"Kan Mei" is a hot film star in recent years, and we don't want "Tomb Raider" to become a stain on her acting career, of course, we don't want to see the classic image of "Laura Crawford" in the history of the game destroyed by her.
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While we hadn't recovered from our disappointment with the Assassin's Creed movie version, news came that Erica Vikander (commonly known as "Kan Sister") would be starring as "The New Laura" in the latest Tomb Raider movie. "Law Shark" (Michael Fassbinder) and "Kan Sister", a couple who starred in two classic game adaptations in succession, do not know whether it is a welfare or a disaster for players.
Tomb Raider: Battle of Origins, set against the backdrop of the game reboot series Tomb Raider (2013), rightfully draws a line with the first two Tomb Raider films and pushes Angelina Jolie out of her position as "Laura's face-talker".
The skinny and lean "Kan Sister" is covered in dirt, wearing a tight vest, holding a hiking axe and a wooden short bow, and appearing on the promotional poster of the movie with a posture of "not letting the eyebrows be raised". This has not only received high praise from fans of the game, but also favored by feminists.
The back muscle lines of "Kan Mei" are very amazing
The old version of Laura's skirt ministers thought that the new Laura's "size" was too small, and was shot one by one by the apologists on the charge of "straight male cancer", including many innocent people who just thought that "New Laura" was too thin. After all, anyone who has played the game knows that there is a clear gap in the image between "Kan Mei" and the "new Laura" in the game.
In today's world, when "feminism" has gradually evolved into a fashion trend, simply feeling that "big breasts" is disrespecting women seems to have been a bit "overcorrected". Outside the male perspective, the "rising" modern women represented by "Laura" may have a new criterion for judging the "size" issue.
Let's follow in the footsteps of previous "Laura" actors and explore the "size" puzzle that has always surrounded this virtual character.
<h1>
An "empathy magic" 22 years ago
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Since Eidos launched its first Tomb Raider, the selection of a live-action model for Laura has been an important part of the game's promotional efforts.
In an era when computer graphics technology was not yet mature, rough polygonal modeling and sketchy character portrayals made it difficult for Laura to establish a real emotional connection with gamers (mostly male players).
Eidos' original ambition was to create a character as fascinating as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. So, finding a live actor (model) to play Laura becomes a perfect solution.
Conceptual diagram of the early setting of "Laura"
In 1996, when Edios started recruiting models to play Laura, Natalie Cook's agent called her, saying on the phone, "They're looking for a model with brown eyes, a toned body, and a perfect bust." ”
Natalie Cook put on her brown contact lenses for an interview and was successfully selected for her qualifications, signing a number of fragmented contracts, becoming a "ShowGirl" at ECTS (the European Computer Trade Show, also known as "E3 in Europe"), and filming a live-action promo for the game.
With the first successful attempt, the live-action model program was incorporated into the long-term promotional efforts of the Tomb Raider series.
Lorna Mitra was the first official live-action model for Laura. She has a three-country pedigree and rich acting experience, and after taking over the image endorsement work of "Laura", she also went to do breast augmentation surgery and media training. She sees this work as a rare opportunity, because "Laura" has greater potential as a virtual game character to become a star of tomorrow than in reality.
Almost every "Laura" naively thinks that she will continue to play "Laura" in the movie and then become a hit
With the big sale of the game, Tomb Raider continues to launch sequels, and the image of "Laura" continues to become delicate and realistic under the technological innovation. The live-action model of "Laura" has also been "updated", and has repeatedly appeared on the cover of major magazines, attended various game promotion activities, and participated in the production of various game peripheral products.
Before Miku became synonymous with "virtual idols", Tomb Raider had already used an "empathy effect" to transfer the gamers' fantasies and feelings about "Laura" to the real and visible live-action models, making "Laura" the first game character to break the dimensional wall.
But as Edios's "empathy magic" pushes the fiery and sexy image of "Laura" to an extreme by a car model-like standard, the gap between the character and the game content also widens and eventually splits into two completely independent things: an eye-catching 3D model and a fun tomb exploration game. It was also at this time that the situation began to intensify in an uncontrollable direction.
Chanel Preston originally had nothing to do with "Laura," but she became one of many "Laura actors" from unofficial sources — as the star of a Tomb Raider fandom.
This may be an inevitable result, but it is only a matter of time
"She's really sexy and a heroic character, but in essence, she's just an average girl with a big ass."
In an interview, Chanel Preston said so. Although she never actually played any Tomb Raider games, that didn't stop her from making such inferences about the character of Laura. This just represents the overall perception of "Laura" and "Tomb Raider" by people outside the game circle, which is more real than the blind bragging of the industry media.
