I became an archaeologist partly because of Indiana Jones and partly because of Lara Croft (shocker, I know), but although I've always loved the og Lara Croft, and even more the Legend Lara, having her as a femme fatale who didn't mind wearing dresses didn't always work out for me as a tomboyish lesbian (worse with my mum saying things as "Lara wears dresses and shorts, you should too"), but since this Lara dropped I've felt more comfortable with myself, and having her so heavily queer-coded (as a lesbian, instead of maybe as bi as shown in some og Lara comics) was definitely a plus
For me, Lara has always been bisexual, sorta mirroring how she embodies a lot of male hero stereotypes of the time as well as her very feminine physique. Is the best I can make of the original series without just outright writing complete fanfiction. Just a thing no one bothered to say out loud, which also works with the survivor timeline games.
Loved your video, and absolutely loved your analysis of the character, the complexity she carries as a queercoded character really warms my heart all the right ways and with the second season of the TV show confirmed, I guess we can all expect Sam and Lara to be endgame
Not sure if you know this but Lara WAS suppose to realize her feelings for Sam were romantic and the two were suppose to kiss. In the comic story arc Inferno Lara has a drug fueled hallucination and during this trip she keeps seeing Sam who calls out to Lara to reach for her, to remember her to return to her. Originally this was suppose to be Lara realizing her feelings for Sam were romantic and she would kiss Sam, on the lips, affirming her feelings for Sam were not platonic. Then Square Enix found out and ordered the kiss to be changed to a hug. However, the dialogue was not changed and it has some serious romantic undertones. See Lara is banishing her bad memories and nightmares, telling them to leave her be as she no longer wishes to hold onto them. Then Sam appears before her and asks what Lara wants of her to which Lara response "A Beautiful Dream." and then hugs Sam. Sam is the one thing she chooses to hold onto as she lets go of her trauma and the guilt over her father's death. This means that Sam, in fact, a romantic interest for Lara. Sure it hasn't been made canon, yet, but that doesn't change the fact that it was going to happen and almost happened if not for Square screwing it up. And this queer coding has continued in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft which will see the return of Sam as she and Lara team up to fight the newest villain AND that's being used as a selling point for the next season. Lara has had about 6 potential love interests between the games, shows, movies and comics but Sam is really the only one that has had any real staying power as 11 years after she showed up she's still being talked about and used in the series despite only appearing in one game. Contrast this with Kurtis Trent, he has only appeared in 3 issues of the Top Cow Production Comics, one Mobile App game and that's it. Or another example, Chase Carver, Lara's first real official love interest. Only appeared in about 14 issues of the Top Cow Comics, which is where he was introduced, and has not been seen since. Sam has appeared in 27 issues of the comics, will be returning in season 2 of TLOLC, was suppose to be in Rise of the Tomb Raider and was suggested for Shadow of the Tomb Raider and supposedly was also going to show up in the 2018 movie. And that's even getting into all the fan fics and fan art that's centered around her which makes Sam the second most popular character in the series, second only to Lara herself. Not bad for a character who was originally suppose to die.
Thank you so much for this insightful video. Gave me a new perspective on the topic of Lara's queerness as I make a post talking about the queer potential of Tomb Raider.
By being both the player and a sexy object Lara has in fact transcended the binary in mindwarping ways that the lgbtq++ community cant fathom. Its mostly cis men playing as a woman. Try to think about that. She transcends object-subject dualism. Thats way above the sexual dualism, ontologically. Lara is spiritually androgynous, no need to make her gay. She is like shiva and shakti in one person. And queer coding her will destroy her transcendence.
I wouldn’t have put Lara in a binary per-se. Personally, I see her as a more sexually fluid character than being either side of a binary, as you have implied and stated here. As others have stated, she has been hyper-focused on her adventures but looking back, she mentioned at least one man in her past whom she may have been romantically involved with/was attracted to.
Lara isn't queer though, there's no evidence that she is, a comic writer wanted to make her a lesbian but that was scrapped. its great that they haven't given lara a sexuality in the games, shes an explorer and and adventurer doesn't have time for relationships.
watch the video. queer coding isn't claiming there is evidence of anything, it's something that can be attributed by an audience. it's all explained there.
So how gay truly is Lara? Hype our girl up down in the comments below! PS: If you need any clearing on what scene is what and which movie/show does it belong to, feel free to ask!
She shouldn’t be given any labels as she is an explorer and tomb raider, she doesn’t have time for any relationships and atm she seems most of all asexual if anything
hard to say. While being tough and doing the fighting was seen as a mans job in the old movies from the 50s and 60s. Things have changed since we got characters like princess leia, Ellen ripley and sarah connor. So a female character struggling and having to fight for survival is a normal thing now. The truth is we know very little about Lara´s sexuality because she spend most time exploring alone and if she meets other characters it is often only business or they are her mentors (father figure) With classic Lara things got a bit sexual with Kurtis Trent in the Angel of Darkness Legend Lara. It is all business. You can wonder if Zack and Alister only do research or if there is more to the story. After all they live in her mansion, But we will never know. Reboot Lara could be lesbian but we may never know for sure.
