Within this essay I will be interpreting how gender can be represented within the media in the forms of the video game Tomb Raider and the magazine Men’s Health. Within Men’s Health magazine it is clear that we have an iconic sign being presented within ‘Vin Diesel’. Because the focal image is a person of interest within celebrity society this makes him interesting and more likely to induce regular people to purchase the magazine. Another reason is because of his particularly masculine physical appearance which conforms to societies version and ideals of what a ‘real’ man should be. This is reactionary. The large print font ‘BURN BODY FAT’ claims that all men should aspire to look like Vin Diesel and the fact that it is so much larger than the rest of the headings shows that this is important to the magazine as a marketing brand. However, in contrast to this, ‘Tomb Raider’ specifically targets a male audience and uses the almost alluring character of Lara Croft to do this. She has been constructed carefully to stereotypically appease men and their particular taste in women. She has a tiny waist with accentuated breasts and bum and an unnatural stance, which is clearly unattainable to women within reality. Also, with this game being rated at 12, I think that it is not acceptable that impressionable teenage boys or young men should see this is as a realistic view of women, and because of the context of the game I think there are many people who would agree with this viewpoint. If I compare these two magazines, they both give of certain stereotypes of a male and female body. Yet, whilst Tomb Raider is based around a fictional character and gives more subtle view points over how a women’s body should be, Men’s Health magazine promotes the muscular and toned body of a celebrity on its front cover, which will attract people even if they don’t pick it up to purchase.

This essay will compare the differences and similarities between the Tomb Raider game cover and the Men’s Health magazine cover in relation to gender representation. I believe that Men’s Health is an example of a reactionary text because it conforms to the dominant idea that men should look and be a certain way. On the other hand, Tomb Raider is an example of both a reactionary and a radical text. This is because the way that Lara croft has been presented both supports and challenges the dominant ideology of the image of a woman. Her ‘manly’ personality and style of being an explorer challenges the view that women are not normally this way, however, this is majorly contradicted in the way that Lara Croft has been depicted.

In both Tomb Raider and Men’s Health Magazine the creators have used selective representation in their covers and pages of their product. They have both done this because they want to put a specific idea into their audience’s heads. This is a popular technique that lots of people in positions of power use, in order to appeal to their target audience and influence them in a certain way. For example, the iconic sign on the front of the men’s health magazine of Vin Diesel, has been presented in a way that could make a man believe that he should look that way. Lots of the text on the cover is referring to health and the importance of losing weight and looking good. Although it has not been explicitly said, the intention is to make a man believe that if he follows these regimes and aims to physically look like this, then he will become more attractive to women and will be happier. The producers have done this so that the receivers buy the magazine with the intentions of eventually looking like him. I would argue that this is a reactionary text because it is supporting the dominant ideology and conforming to the common idea of the way a man should be.

In comparison, I would argue that Tomb Raider is both a radical and reactionary text because of the way Lara Croft has been presented. The image of Lara Croft is an iconic sign, as the aim was for her to resemble a real human. She has been presented through constructed reality as she has been presented as what looks like a female human, but the way in which she has been animated to have over the top and unrealistic sized features, makes her less like a real representation of a human, and more like a misrepresentation. Players of the game will begin to think that this is how all women look, and therefore will be conforming to the dominant ideology.

On the cover of Men’s Health magazine, the colour blue has been chosen for the font on the front cover and is a main theme colour throughout the magazine. This is a colour that is typically associated with male products and generally anything male. This supports the idea that the Men’s Health magazine is a radical text as they are supporting the old-fashioned views of male stereotypes when it comes to appearance and colour palettes. If the magazine had used pink on the front of their cover, in general, the male market that the producers are trying to attract would not be interested. This is something that has been instilled into our minds from young ages, due to selective representation that people in power have used through the media and advertising.

The dominant signifier in both texts is the characters shown on both and their influence on the receivers and so, to conclude, even though both texts are very different, they are similar in many ways as they both have aspects of being a radical text, however, Tomb Raider has more examples of being a radical text.

While comparing the Men’s Health magazine front cover and the Tomb Raider anniversary game front cover, we can identify various representations in which gender is shown in a reactionary or radical way. By analyzing the use of semiotics, print language, representations and audience theory I will draw conclusions on how these products effect their consumers and audiences.  

Within the gaming front cover for Tomb Raider Anniversary the female gender is shown in a radical way in terms of reality, due to Lara Croft’s physique being very sexualized. For example, the female characters breasts have been scaled up by 150% and the gaming front cover denotes Lara Croft wearing very short and revealing legwear along with a top that fits tightly around her body in order to emphasize her unnatural curvature in the hips. I believe that this representation of women has a negative effect on the representation of gender within our society as it makes other women compare themselves to these unrealistic depictions of women which can have a negative effect on their mental health. However, to counter this argument, the game front cover for Tomb Raider Anniversary is also a reactionary representation of women within the gaming  world due to the fact that the male fantasy highlights these features in a woman and this is exploited by the game creators in order to make their target audience (young adult males) more likely to purchase their product. I also don’t believe to an extent that this product has big negative impact on society because this specific representation of gender has been projected by the game developers to entertain their fanbase, not to negatively affect women’s confidence. 