After everyone's general understanding of "Laura" was basically fixed, her "size" also became larger and larger with the launch of sequels. Even after Crystal Power took over the development task, they had to passively continue to pass on this "tradition" according to market expectations.
Here, the author opens a less responsible brain hole, if Edios has never used live models to promote "Tomb Raider", then perhaps everyone's talk about Laura's "size" will only stay on the spoof "triangle chest" in the original work. After all, in the category of ACG, female characters who are forward and backward, and can play and jump are all too common.
<h1>The women behind Laura</h1>
In 2010, four years after Crystal Power took over the development of Tomb Raider, it officially announced the reboot of the series and terminated the official live-action model and spokesperson program. Some old fans are disappointed and sad about this, and some people think that this is the "prodigal son turning back".
In fact, this is a radical overhaul that Crystal Dynamics has had to choose in the face of unprecedented competitive pressure from heavyweight works like Uncharted. They can no longer use the old "empathy magic" to fabricate the image of "Laura", but to use the rich expressiveness of the next-generation game to recreate a real and believable" tomb Raider with flesh and blood.
Crystal Power found Megan Farquhar as a face model and Tara Spadaro as a body model, and after scanning, modeling, stitching, and optimizing, they built a next-generation image of "New Laura". Actress Camilla Ludington was then asked to perform motion capture and voice acting to complete the character animation and story performance in the game.
Camilla is considered the new "Laura Spokesperson", and she has starred in dramas such as "True Love Like Blood" and "Grey Anatomy"
Due to the separation of image and performance, the character's temperament, character and personality charm can be more easily freed from the influence of the character's appearance, both for the player and the developer. The new Laura was born under this "Avatar" technology.
But unlike the character problems faced when designing the old Laura, designing the new Laura also requires a solid inner character soul to guide her words and deeds. She was not only a woman, but more importantly, a brave and determined explorer, and such a person was well documented in reality.
Amelia Earhart was the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone, and she was awarded the Medal of Honor by the U.S. government. She has always advocated "equal rights for men and women", leaving a woman's heroic posture in the field that once belonged only to men. However, she mysteriously disappeared during a round-the-world flight challenge in 1937.
In fact, as early as "Tomb Raider: Legends", Crystal Power injected Amelia Earhart into the game's story background as "Laura Mother", and even directly used the name "Amelia".
In Tomb Raider (2013), laura's first wilderness camp was called "Amelia's Camp." Also in Laura's room is a photograph of the legendary pilot.
In Tomb Raider: Rises, the producers found Karen O, the lead singer of the famous "garagepunk" rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs (later YYY). She is a mixed-race Korean-Polish and the only female member of the band YYY.
She has a psychedelic voice, a big grin, uninhibited personality, and the performance dress is also very "personal style", which is loved and imitated by female music fans. It is no coincidence that such a singer with such a strong "feminist" symbol can sing the theme song of the game.
Karen O has sung for several classic films and was nominated for the 80th Academy Award for Best Original Song
So many women, in their own different ways, come together to make up the role of "New Laura." This is enough to highlight Crystal Power's confidence and determination to flaunt the "feminist" tendency of Tomb Raider. Although the "size" of "Laura" was never mentioned again, they quietly changed Laura's bust to a smaller one in Tomb Raider: Rise.
Immediately afterward, Tomb Raider: Rise defeated The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Assassin's Creed: The Owl, and Pillar of Eternity to win the 2015 Best Game Screenplay Award, voted by the Writers Guild of America. This surprising result may be more or less "politically correct" in it.
And if you look back at the two Tomb Raider works in the reboot series, "New Laura" is far from enough in shaping the charm of the character in addition to the rebirth of nirvana in the image.
As an archaeologist who has just left campus, Although Laura has some training in field survival, she should not be so handy and unfazed in the battle with the enemy's real guns.
There are a lot of supporting male characters in the two works, but Laura's interaction with them has never been a love-related drama. The official even launched a "dress-up" system, so that "Laura" can still wear a cool close-fitting vest even in the ice and snow.
This makes the reboot series seem a bit "cover-up and self-deception".
The "Tomb Nude" incident has always been a scar on Edios's heart, and now it seems to be "good scar forgets the pain"
Therefore, the rebirth of the new Lara is more like an overall upgrade of the Tomb Raider series with the support of new technologies, and she has indeed become more realistic and moving, and more in line with modern aesthetics and fashion trends. However, Crystal Power chose to avoid the "size" problem about "Laura" in a silent and roundabout way, and even the suspicion of "darkness Chen Cang".
Such "feminism" and such "Laura", although not a regression, are at least stagnant.
