on YouTube. This leads neatly into Netflix’s new Tomb Raider anime series due to be released this year and starring Hayley Atwell as the voice of Lara Croft along with the characters, Jonah and Zip making a return to the story. So we have a TV series, an anime series, and a possible feature film for the franchise when most fans would much rather see an actual AAA Tomb Raider game. But clearly, the bean counters would like to wring as much as they can from Lara. But then, that is the nature of the entertainment industry with franchises such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, et al, being thrashed to death for the sake of a few dollars more, but losing sight of the original vision.
We can only hope that the franchise doesn’t get utterly trashed and become a mockery of itself and that the next Tomb Raider will not be tainted by woke feminism where Lara the eco-warrior becomes a non-binary, Me-Too single mother, living in an eco-friendly squat in south east London. That would hardly be conducive to raiding tombs, would it?
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Personally and no offense, but I think the word Woke is overused and has no actual meaning. It’s became the defacto word for I didn’t like it.
When the last James bond film trailer came out (not watched the film yet), people claimed it was woke because it had a non white character in it. I saw the same happen with series 10 of doctor who and Bill turned out to be one of my favourite companions as she was a lot more real than the previous Clara, down to earth etc.
I mention doctor who as I’ve seen some people call series 12 anti white yet it had the first non white master and Lenny Henry as a villain. Bad writing I will agree with and sometimes heavy handed but I feel no one can properly define what woke itself is
There may be many definitions but we all know what woke is. I see it mainly as virtue signalling a load of modern Leftist illogical claptrap nonsense such as men in dresses with mental issues can be women and have babies and use female toilets just because they identify as such. Several major corporations, like Gillette, Disney, Anaheuser Busch and Target in the US have all tried it on and found to their detriment with the resultant backlash that the majority of their customers didn’t agree with all the virtue-signalling B/S and have been punished severely in their bottom line. I stopped watching Dr Who the moment the BBC, itself a woke very Left-leaning organisation and surviving solely because of forced viewer licensing, decided to make Dr Who a woman. Hollywood was also contemplating a female James Bond but now that so many woke and remake films have recently been severely burnt at the box office already fortunately they may think twice. Suffice it to say that if they go down that path and deviate from Ian Fleming’s male character it will be the last dollar they ever get from me.
Marc to be honest I have never wanted to play Lara Croft or as any female character in all my years of gaming. If I am going to play as a character I want to identify with it. As I am a baby-booming white male I most certainly don’t identify with a pixellated woman (an originally well-endowed pixellated woman before her breast size proportions were digitally diminished to satisfy the feminists). However whatever floats your boat !!
Normal people are getting heartily sick of all this woke nonsense. I predict that in a few more years from now when more right-leaning governments gain power and with leftist socialist government policies being proven miserable failures we will look back on these days soon and laugh heartily just as much as we laugh today at those ridiculous platform shoes women used to wear in the 70’s !!!
Hello Reg
You raise an interesting question about Tomb Raider (TR) that I hadn’t considered until now.
Do I play the games because Lara is female or do I play because the TR games are so good? Would I play the games if the character had been male?
No, yes and yes to those questions.
I too was born in the 50s, but it’s not really what I identify with as such, because the gameplay would be very similar as a male character. Perhaps it’s that Lara is British, has some nobility and is successful at kicking the proverbial rear end of her enemies, most of whom are men with big guns and ridiculous pick up lines.
Cate Archer from NOLF is another great example of a female heroine done well and is now a classic. Many female characters often end up with the best characterisation as well, I’ve noticed, whereas the males are generally macho tropes.
One can certainly identify with a hero whether they be male or female, in my opinion.
By the way, I identify as a bloke, lol, and like you, no woke on my agenda, thank you very much.
I don’t personally think you need to fully identify as long as the gameplay and or story is decent.
I mean by that logic should I not play army games because I’ve never been in the army? Should I avoid films with a lead female?
I just think the word woke is thrown around too much these days. Like the second avatar I saw some people calling it woke and some anti woke