In the reboot of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, now played by Alicia Vikander, finds herself the sole female on an island inhabited solely by assorted castaways, cretins, hired guns and slaves. What happened to all the women? Geneva Robertson-Dworet, a co-writer on the film, told The New York Times that in the original script, half of the slaves were women. But Vikander thought it would heighten the drama if she was the only woman on the island of “desperate men” and so she told the writers. “That was an interesting conversation,” Robertson-Dworet said to The Times. “Do you want more female faces onscreen, period? Or is it better for the character journey that she’s in this very threatening, all-male world?” In the age of #MeToo, the Warner Brothers had to figure out how to reintroduce Lara Croft. Long before the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, Tomb Raider sparked lively debates about gender and representation. Was she actually a figure of empowerment? Or was she over-sexualized, created for male gamers? The new film shows Lara’s life before she began raiding all the tombs. It shows her life as a twentysomething living in East London and working as a bicycle courier, kickboxing and struggling to make rent. When the character was played by Angelina Jolie, she oozed professionalism and cool, but this new Lara Croft is something of a screw-up. She is frightened and unsure, allowing her to have a “hero’s journey” story arc. Tomb Raider will hit theaters March 16.
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