Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft (Paramount Pictures)
Given the fact that I’m unapologetic about the aesthetic aspects of fitness, this might seem to be the last sort of notion y’all would expect to hear me going on about, but…
Would it kill somebody if more characters in games and comics looked slightly more realistic?
The huge splash that Lara Croft made when Tomb Raider was released was due in (possibly-)equal parts to the fact that she was the first high-profile female protagonist in a mainstream game, and, to be tactful, her strategically-arrayed polygons. Her evolution, both digitally and here in meatspace, has, refreshingly and to generally positive reception, been one towards more realistic proportions. Plot and physics realism, however… Well, we’ll take what we can get.
By the same token, outside of certain powerlifting and bodybuilding competitions, it’s not as if too many dudes are going to be mistaken for Solid Snake, Wolverine, or the dudes from Gears of War.
I’m going to be the last person to complain that folks aspire to look good and reach those aspirations.
(Oh god, he’s going to quote a Twitter conversation behind the cut! At least it wasn’t in our official Twitter feed (or stream, or whatever the term is). If you’re so inclined, you know what to do.)
Me (in response to some, shall we say, pointed criticism of some questionable game focus on speed hair teasing): So what you’re saying is, just because Lara Croft isn’t still the default model, girl gaming hasn’t made the Great Leap Forward?
Friend: Lara Croft is awesome!
Me: Yes, but *most* folks aren’t built like Lara or Bloodrayne or Solid Snake or the dudes from Gears of War. I’m not disagreeing that there are folks running around the Big Blue Room who look like that; unfortunately, most of us don’t.
Friend: Of course not, but that why those that do, get those roles. But we COULD look like that. It is all in the goals you set.
And that, right there, cuts right to the heart of a lot of the debate about physical objectification in today’s world. A few folks are fortunate enough to have good genetics, which predispose them towards a lean and/or mesomorphic build. A lot more folks are going to have to bust their butts to get there (or at least as far in that direction as they want to).
We have day jobs. Families. Responsibilities outside the gym, off the track, and away from the bike trail. How much pressure we put on ourselves, in terms of goals and objectives, should be tempered with the reality that, for better or worse, we’re made of tasty and delicious meat, and not just ink or pixels.
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