Queer Theory & Futurism

[alice wellintown]

Note:

Lara Croft is the monstrous offspring of science, an idealized
eternally young female automaton, a malleable, well-trained
techno-puppet created by and for the male gaze. The popular Nuderaider
patch, a game add-on that strips Lara Crofts clothing is evidence of
this gender-subject configuration. The fusion of femininity, death and
technology in characters like Lara Croft is a lucrative and enduring
formula in capitalist market-based economies, a potent combination
noted as early as 1951 in Marshall McLuhan’s essay, "The Mechanical
Bride". Lara Croft traces her lineage to the female robot in Fritz
Lang’s "Metropolis", mannequins, blow-up dolls and comic book
heroines. She is a product of the mechanization of bodies beginning in
the Industrial Revolution; her fetishized beauty resides in her slick
and glistening 3-D generated polygons, evolved from clunky robotic
metals into more appropriate attire for Information Society.
http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v4n1/annmarie.html