Of Video Game Sex
Icons and Feminism
by Krysten Allen
This was not the first time men had
admired pin-ups of physically non-existent
fantasy women, but certainly the first time
they would ogle a 3D
representative.
Although
video game pin-ups have existed since
the revival of interest in consol games,
in the mid 1980s, most consisted of
cartoonish depictions of various scenes
representing the game’s story line; Such
as Nintendo’s hero, Link, from the
popular Legend of Zelda franchise,
slaying a multi-headed dragon, or a
whimsical forest scene of Sega’s Sonic
the Hedgehog. The classic pin-up genre
featuring suggestively posed women was
introduced to video game art posters in
1996 with the inception of the British
company, Eidos’s Tomb Raider series,
starring who can now be credited as the
first massively popular digital sex
icon, Lara Croft.
First
conceived as the female Indiana Jones, Ms.
Croft’s astronomical measurements (36D 24 35)
and the innovative, detailed 3D environments
escalated the series to instant fame, with an
adolescent male fan-base, and eventually the
video gaming public in general. Eidos quickly
seized their adventitious opportunity, and
the Tomb Raider series was mass marketed to
an avid audience through t-shirts, watches,
backpacks, hats, action figures, a comic
series - and two very classic staples of
pin-ups: posters and calendars.
Instruction booklets that were included with
Tomb Raider games offered mini-catalogues of
the merchandise, including posters of the
computer modeled heroine rendered in various
poses and various states of dishabille. This
was not the first time men had admired
pin-ups of physically non-existent fantasy
women, but certainly the first time they
would ogle a 3D representative. Just as the
Petty and Vargas Girls from decades previous,
Eidos’s Girl was treated as a
living-breathing celebrity, and was featured
on hundreds of magazine covers, including
Playstation Magazine, GamePro, and even non
video game based publications such as TV
Guide and SFX magazine. Croft also starred in
television commercials for the American Sci
Fi channel and advertising campaigns for
British SEAT cars and Lucozade Energy, and
eventually a live-action movie which starred
actress Angelina Jolie.
Lara Croft has
been labeled as the first true supermodel of
the cyber age, and was even nominated as one
of Time magazine’s Top 20 most influential
figures of the 20th
century. Due to
her massive popularity and ubiquity, fans
quickly and eagerly began producing their own
pin-ups of Ms. Croft, which also include
hundreds of photos of fans dressed as the
character.
The
imposing marketing campaign launched by Eidos
would eventually lead to a short term massive
loss in interest in the Tomb Raider series,
as well as its heroine. With a new game
flooding the market every year in the late
1990s, quality suffered, and not even Ms.
Croft posing seductively in a bikini with a
harpoon gun kept fans captivated. After the
second film’s lackluster box office report
and the failure of the series’ first
Playstation 2 game, the team at Eidos was
fired and the Tomb Raider title was
officially handed to Crystal Core for an
overhaul. Lara’s personality was tweaked, her
figure scaled down, and her outfits, while
still pressing on the side of seductive,
became much more practical for actual tomb
raiding. The series revival could not have
come at a better time, as over the years
video games had become increasingly popular
with female gamers. Now that Ms. Croft’s
pin-ups focus more on her toughness and love
for adventure, she has matured into a much
more healthy role model for girls and her
posters now adorn their rooms. The boys like
that she’s still sexy.
Interestingly, Lara Croft’s fame and success
has taken strides to cast off the concomitant
shame of viewing sexualized 3D icons. With
today’s technology and progression towards
more digital media, the world has become
increasingly accepting of sexualized digital
images. 3D video game pin-ups now include
pose books and magazines dedicated to poster
pin-ups, complete with short biographical
paragraphs, birth dates, and other personal
data - the kind of information one might find
in a copy of Playboy or Penthouse.
Lara Croft continues to be a valuable and
marketable property, and her pin-ups will
proceed to decorate the walls of fanboy and
fangirls alike, for many years into the
future.
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Tags: Video Game, Sex Icons, Feminism, Krysten Allen, video game pin-ups, Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft
