Lara Croft, the idealized female figure, with a masculine twist. In the films Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and the sequel Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, the main role of Lara Croft is played by actress Angelina Jolie. She has the typical idealized appearance for such a role, small waist, large breasts, and overall "fit" demeanor. Angelina Jolie meets all the necessary criteria for the leading role, many people see her as a sexual object, an image of their desire that they can fantasize about, but will never actually be able to realize. In Hollywood, she is appreciated for her ability to "be seen", and in the normal female roles in today's Hollywood films, she would do just fine. However, in the Tomb Raider series she does not play the typical female role. In the Tomb Raider films they go well beyond what is known as the “Gender Representation Divide.” This is basically where the man plays the butch role of getting dirty while trying to save the girl from some mess she's gotten herself into. In turn, the girl plays the princess in a role of danger where she sits there and waits for her knight in shining armor to come to her rescue and sweep her away. Angelina Jolie, while playing the part of Lara Croft, does things a little differently. It tends to distort the boundary between what we have come to accept as normal gender roles. The character of Lara Croft takes on a more masculine role. Angelina plays the role with a more masculine confidence and power. He projects the image that some people would expect to see from a man, that he won't care for anyone and if you don't like him, well that's just too bad. Lara Croft is without a doubt one of the most robust female characters the media has ever had... middle of paper... huh. Lara Croft is criticized for helping to empower women, proving that anything a man can do, women can do too. Bibliography Cornell, Drucilla. Gender in America. New York: Other Press, 2004.Radtke, Stam. Power/gender. London: SAGE Publications, 1994. Weitz, Shirley. Sexual roles. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Maynard, Mary "THE REFORMATION OF SOCIOLOGY? TRENDS IN THE STUDY OF GENDER." Sociology 24.2 (1990): 269-290. Williams, Dmitril. “The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race, and Age in Video Games.” New Media & Society 11.5 (2009): 815-834Mikula, Maja "Gender and video games: the political significance of Lara Croft." Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 17.1 (2003): 79.Lancaster, Kurt "LARA CROFT: THE ULTIMATE YOUNG ADVENTURE GIRL." PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 26.78 (2004): 87-97.