Game adaptations in cinema and television are shaky ground. It’s very rare to find something mediocre, let alone good. Even more fear grips the hearts of gamers when large corporations take on beloved, long-running series. What did they do with this Tomb Raider?
A little over a week ago, a series portraying the new adventure of Lara Croft, the main character of the beloved Tomb Raider game series, premiered on Netflix. You can argue whether the series is good or unwatchable. Viewed completely objectively, without knowing its origins, it is a solidly produced animation that is pleasant to watch all at once on a weekend afternoon. However, there is something that Netflix showrunner Tasha Huo has achieved remarkably well. Lara Croft has become a flesh and blood character.
The background of the events in the series is the plot of the last three Crystal Dynamics games, the so-called Survivor Trilogy. This is probably also the version of Lara that the current generation of gamers is more familiar with. Strong, independent and in difficult conditions, she will create weapons and ammunition with whatever she can. She is also burdened with remorse after using the weapon for the first time and blames herself for the deaths of the people who accompanied her. In the Netflix adaptation, these human characteristics are further refined, presenting the world with a realistic man doing unrealistic things. Oh, how different this image is from the actual creation of the creators’ minds. Times have changed, the audience has changed and this is definitely not the Lara Croft who was born in 1996.
Today’s heroine no longer exudes sex appeal for eager glances. She doesn’t look for excuses to explain how a character of such a stature, delicate, airy with huge breasts can move huge stone blocks. How he can fight magical creatures and even dinosaurs. Today’s Lara is really no longer something from 1996. This does not mean that its creator, Toby Gard, had bad intentions. On the contrary, as almost twenty years ago (on the occasion of one of the new visions for Tomb Raider Legend) in an interview for the Guardian he said: She was really different from the game characters of the time. Compared to the broad-shouldered guys shooting guns, she had real charm. She had a mysterious and menacing aura that contrasted greatly with the other female characters who were basically sex objects. The intentions were sincere, but there is no point in fooling yourself. Tight clothes, too short shorts and so on. It wasn’t a character design that was simply meant to be unique, it had to add fuel to the fire of the “players prefer to play with pretty characters” nonsense.
However, even he had enough when the company began to prey on this image. At the same time, when the heroine was increasingly objectified, fans were turned into idiots who only thought about one thing one. Each subsequent installment focused more on revealing the next sexy model who would become the face of the newest part of the game. In all this, the DNA of the character that was originally introduced was lost. Instead of focusing on building a legend around the intention to present a mysterious character, Eidos (the publisher) followed the path of least resistance. This one got lost for years core design Lary, an intelligent adventurer, gymnast and thief of other cultures’ heritages.
It was even more of a pleasure to return to the trend started by Rhianna Pratchett, creating a human side of Lara Croft. The Netflix series is not without its flaws. One of the most serious is the strong desire to please both fans of the animation and the game series. Chase follows chase, interspersed with another unrealistic sequence of sliding down a rocky wall studded with stalagmites. Along the way, one tries to cram in difficult, complicated human relationships that require a lot of attention and strength. That’s just what you think, give her a break, Lara, hang in there! But I think that was probably what was needed. Creating a solid foundation that will say goodbye to one medium to welcome the next. The final bonus for players was the use of the icon, dual pistols, in the fight against the dinosaur.
There is a lot of hope in this show’s lack of perfection. After all, what is more imperfect than a human being? This short series has done away with the busty excuse for a female character and created an engaging character whose next adventure you’re waiting to see how she’ll handle it, not what she’ll look like.
Source: antyweb.pl
