30-08-20, 09:58 | #91 | |
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30-08-20, 10:03 | #92 |
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I think part of the reason why the colonialist thing has become a point of contention lately, is because the reboot games - or at least Rise and Shadow - have centered their mythology around living civilizations, even taking their fictitious nature into account.
This has brought into question, for those so inclined, the implications of Lara's actions there - as though the games have depicted real-world locations being pilfered of real-world valuables, just because there are people other than Lara involved. Basically, what I'm saying is, the presence of life other than Lara's own makes it difficult to not contextualize her attitude as very colonialist (or as that of a white savior if we're being charitable). You would be able to sidestep all of this moralizing if you did the same thing as the classics, implementing more overtly sci-fi elements into the narrative, and generally avoiding situations where Lara forcefully intrudes on non-neutral territory (unless she's infiltrating the bad guys, obviously). Atlantis is every bit as unreal as Paititi or Kitezh, but it's presented to us as non-analogous to any real-world culture. Similarly, the meteorite artifacts from TR3 don't correspond specifically to the Polynesian tribe that ended up finding and then abandoning them. These are examples of interesting premises that have nothing to do with political correctness or a lack thereof. Besides, I would think giving us actual tombs, and ruins, and whatever else - would be more conducive to a TR experience than another Mission of San Juan... Unless they did something like that again, but had Lara retrieving artifacts/relics being held hostage in the vicinity by a "rival" treasure hunter, in exchange for the townspeople's help. Last edited by tomblover; 30-08-20 at 10:10. |
30-08-20, 10:34 | #93 |
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And then the museum takes the artifact back from where they originally found it, what's the point.
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30-08-20, 11:56 | #94 |
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No.
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30-08-20, 15:04 | #95 |
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I just went back and re-read this issue, and it's interesting that you chose to share this because within the context of the comic, it's pretty clear they don't actually endorse this view of Lara returning artifacts to their places of origin.
For context, this scene takes place decades into the future and Croft Manor functions now as the Croft Museum, with Lara's many discoveries in exhibition. Hologram Lara is informing the visitors that the Museum will be closing because of a new law that forces them to return these artifacts. Hologram Lara goes on explaining how if it wasn't for Lara acquiring these treasures in the first place, they would never have seen the light of day (so clearly endorsing Lara's Tomb Raiding lifestyle!) Later that night, a group of thieves breaks into the museum to raid Lara's own tomb which has artifacts that were not part of the exhibition. It's revealed that one of these thieves is actually Lara herself — having drunk from the Fountain of Youth — and when asked about why she's stealing from her own Museum, one of the reasons she gives is that some artifacts can't be shared with the world — powerful artifacts, cursed objects, you name it. Another reason is because it's fun! In a flashback to one of Lara's adventures we see her trying to steal an artifact — a yeti's claw — from a Monastery in Tibet. She's attacked by the monks there and eventually they retrieve the artifact and explain that it is cursed and they protect it. Lara lets them take it but is still considering whether or not to go steal it again later. And the only reason she doesn't is because she fights a yeti and gets a claw from it. So to sum it up, this comic tells us: 1) Lara goes Tomb Raiding for fun and when she wants something, she gets it. She doesn't care who it belongs to. 2) Some artifacts are too powerful to just be returned to their countries of origin and Lara doesn't trust anyone else not to wield them. What this comic doesn't tell us is that Lara has any interest in returning her findings. And clearly, she has no problem with museums since Croft Manor itself was converted into one. |
28-09-20, 12:53 | #96 | |
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___ I don't think it was really a topic of discussion until relatively recently the euro-centric (and especially British) view of how they're better at handling historical heritage than the countries where these things came from. It's just a colonialist mindset tbh. With that said, the Lara of that time reflects this culture. I don't think as a game the whole Tomb deRaider idea would work too well if it focused on stealth too much, however, I can see it being a brilliant game having these Museum/billionaire mansion-raiding sequences being a short section of the game just to give you context, and then the whole game basically being about going through temples, traps and up against the world to return things where they belong. That reminds me of a comic issue where Lara goes to Shangri-la and is given the opportunity to live there forever, but she chooses not to, and at the same time, also chooses to leave this discovery unspoken of. There was an awareness that there are things that are better off left alone and I really liked that. Sure, there'd be some sort of political agenda behind such a premise of a game, but at the same time, nothing stops this Lara (or Laura) from being the rich girl herself who wants to do the right thing not because it is the right thing, but because she enjoys the thrill of doing it. She enjoys the feeling of taking something that's being kept locked under 7 keys and then doing the reverse path. I think it's a fun premise for a game and it definitely would at least give you something to think about. What matters most is just to ensure this character does it for the sake of it and the fun she gets from this, and not because her father died trying to do the same. That's all. I think that fits Lara's personality well, because although she's filthy rich, she seems much more interested in going on adventures and seeing how people leave and the secrets of ancient civilizations, than to go to a met gala event. I can picture Lara being a rich person who actually despises her own class and wants to piss them off and give them a hard time just cause it excites her to do so. It seems like a Lara thing to do tbh hahaha Last edited by indigo1993; 28-09-20 at 13:00. |
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07-10-20, 10:32 | #97 |
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Hmm how about Lara takes artefacts from museums and brings them to Croft Manor like a proper thief?
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05-11-20, 14:30 | #98 |
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05-11-20, 21:09 | #99 | |
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14-11-20, 23:11 | #100 |
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Didn't they do this in TR1?
I mean, Natla IS the last surviving (royal) member of Atlantis and would probably have a good claim to the throne, meaning the Scion does belong to her... |
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