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Jovovich (Resident Evil'), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill') are just a few of the examples. However, Weaver's acting talents often lose priority to the way she looks in her movies, www.askmen.com is just one of several websites where Weaver is not commended on her portrayal of the character as much as she is on her appearance ("not to mention, she looks great in a body suit.")

Institutions
Tomb Raider' was made by Paramount. The casting of Angelina Jolie, already a noted female action star, is an example of the use of star power. The filmmakers knew Tomb Raider' would be a success due to the popularity of the video game which the film was an adaptation of. Resident Evil', also an example of a video game transformed into a film, also uses star power to sell the movie.

Media Language
A look at the first five minutes of Tomb Raider' tells an audience a lot about the representation of Lara Croft and about the rest of the film. As with the rest of the film, the first five minutes spend a lot of time focussing on Lara's body. The establishing shot of her face is shot from a low angle, perhaps to demonstrate her superiority over the scene and over the audience, but more likely to emphasise the size of her breasts. There are several examples of gratuitous shots of Lara's crotch and thighs; later on in the film there is a crash zoom that appears to zoom into nothing but the gun holster around Lara's thighs (one cannot help but think that most of the audience is not actually looking at the holster). Many of the shots cut off mid-thigh or just below the breasts, emphasising Lara's body.

The first fight scene is also highly sexualised. Lara is pictured rolling across the floor with her legs open several times. Another shot depicts Lara on her back, legs open, struggling; the robot she is fighting leaning over her, nearly overpowering her. This shot could be said to be alluding to a rape scene and definitely displays the (male) robot's superiority over Lara. However, she does manage to fight off the robot and deactivate it. The diagetic sound in this scene is obviously exaggerated- Lara's grunts; moans and screams are clearly louder than the non-diagetic music in the scene.

The next scene of the film displays Lara in the shower, a scene featuring no action, no purpose to plot, character development or to the film at all. The sound, lighting and camera angles are all used to emphasise Lara's sexuality.

The same combination of implied (and often not implied) sexuality and innuendo (Hello

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