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audience for video games are male, aged 12-19, of all socio-economic groups. Although by changing the medium, from video game to film, the audience will be wider, it is still predominantly male. Since the game was very well-known the kind of narrative and image associated with the lead role was established before the film was created. However, the way in which the film represents the character of Lara clearly shows the influences of male filmmakers behind the scenes.

An article from a videogame magazine attempted to describe the appeal of Tomb Raider' as both a film and a game: "Lara had something that hooked audiences like nothing has before. At the centre of Tomb Raider' was a fantasy female figure. Each of her provocative curves was as much a part of the game as the tombs she raided. She had a secret weapon in the world of gaming well actually, two of them!" (Lethal and Loaded', 2001).

Although statistics show that cinema audiences are made up of approximately 50/50 males and females Tomb Raider' appears to be a film aimed mainly at men.

Although the image of Lara Croft is essentially emphasised to sell the film to the audience, the portrayal of the protagonist is aimed at an audience dominated by males, which supports the patriarchal structure of the film industry.

The highly sexualised representation of Lara Croft can be explained by the fact that (as we have seen here) the film is targeted primarily at a male audience.

Males in Similar Roles
As previously mentioned Indiana Jones' is an action movie featuring an attractive male protagonist. There are several examples of films where males are placed under the female gaze', for example in Terminator III' when the Terminator lands on earth, naked, the first place he finds is a male strip club, where the audience consisting entirely of females make sexual advances towards the Terminator. Another example is Bruce Willis in the Die Hard' movies. Willis' character is often seen as an object to lust after, both within the narrative of the films and in the audiences of the films. This has done no harm to the popularity of the movies, but has to be noted as over sexualised representation in order to increase media popularity does not just apply to women.

Conclusion
Of course there are people who will question the opinions made in this essay and in feminism as a whole. One of these is the question: why can't women be portrayed as strong, intelligent and empowered as well as being sexually attractive?

This essay is not trying to say that women have to be either stupid and pretty or ugly and clever; it is not saying that beautiful women can't be empowered and vice versa; what it is merely questioning why the film makers feel the need to spend more time focussing on the body, appearance and sexuality of the female characters than they do the male characters; more focus than on the character's intelligence or ability; really more focus on the aesthetic than on the plot itself. Which, really, is the reason most people go to watch a film in the first place.

Learn more about this author, Charlotte Starlet.
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