One way to ensure your game gets plenty of column inches, it seems, is to court a little bit of controversy. Enter Crystal Dynamic’s Ron Rosenberg, who told Kotaku last week that his game would include a scene where scavengers “try to rape” Lara Croft.
“Her best friend gets kidnapped, she gets taken prisoner by scavengers on the island,” he originally said. “They try to rape her, and she’s literally turned into a cornered animal. And that’s a huge step in her evolution: she’s either forced to fight back or die and that’s what we’re showing today.”
It sounded like a bold, if not entirely well judged direction for the industry.
[videoyoutube]However, after considerable backlash and confusion, the studio has admitted that the scene doesn’t quite play out in that way, with Darrell Gallagher confirming the details.“We had a great E3 with Tomb Raider and received a fantastic public and press response, with the game picking up numerous game of the show awards based on the new direction taken with the franchise,” he said.
“Unfortunately we were not clear in a recent E3 press interview and things have been misunderstood.”
“Before this gets out of hand, let me explain.”
“In making this Tomb Raider origins story our aim was to take Lara Croft on an exploration of what makes her the character she embodies in late Tomb Raider games.”
“One of the character defining moments for Lara in the game, which has incorrectly been referred to as an ‘attempted rape’ scene is the content we showed at this year’s E3 and which over a million people have now seen in our recent trailer entitled ‘Crossroads’.”
“This is where Lara is forced to kill another human for the first time. In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly.”
“Sexual assault of any kind [is] categorically not a theme that we cover in this game.”
Tanzil
Oh good. My perception by of Lara is safe. Got the exposure up a bit didn’t they?
teflon
Well firstly, that looks like an attempted rape or sexual assault to me. It certainly had some base sexual overtones, you can’t really deny that.
So the bigger question is, when sexual assault is so often depicted in TV and film, why does the games industry persist in shying away from such controversial topics? (other than mass genocide in airports, of course) Just saying that it’s only “threatening” is almost worse than standing up for what is depicted in that trailer and asserting that games can handle these themes in a mature fashion.
Geffdof23
Agree, Why cant they tell a mature story with an adult theme? Lara being faced with sexual assault or killing a guy and that shaping her into the Lara we know seems like a fine story to me. Its not like they were going to show her being assaulted. I don’t mind a dark and gritty tone. In fact I particularly like that it film and tv, so why not in games?
Uhyve
“Agree, Why cant they tell a mature story with an adult theme?”
Judging from the reactions of Kotaku and Neogaf; because the audience isn’t mature enough. Seriously, there was a guy on Kotaku who flat out stated that any rape scene in any medium is pornography, because there is someone out there who will find it “exciting”.
… I just… I just don’t know how to talk to these people. Those who say that it was done in a tactless or insulting way, I have no issue with, that’s subjective.
tantalus_blank
Agreed – depictions of attempted sexual assault can be found in film and TV so why should game devs have to apologise? As long as the scene is respectful to the seriousness of the topic then I object to it being ‘threatening’
Airport shootouts for funsies though? I think that scene could have been great, but it was just done so damn distastefully to cash in on controversy
sg
the backlash was more about the fact that they have rebooted the game, and lara has to victimised by a man to become the “strong” character that we know her as.
and why is the media…the tv shows and films as other comments have mentioned – is it that a strong female character has to be raped/or sexually assaulted for her to become a strong woman?
like…that’s the only origin story they can think of for a female?
tonycawley
I can’t think of a single strong female character in any programme or film that had previously been raped. Therefore I have no idea what you mean.
teflon
Not coming up with anything myself…
I can think of plenty other cliches, though, such as practically all superheroes having lost their parents somehow, or everyone on Lost having “daddy issues”.
In video games, I can think of plenty strong female characters that weren’t the subject of an attempted rape to get there. Supporting or not, I’d absolutely class Elena Fisher (Uncharted), Faith (Mirror’s Edge), Nariko (Heavenly Sword), Rachel Parker (Resistance) and plenty others as being strong female characters.
So yeah, I completely disagree sg’s statement. It’s not that it’s the only origin story (and merely a small facet of it, at that) they could think of, but that they thought it was the best, most compelling and emotive plot point to bring about the first time that Lara has to kill a person.
