Summary
For a lot of people,Lara Croftwas the first video game heroine they ever got to play as. Many consider her the first strong, self-sufficient female protagonist in video gaming. Others saw her sexuality as objectifying and gratuitous. I didn’t play the earliestTomb Raidergames as a kid, but Ididwatch the film adaptation where she was played by Angelina Jolie, so I kind of got why she was a big deal. I wasn’t sure why Lara Croft was considered a hero when she wasso obviously stealing artefacts from other cultures for no apparent reason, but I digress.
That was in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, when we saw far fewer women taking the lead in video games. Things are very different now: two ofSony’sbiggestPlayStationfranchises,HorizonandThe Last of Us, are fronted by queer women, a move that came with significant and predictable backlash. The female perspective and a general distaste for misogynistic attitudes has become increasingly common in critical spaces. A video game having a woman hero is no longer worth noting on its own, and it’s hard to imagine a modern game having the same impact on culture that Tomb Raider had. And yet,Perfect Darkmight be that game.
The Lara Croft Sauce
Lara Croft and protagonists like The Last of Us’ Ellie or Horizon’s Aloy are very different. They’re all strong and capable, skilled, with compelling and complex backstories. But Lara has something that a lot of modern video game characters don’t – swag. She’s justcoolin a way that a lot of female protagonists aren’t nowadays, because they’re meant to be more relatable, and most people are just not that cool.
Lara, at least as she was originally conceived, sits in a different realm – she’s more likeBayonettaorResident Evil’sAda Wong, treading the line between sexy and competent. Her appeal to women and girls was not so much that she was hot, but that she was good at what she did and looked good doing it. It was aspirational.
While Lara Croft was already an icon long beforeCrystal Dynamicsgot its hands on her – there was a film series made about her, after all – her legacy was only buoyed by the second reboot of the series, which brought games with modern triple-A sensibilities and graphics to a whole new, somewhat younger audience. It’s also true that it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a new Tomb Raider game, and it may be a while yet before we see one. There’s a gap that needs filling.
Could Joanna Dark Be Our New It Girl?
I’ve been thinking a lot about It Girls lately, largely because I’ve been thoroughlybrat-pilledby Charli XCX’s new album. We see It Girls every generation, earning their places in the fashion, acting, and music industries, or more often, ending up with that status just because they’re rich. Obviously, Lara Croft is gaming’s It Girl – or was 25 years ago. Who could be next? Who has the potential for that kind of swagger?
I think it might be Joanna Dark. This is a wildly speculative thing to say, I know. We’ve barely seen anything from Perfect Dark apart from that super cool gameplay trailer, but I think there’s potential there. For starters, the new Perfect Dark is also a Crystal Dynamics-led reboot of a game from decades ago, which is an obvious, easy parallel to draw. They managed to pull it off with Lara Croft, so why not Joanna Dark?
But more importantly, it’s just thevibeI’m getting from the game. Joanna’s brutal combat, the ease with which she moves around the environment, and theaction-packed sequences we saware all emblematic of the kind of game I expect – or hope – will have an It Girl-type protagonist.
It’s hard to say right now, but if Joanna Dark’s character leans less into the relatability characteristic of modern triple-A storytelling and goes a little campier with it, we might have an icon on our hands. One with less colonialist baggage, at that.
