In this essay I am going to analyse how Tomb Raider and Men’s Health present gender in a radical yet also reactionary way and whether it supports the dominant ideology. I’m going to evaluate the dominant signifiers which are Lara Croft and Vin Diesel, i’ll also look at the two pages within the Men’s Health magazine and the article about Lara Croft by Lauren Hall. I’ll focus on how each gender is presented and how it makes the audience feel, how the publishers want us to interpret it, their take on body image and how it’s presented in ‘ pop culture and society.’

I believe that Men’s health is presenting a negative stereotype of how males should look, this is what makes the magazine cover reactionary, the dominant signifier is what producers want us to associate with good health and this dominant ideology isn’t good because it’s setting unrealistic ideals which aren’t attainable. This negotiated identity is making today’s males believe that this is how they should look or how they should act because these kind of negative stereotypes are being shown everywhere, making them have a negative opinion about themselves because they wished they looked like that. There is also a significant attention drawn to the muscles on Vin Diesel’s arms because they’ve been selected to represent what the magazine is trying which is ‘Men’s Health’ ‘New Year New Muscle’ and ‘Shortcuts to T-shirt Arms’ therefore indicating that this is what you need to look like to be considered healthy as this is a magazine discussing ‘ Men’s Health’ and the title is reinforcing this negative stereotype. The audience isn’t aren’t aware of the constructed reality that editors and producers have created as they’re making it seem like this is a social norm and actually achievable even though the photo is manipulated ; however what makes this image radical is the fact that nobody actually looks like this and this isn’t what men look or should look like.

Similarly Tomb Raider is also following the dominant ideology presenting negative stereotypes on what woman should like making this game reactionary. The creators of the game have strategically positioned the audience to make them see what they want us to see and interpret Lara’s beauty with what a good game should consist of as we usually associate attractiveness with how good someone or something is, this could be why Lara looks the way she does. The creators have made a constructed reality and allowed us to believe her appearance is normal and what we should look like, however that is not the case. Lauryn Hall stated that Lara’s ‘ breasts were increased by 150%’ , there was direct focus on her very detailed and emphasised butt , her neck was incredibly long, knees so thin that if she were a real human she wouldn’t be able to walk and this was done just to make the game sell well in a male dominated market and to satisfy the ‘male gaze’ and follow the dominant ideology. The creators have made Lara’s body impeccable according to today’s ridiculous societal expectations yet again making the females of this generation set unrealistic goals for themselves and this has a negative impact on their self esteem, they’ve done this just to please the target audience (males) despite how it made woman feel. On the contrary its a counter-type on the stereotypes on how females should act or what they’re associated with which is what makes it radical. Females are usually presented as the victim or evil seductress or just as someone who needed saving but here Lara is the hero which we associate with a stereotypical male position therefore challenging the dominant ideology.

Men’s Health doesn’t just have negative views on what a male should be like, it has a very positive counter-type which challenges our typical stereotypes associated with age and masculinity therefore challenging the dominant ideology. On page 3 we have the dominant signifier ( ‘The Marathon Man- Phill howells’), this is a 69 year old man with immaculate health and still very fit and active. We generally associate older men with sitting at home and relaxing all day but this challenges these stereotypes and proves to us that anyone can be fit and healthy despite age or how manly and muscular you are despite that being the message on the front cover. Phill stated that the only thing his age changes is that he has to ‘ go slower now’, he still runs and trains despite his ‘ atrial fibrillation’ and this presents him to the audience as heroic and just as manly and healthy as Vin diesel on the magazine cover. Page 3 spreads and encourages acceptance of all men; however the audience positioning makes you question how genuine this really is. The creators could’ve put this positive body image older man on the front cover spreading positivity and challenging the dominant ideology yet despite all the good they’ve still put Vin diesel as the front cover reinforcing negative stereotypes and conforming to the dominant ideology just so their magazine sells well as this is what us consumers expect to see.

To conclude Men’s Health and Tomb Raider both present negative and stereotypical views on body image and how each gender should look and be like. They both follow the dominant ideology and accept and go along with societal expectations despite how it affects each gender and person just so that their game/magazine sells well. They both also challenge the dominant ideology in certain ways, Tomb Raider presents Lara as a hero and strong independent woman who doesn’t need recusing and Men’s Health tells the story of a 69 year old fit and healthy older marathon runner, but how genuine are both media platforms about the positive gender representation because in each of these texts, you have to look deeper and analyse these texts deeper just to seek out the good while the negative stereotypes are what stands out and they’re the message people see and spread.