Uhyve
In the first reboot (I don’t know how much of the existing stories Crystal Dynamic are going to use), at this point both of her parents are missing, presumed dead, it’s not like that one scene is her only hardship ever.
Hell, earlier in the trailer, she falls from a large height, lands on a big ass spike, yanks it out of her side, sees the dead body of someone she clearly recognises, then proceeds on her search for the crew, at this point I would be balling my eyes out. It seems really odd that people assume she’s weak until some guy “threatens” her, though I dunno, maybe they just assume she’s weak because she’s pretty…
xdarkmagician
Art imitates life, ect ect… I’m sure alot of women are scared of rape, so it’s natural to assume that a female video game character would also be afraid of being rapped. I’m also pretty sure that the rape percentage on an island inhabited by scavengers would be faily high in the real world so it’s expected that a young, cute Lara might have to fight of a potential rapist. It’s a sad social commentary, but I believe it adds realism to the scene. As long as scenes like this or the “No Russian” have a part in the overall story they need to be considered art and left uncensored as that’s when they’re emotionally the most powerful.
hazelam
i have to say i’m conflicted over this.
rape is a serious subject, it can and has ruined people’s lives.
but that’s not to say it cannot be handled in a mature and sensitive manner.
many movies have done so.
the Accused being one.
and it can be part of the characters journey, the Shawshank Redemption is a good example.
the trouble is, i’m not sure this industry has the maturity to handle it yet, or it has the wrong idea of what maturity actually is.
and it sounds like they used rape solely as a reason for Lara to make her first kill, so i’m guessing the subject wouldn’t have been handled sensitively.
i look forward to the day when a game can handle rape properly, showing the effect it can have on a person, male or female, showing just how devastating it can be.
when both the creators and the consumers can see it as more than another hardship for the hero or a cheap way of make the bad guy seem more evil.
The Lone Steven
I get that they want to make a mature TR but rape is crossing the line, in fact, they passed the line and are now 100 miles past the line of decency. If you have to have your female main character get nearly raped in order to make her into a strong character then that is shoddy and half arsed writing! Why not just have Lara become the strong woman we all know by overcoming odds and doing what she must to survive on the island. I don’t recall Ripley from the Aliens franchise getting nearly raped into order to become a strong woman, nor do i recall Faith from ME etc…
Heavy Rain managed to just get away with doing an attempted rape scene(if i remeber correctly) as it was a mature game and focused on things that had rarely been done in gaming. If they want Lara to make her first kill then have her struggle with someone that is trying to stab her or shoot her etc.. not bloody rape her!
Uhyve
” I don’t recall Ripley from the Aliens franchise getting nearly raped”
Actually, Alien 3 was set on an all male penal colony, so yeah… don’t really have to explain what almost happens there. Though yeah, it wasn’t what turned her into a strong female character, most likely seeing a bunch of her friends dying did that, much like what seemingly happens to Lara Croft way before that cut scene.
hazelam
actually rape is kind of an underlying theme with the Alien series.
what does the facehugger do if not forcibly perform a sexual act on somebody.
you could say Kane was raped in the original Alien movie.
though it was more what came out of him after that made ripley what she was rather than the actual act.
there’s the forced sexual act, at least it’s sexual for the alien, that’s how it reproduces.
then there’s the unexpected pregnancy, in the case of Alien it’s the alien fetus growing in his chest.
thankfully though human births don’t involve the baby ripping it’s way out through your ribcage.
need i mention how phallic some of Giger’s designs are?
Forrest_01
Plus the fact (trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible, not sure why!) that Ripley is technically ‘pregnant’ in Alien 3… Sort of.
The Lone Steven
You have a point but i think they implented the facehugger attaching to your face and laying it’s eggs in your chest idea for the shock value and not to turn ripley into a strong character after one tries to have it’s way with her. But seeing the first victim getting killed by it did turn her into a strong woman. :)
If Lara is a strong woman by the time the rape nearly happens then there is no reason for it except for making the headlines.
Forrest_01
Oh agreed, she was a strong female lead by about three quarters of the way through the first film – I was just saying that she was also impregnated against her will as such later in the timeline, so it kind of goes along with the subject matter. Kind of.