Lara Croft was not created like this. She was never a lesbian. Crystal Dynamics completely changed her character and her background story and yeah they also turned her from straight to lesbian. I just wonder why they don't create new queer characters and instead they take our beloved characters we grew up with and completely change them. Thats what I don't understand. Just create new queer characters, I mean why not???
I 100% agree with you, the new timeline Lara is very queer I’ve gotten that vibe off of her since rise. But I think that classic and legend timeline lara are both straight just from playing the original and legend games. I love that there could be a whole other layer to this Lara than we thought, maybe that’s why she wants to be so close to her family because she would feel like they wouldn’t except her I don’t know(just a theory), I’m excited to see how they portray her in the new “unified timeline” ❤️
With the New Netflix Series I saw a video of a conservative gamer girl who said Lara had a "generic lesbian design" in the teaser. Even they agree lmaooo
You have spoken facts, every time I see Lara I see lesbianism ✨✨
No labels for Lara. Just make her a badass tomb raider
I watch this video everytime I have a bad day and thank you, it really helps.
omg??? that's so sweet? damn now you're making me feel like I should keep making videos😭(wrong account but yea this is me jsjsjs)
I became an archaeologist partly because of Indiana Jones and partly because of Lara Croft (shocker, I know), but although I've always loved the og Lara Croft, and even more the Legend Lara, having her as a femme fatale who didn't mind wearing dresses didn't always work out for me as a tomboyish lesbian (worse with my mum saying things as "Lara wears dresses and shorts, you should too"), but since this Lara dropped I've felt more comfortable with myself, and having her so heavily queer-coded (as a lesbian, instead of maybe as bi as shown in some og Lara comics) was definitely a plus
I agree completely with you, it's been my experience as well. I'm happy the video resonated with you :D
For me, Lara has always been bisexual, sorta mirroring how she embodies a lot of male hero stereotypes of the time as well as her very feminine physique. Is the best I can make of the original series without just outright writing complete fanfiction. Just a thing no one bothered to say out loud, which also works with the survivor timeline games.
Loved your video, and absolutely loved your analysis of the character, the complexity she carries as a queercoded character really warms my heart all the right ways and with the second season of the TV show confirmed, I guess we can all expect Sam and Lara to be endgame
Not sure if you know this but Lara WAS suppose to realize her feelings for Sam were romantic and the two were suppose to kiss. In the comic story arc Inferno Lara has a drug fueled hallucination and during this trip she keeps seeing Sam who calls out to Lara to reach for her, to remember her to return to her. Originally this was suppose to be Lara realizing her feelings for Sam were romantic and she would kiss Sam, on the lips, affirming her feelings for Sam were not platonic.
Then Square Enix found out and ordered the kiss to be changed to a hug. However, the dialogue was not changed and it has some serious romantic undertones.
See Lara is banishing her bad memories and nightmares, telling them to leave her be as she no longer wishes to hold onto them. Then Sam appears before her and asks what Lara wants of her to which Lara response "A Beautiful Dream." and then hugs Sam. Sam is the one thing she chooses to hold onto as she lets go of her trauma and the guilt over her father's death.
This means that Sam, in fact, a romantic interest for Lara. Sure it hasn't been made canon, yet, but that doesn't change the fact that it was going to happen and almost happened if not for Square screwing it up.
And this queer coding has continued in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft which will see the return of Sam as she and Lara team up to fight the newest villain AND that's being used as a selling point for the next season.
Lara has had about 6 potential love interests between the games, shows, movies and comics but Sam is really the only one that has had any real staying power as 11 years after she showed up she's still being talked about and used in the series despite only appearing in one game.
Contrast this with Kurtis Trent, he has only appeared in 3 issues of the Top Cow Production Comics, one Mobile App game and that's it.
Or another example, Chase Carver, Lara's first real official love interest. Only appeared in about 14 issues of the Top Cow Comics, which is where he was introduced, and has not been seen since.
Sam has appeared in 27 issues of the comics, will be returning in season 2 of TLOLC, was suppose to be in Rise of the Tomb Raider and was suggested for Shadow of the Tomb Raider and supposedly was also going to show up in the 2018 movie. And that's even getting into all the fan fics and fan art that's centered around her which makes Sam the second most popular character in the series, second only to Lara herself. Not bad for a character who was originally suppose to die.
Nothing is more queer coded than the Explorer Outfit from Shadow.
That fit is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!
