Media Question: How are female protagonists represented in 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' and 'The Hunger Games'?

Expectations set both female protagonists up to be the dominant gender, but are they represented as this or do they still face sexual objectification?

Within this investigation I will investigate at how female protagonist are represented in the action genre of film. Specifically I will analyse the two texts 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' and 'The Hunger Games'.  Some audience members might stereotypically believe that the first expectations of both female protagonists are that they are a dominant and positive representation of the female gender, but are they actually represented in this contemporary form or are they still being objectified in the ways Laura Mulvey discusses in the male gaze theory. I firstly will explore if the female protagonist has a reliance on men, secondly I will investigate if their ideology and mindset is relative to the present or some what dated? Lastly I will discuss the representation of the female body, are females still being objectified? Is a realistic body images being projected? and if so why must this be the case? To help answer my investigation I will apply relative theory such as the audience theory, uses and gratifications and Laura Mulvey, The male gaze. In addition feminism and post feminism.

In recent years there has been an increasing number of action heroines within the film industry (1). Women in modern society are seen as equals to the male gender leading the way for strong, female characters to be created in the film industry as a means of inspiring and encouraging this outlook that may have not have been seen in the past. However it is hard to depict whether who are being represented in the idealistic way imagined; are they dominant, powerful women or are they just simply seen as a “chick with a gun” (2)? This is what I will investigate via critical analysis, theory and secondary research.

The idea of being able to control an attractive and feisty female character is an element which the video games target audience of males between fifteen and twenty-six (6) would be drawn to. In an interview with an enthusiastic fan of the video games he stated that he was cautious and protective over the character of Lara when playing, ironically he found himself not just controlling her but looking after her as well. (7) This tells us that before a film was even created the female role of Lara was already given a stereotypical outlook by game players and created for the male audience so even if the film adaptation was developed with the idea that she should be seen as a strong, female protagonist she has already been represented in such a way that many individuals already see her in a particular manner. The idea of being able to control an attractive and feisty female character is an element which the video games target audience of males between fifteen and twenty-six (6) would be drawn to. In an interview with an enthusiastic fan of the video games he stated that he was cautious and protective over the character of Lara when playing, ironically he found himself not just controlling her but looking after her as well. (7) This tells us that before a film was even created the female role of Lara was already given a stereotypical outlook by game players and created for the male audience so even if the film adaptation was developed with the idea that she should be seen as a strong, female protagonist she has already been represented in such a way that many individuals already see her in a particular manner.

The first case study I looked at was ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ in which actress Angelina Jolie plays one of the most well-known female actions heroes. Despite her character being portrayed as this tough female who is not only intelligent and beautiful but is control on the males around her, within the text she is still very much sexualized according to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory (3). Throughout the film the character’s heavy layering of sexual signifiers such as her glasses, holster and garter belts, short shorts and long swinging hair automatically build her up as a visually pleasing aspect taking away the seriousness of what she is supposed to be representing. One may see this as Croft using her beauty to her advantage in the film to gain what she wants (4) but her persona as a seductive supervixen is still not diverting away from the past stereotypical female roles in film like it claims to be attempting to do (5). Originally Lara Croft was created as a video game before later being made into a film, the idea being that the male dominant audience of the video gaming industry could almost control this idealistic women who are represented in a sexual manner but still play an action genre game; this being said even with the expansion of this into the film industry and the widening of the audience she is still associated with this original by many people. It could be said that she is not this image of empowerment nor is she operating outside the boundaries of traditional gender restrictions, so by being the way she is conforms to the stereotypical gender role. 

  In the ‘No Guns’ scene of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider she is positively conveyed as a dominant female. She not only takes control at the beginning of the scene by telling the other men to leave so she can deal with the antagonist on her own so they do not get harmed but she also successfully defeats him with her body strength alone despite him being a being a dominant male. Unlike other scenes she is not sexually objectified in anyway by the camera. The camera angles mainly show her facial expression, followed by long shots of her fighting the antagonist.

However saying this there are particular elements of her character in the film which do keep to the idea of the female protagonist.