The Lone Steven
Ah but by the time that happened, she was already a strong woman who had gotten stronger due to the events of Aliens and the events before it. As for Lara, she doesn’t have 2 films behind her to build her into a strong woman thus the rape should not be used to help build her into the Lara we knew before the reboot. :-) Although i wish she wouldn’t sound like she is having sex when she gets hurt as that is what it sounds like. Or prehaps my dirty mind is more dirty then i thought it was. :O
Origami Killer
I think that’s just you Steven :P If this scene, which looks tame from the trailer is needed to trigger something for Lara to become the adventurer she becomes and nothing else can be thought of then it will be necessary for the story IMO.
Amphlett
Perhaps if they had the attempted rape scene viewed from 20 yards away like the child murder in the scene from MW3, would that be OK? The physical (or digitally implied) distance between the subject and the viewer apparently makes it easier to accept.
Origami Killer
Don’t understand the angered responses over this. Rape most definitely is a serious issue, but we have seen the mass murder of innocent people in MW games, and even children in the latest one. These were handled well, and di not need the backlash. Attempted rape, handled maturely in this game, could work well if it is needed to show how Lara becomes the survivalist. Seriously what would you expect? An uncharted island full of crazed men with a hot isolated woman running around the place, would only be a natural response to do so in their situation. As mentioned above we have seen it in Alien 3 as well.
As a repeat, if handled maturely and if it well fitted into the script and story then I see no problem to be honest. There has been worse, far worse.
InternationalGamer
I don’t see anything wrong with this.
The scene never got out of hand.
People say that does a woman need to have an attempted rape on her to be a strong person? Well no, but just because Lara Croft turned out like that, doesn’t mean you have to generalize this about every woman, this is Lara Crofts case in this story.
People say this is a very serious subject, well, yeah it is, but video games have always shown other very serious subjects… best example, the massacre in Modern Warfare 2, that was serious too, or in a Grand Theft Auto game, where mass shootouts and death happen because of drugs, that’s also a very serious cases in today’s world.
They didn’t show her or got her raped in any way, nor did the attempted rape get serious, if this is how far it went in the trailer.
hazelam
i don’t think “it never actually got to rape” is any kind of defence here.
if it’s a totally gratuitous scene then the fact she fought off the attempted rape isn’t enough to justify the scene’s existence.
now i’m not saying rape should never be shown, because the sad fact is, it happens, and sometime you have to show what it can do to the victims.
pretending it doesn’t happen only helps those who perpetrate the acts.
i don’t think the airport scene from cod is a very good choice to compare this scene to, because this scene seems to handle rape in a much more sensitive way than the cod game handled that massacre.
we didn’t see any consequences of that on any of the people involved.
nothing about families devastated, nothing about the remorse, or lack of, of the undercover agent who bore witness to this.
at least this seems to show that for Lara this was a traumatic experience.
frostface
Violence and rape in movies ok.
Violence and rape in video games no ok?
And I thought we were in an age when video games came with age ratings so ADULTS can choose to play or not play what they like.
So there’s an attempted rape in the game. No doubt she’ll escape and maybe torture the S.O.B. trying to rape her Lisbeth Salander style and we’ll all be able to cheer…Hurrah!!!
Lets hold judgement until the full product is released and judge it then on how it was handled. I personally think the game looks great and the more news I hear pouring out about this game, the more excited I’m getting to try it. It doesn’t in the slightest sound like they’re throwing it in gratuitously. With the way they’re making Lara out to be vulnerable (since this is an origins story), this all fits in with what makes her a badass later in life.
Sure they could of used something other than rape, but then again what? It’s an action game, I’m sure she’ll be experiencing many more tragic and socially unacceptable scenarios, no different than Nathan Drake killing a bunch of guys throughout his adventure. But are we desensitised to people getting shot dead through our adventures that we don’t think of the Nathan Drake as a serial killer? He does kill a lot of people, that’s not a spud gun he’s using.
The attempted rape thing is something unique to Lara, something inflicted on her while she is vulnerable. Would having her tortured be more appropriate? I’m sure that’ll happen anyway but if not that than what? I’m in no way trivialising rape. But for the setting of the story if handled correctly, it’ll have us really rooting for her.