<h1>In addition to the female warriors, Laura has many more possibilities</h1>
If Crystal Dynamics is forced by the pressure of public opinion to change the bust of "New Laura" to a smaller size, then the filmmakers of "Tomb Raider: Battle of Origins" chose "Kan Mei" as the next Laura spokesperson, which is an exaggerated pressure.
"Kan Mei" in the 2015 movie "Mechanical Ji" amazingly surprised the world, her slender, cold and elegant, sharp, with wheat-colored skin and retro exquisite features, impressive.
She was born in Sweden, so she has an innate temperament of sexual coldness and alienation from the cold and estranged cold of Northern Europe. So a big part of the success of "Mechanical Ji" is that the director chose the right actors.
"Kan Mei" is not the kind of "American sweetheart" type of actor
But the same good fortune will not happen to "Tomb Raider: Battle of Origins", because "Laura", who is full of curiosity and curiosity about historical sites and ancient artifacts, "Laura", who is frequently active in dangerous islands and machine-ridden tombs, and "Laura", who fights wits and courage with evil organizations, does not have a right number with the temperament of "Kan Sister".
Perhaps only the lean body of "Laura", who exists as a Special Forces Valkyrie, and "Kan Mei", who are as thin as wood, can barely match. But interestingly, Lara from the Tomb Raider: Battle of Origins was just a college graduate with an explorer's dream of setting out for the first time. If she came with eight-pack abs, she could only think that she was in military school.
It is said that "Kan Mei" practiced this muscle for four months
The filmmakers' overly masculine treatment of "New Laura" is too extreme even in the meaning of "feminism", and they have not even been able to grasp that the core way of expression of crystal power to restart "Tomb Raider" is to show the feminine side of "Laura".
In fact, before "Kan Mei", there were already many more successful female heroes active in video games and movie screens.
For example, Katniss in "The Hunger Games" who holds herself in the twisted social and political struggles; Diana in "Wonder Woman" who is strong and brave but as simple and righteous as a little girl; Ellie in "The Last Survivor", who is optimistic and intelligent and full of yellow strips; Chloe in "Life Strange", who is a tomboy but full of trauma...
These female characters can achieve a role status that is not inferior to that of men, not by weakening their own gender characteristics to strengthen their public image, but to retain or even amplify their interests as women and principles of doing things.
Also a strong woman with a bow and arrow, Katniss, played by the "big cousin", is more real and credible
There is a description of Amazonian female warriors in Homer's epic poems, saying that they cut off their breasts to facilitate the battle. At first glance, it may sound reasonable, but if you think about it, this behavior is contradictory to the social values of the matriarchal clan, after all, the breast is the most intuitive physiological symbol of motherhood.
And today, a heroic female tomb explorer must "flat-chested", isn't it as ridiculous as Homer's epic depiction?
In addition to being able to cross mountains and mountains to the image of a female warrior with one enemy and a hundred enemies, "Laura" should have more possibilities. She can not be like a tough guy, with muscles and strength to solve all the problems, she can have women's keen insight and calm thinking, or even no logic of the "woman's intuition"; she does not have to take the enemy's head from the bullets like a special soldier, she can negotiate, intimidate and even deceive in a rational way to deal with the enemy; she does not have to work like an expert scholar without smiling, she can have the humor, cuteness, and even gossip of a college student; she can express good feelings for handsome male partners. Even a confession of affection; she does not have to be like an extreme mountaineer, with eight-pack abs, and a strong and compact body line...
She can have breasts, not big or small, beautiful and confident kind.
<h1>epilogue</h1>
When Angelina Jolie removed her breasts to prevent cancer, fans around the world were shocked, believing that it would seriously affect her career development. However, her transformation into a director for "Indestructible" and "They Killed My Father First" proved that she had far more feminine energy than just being a good-looking "vase".
In 2002, when she went to Cambodia to shoot Tomb Raider 2, she adopted a child from a needy Cambodian family, which was also her first child (Angelina Jolie has seven children, four of whom are adopted). Although she has only starred in "Laura Crawford", she exudes a more real and greater female brilliance than "Laura".
Angelina Jolie and her family
This reminds me of a magic realist film called the Super-New Testament. In the film, God's daughter is dissatisfied with her father's attitude of playing with the world, so she decides to run away from home and gather her own disciples to change the rules of the world—to add innocence and beauty to the cold, serious and lies-filled patriarchal world. Although the film's story is based on a mockery of the Bible's banter, the film's theme exudes a strong "feminist" mentality.
Modern women like "New Laura" may not shy away from their charm and unconditional pursuit of beauty as women, nor do they need to measure their social value by male standards and methods. When one day, we no longer pay attention to whether her "size" is getting smaller or larger, and no longer ask questions of one kind or another, that may be the historical moment when "feminism" is truly respected by society.
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