This is an archive of Hermeneutic Heretic, a blog Dominik Lukeš wrote from November 2005 to June 2008.
It is no longer updated. His current work is at dominiklukes.net.
Wired News: How Lara Croft Steals Hearts
I think young boy gamers loved Lara for reasons that were considerably stranger. They weren't just ogling her: They were identifying with her. Playing the role of a hot, sexy woman in peril -- surrounded by violence on all sides -- was, unexpectedly, a totally electric experience for young guys.
An interesting feminist perspective on Lara Croft. I think the 'male gaze' and other concepts regarding the supposedly 'mysogynic' and 'objectifying' nature of much of the male symbolism are due for a revision. Not because they 'don't really exist' as surface phenomena but because their underlying causes are much more complex both socially, cognitively and affectively.