Thank you so much for this insightful video. Gave me a new perspective on the topic of Lara's queerness as I make a post talking about the queer potential of Tomb Raider.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, I loved making this and I really hope it helped on your post!
Excellent video! Thanks for speaking so eloquently and entertainingly on a topic that's dear to my heart.
And thank you for watching! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, tt's my absolute pleasure 😊
By being both the player and a sexy object Lara has in fact transcended
the binary in mindwarping ways that the lgbtq++ community cant fathom.
Its mostly cis men playing as a woman. Try to think about that. She transcends
object-subject dualism. Thats way above the sexual dualism, ontologically. Lara is spiritually
androgynous, no need to make her gay. She is like shiva and shakti in one person. And queer coding her will destroy her transcendence.
I wouldn’t have put Lara in a binary per-se. Personally, I see her as a more sexually fluid character than being either side of a binary, as you have implied and stated here. As others have stated, she has been hyper-focused on her adventures but looking back, she mentioned at least one man in her past whom she may have been romantically involved with/was attracted to.
Lara isn't queer though, there's no evidence that she is, a comic writer wanted to make her a lesbian but that was scrapped. its great that they haven't given lara a sexuality in the games, shes an explorer and and adventurer doesn't have time for relationships.
IMO wouldn't be smart to attribute her with anything either
@@lyn1337 right
watch the video. queer coding isn't claiming there is evidence of anything, it's something that can be attributed by an audience. it's all explained there.
@@geekuporshutup1751 I did watch the video and they are trying to say she's a lesbian and she is not, its false
So how gay truly is Lara? Hype our girl up down in the comments below!
PS: If you need any clearing on what scene is what and which movie/show does it belong to, feel free to ask!
Such a great video! Very engaging and informative!
Thanks so much!
Didnt one of the heads up at crystal Dynamics said they have no plans of making lara a lesbian?
She shouldn’t be given any labels as she is an explorer and tomb raider, she doesn’t have time for any relationships and atm she seems most of all asexual if anything
she got girls on the side who gives a damn
@ it’s just weird to give a clearly asexual character queer labels for no reason at all
@@userishawt and why would she be asexual i will never get that💀
@ Because she clearly doesn’t have time for any relationships, assuming she’s queer is FAR fetched and weird
Actually I agree but I’ll say she’s bisexual but I wouldn’t mind her being a lesbian due to her and sam in tomb raider (2013)!
hard to say. While being tough and doing the fighting was seen as a mans job in the old movies from the 50s and 60s. Things have changed since we got characters like princess leia, Ellen ripley and sarah connor. So a female character struggling and having to fight for survival is a normal thing now.
The truth is we know very little about Lara´s sexuality because she spend most time exploring alone and if she meets other characters it is often only business or they are her mentors (father figure)
With classic Lara things got a bit sexual with Kurtis Trent in the Angel of Darkness
Legend Lara. It is all business. You can wonder if Zack and Alister only do research or if there is more to the story. After all they live in her mansion, But we will never know.
Reboot Lara could be lesbian but we may never know for sure.
I like her more as an asexual character
Lara Croft was not created like this. She was never a lesbian. Crystal Dynamics completely changed her character and her background story and yeah they also turned her from straight to lesbian.
I just wonder why they don't create new queer characters and instead they take our beloved characters we grew up with and completely change them. Thats what I don't understand. Just create new queer characters, I mean why not???
There is no evidence that Lara is gay
There is no evidence I haven't slept with both your parents
HOLT SHIT I LOVE YOU THANK U SM FOR THIS VIDEO YES STAN ALL LARAS
Thank you so much ☺ In this house we stan Lara ♥
I 100% agree with you, the new timeline Lara is very queer I’ve gotten that vibe off of her since rise. But I think that classic and legend timeline lara are both straight just from playing the original and legend games. I love that there could be a whole other layer to this Lara than we thought, maybe that’s why she wants to be so close to her family because she would feel like they wouldn’t except her I don’t know(just a theory), I’m excited to see how they portray her in the new “unified timeline” ❤️
I appreciate your take! I really hope they do the unified timeline justice!
I LOVED THIS! You deserve million views. I'm suscribing 💓
Poggers and also can you please upload moreeeeee
Why did you stop making videos 🥺
idk😭 but I shouldn't have ahah
love it! raging lesbian made me giggle
Boi have I got small news for you (from Netflix)
With the New Netflix Series I saw a video of a conservative gamer girl who said Lara had a "generic lesbian design" in the teaser. Even they agree lmaooo
You mean melonie mac? She has a point lmao i don't blame her for liking og lara
What's good about a generic lesbian design? So that like 3% of the audience will feel catered to?
Great stuff!
Thank you so much! 😚
Oh so now I understand why TR Reboots are so garbage.
You mean amazing
@@jowoman7799og and legend trilogy>>>>>
Propaganda