In terms of the Men’s Health magazine front cover the gender of men is yet again portrayed in a very ambitious and unrealistic way compared to the men in the real world. This more due to the fact that gender doesn’t have a set image and it doesn’t have set features and its more fluid when it comes to defining it. The magazine front cover denotes a man with a muscular, V shaped physique, which connotes that he is strong and capable of defending himself and capable of undertaking difficult physical activities. This could have a negative effect on the representation of the male gender within our society as some consumers can interpret the message incorrectly. For example, members of the male audience may begin to believe that all men should be muscly and have a V shaped physique, resulting in an unrealistic construction and ideology of a man. However, we can also say that this representation of men can be seen in a positive light as the magazine is targeted at men who aspire to look like the model denoted on the main front cover. This means that the representation of the male gender within the magazine front cover can also be seen as reactionary due to the fact that the magazine company is advertising their product in an effective way to make more sales by appealing to their target audience (men who work out).    

To conclude I believe that the two products aren’t having any significant negative effects on society and that the companies behind them are smartly and strategically using these representations of different genders purely to benefit their financial status. I am aware that some consumers may not take the preferred reading of the message that the companies are trying to give off however I don’t believe that these misinterpretations will have a big enough of a negative effect in order to make the companies represent their products in alternative ways. 

In this essay, I am going to be discussing how gender is displayed on the Tomb Raider and Men’s Health Magazine, by exploring how designers represent genders, ie females and males. Firstly, we need to look at the definition of gender, which is said to be either of two sexes, male and female. Interestingly nowadays, there is much more of an increase in gender fluidity, meaning the flexibility of genders, for instance, people can be referred as not just by the two sexes, male and female, but also non-binary, bisexual, transgender etc. When analyzing the Men’s Health magazine, how it portrays the gender male, in my opinion, is very stereotypical, which therefore I see as a reactionary representation, as I believe it’s ‘normal’ to see a man portrayed like this in a Men’s Health magazine, i.e. looking muscular and dominant. I would say I think this because, in today’s culture, our society has convinced us about how we should or expect men and women to be portrayed and how they present themselves, vs how the media present them. On the other hand, looking at the Tomb Raider magazine, I feel that it’s a very radical representation, as I believe that our society and media have made us stereotype males and females. For instance, women are characterized to be gentle and caretaking, whereas males are characterized to be powerful, buff and dominant over women. In the tomb raider magazine, it is clear she is holding a gun, which instantly challenges the dominant ideology. The fact that it is a woman standing on the front cover, implies that she is the main subject, showing that she is powerful, evidently as she is holding a gun. This initially says something about how we see women in pop culture and society. In addition, we believe that Lara Croft challenges the dominant ideology as she is challenging stereotypical men who a more dominant than women, which is evidently shown by her strength and power within the photo and her body language. Furthermore, the color yellow is associated with energy, this represents the women’s power. also, gamers were used to seeing women play the role a victim, seductress, or evil villains, however, in the Tomb Raider magazine, it challenges the dominant ideology, because she is presented heroically. my opinion, I believe that Men’s Health magazine is reactionary, and the Tomb Raider magazine is radical. 

In the Tomb Raider magazine, it dramatically introduces sexualization. Lara Croft is presented as a protagonist, as she is placed in the center of the magazine, it instantly draws attention to her, as she’s been positioned to show her behind and overly enhanced graphic features. The game designers have constructed Lara Croft in this way, to appease straight Christian males, as she is underdressed and her breast and buttocks have been overemphasized. To add on, she has been placed in an unnatural position to help emphasize her female features. If we relate to the theory of reception, which means how the audience accepts or rejects the dominant reading of a text/image, I would say that the intended message is that women should be seen looking sexual and underdressed. This message can be interpreted in many different ways, for instance, people could have a dominant reading, meaning that they agree with the intended message, that women should be seen sexualized and underdressed, or they could have an oppositional reading, where the audience disagrees with the intended message. for me, I have an oppositional reading of this, as I feel females should by seen howeve they like and dress however they like. With this game rated as a 12, I feel that the young audience shouldn’t play or see this front cover, as I feel that as they are young and still learning about society as a whole, this front cover almost teaches them how women should be seen. This can lead to potential consequences of mental health problems as it indoctrinates and reeducates the audience, as the media can be influential, in this case, relating the Tomb Raider, it can cause people to think that they need to be skinny, and have large female features, which could lead to low self-esteem and confidence.

In comparison to the Men’s Health magazine, it’s almost been created to show how men’s health should be taken into account, for instance being muscular and toned and having a high metabolism and low body fat. Going back to Tomb Raider, I can see the comparison between these two magazines, as they both set an intended message to say that this is how males should be perceived, and this is how females should be perceived. Furthermore, what also fascinates me is how there is a theme of the color blue on the Men’s Health magazine. Our society has led us to think that the color blue is more representable for males, as it is associated with strength and it is now seen as a masculine color. Instantly, this magazine portrays that it is targeted for males, yet, with the title being men’s health, it implies that the magazine is only for men, as there is no female relation. This arguably suggests that working out, and being strong is only for men, however, it is ironic as looking at the Tomb Raider magazine, it hints at how females should be perceived, skinny, toned and powerful. Ultimately, in the Men’s Health magazine, it invokes a strong message, about how men should be seen, from the iconic sign that men should be broad and have large muscles, from the various verbs in large text, i.e. “lose, reboot, build, demolish” etc. Whereas the Tomb Raider magazine only hints at how females should be perceived, as it’s just a game, however, the game designers may have been intelligent, by only hinting that females should look like Lara Croft, as it isn’t as forceful and persistent as the Men’s Health magazine, from the variety of verbs etc.

In conclusion, when analyzing both of these magazines it conveys a message of how females and males should be expected to look like. This can cause serious problems to the audience, such as mental health, low confidence, and self-esteem, as they don’t see themselves as good looking as the people on these front covers. When creating these magazine covers, photoshop has been involved to make them look more appealing and attractive, however, their body features have been emphasized too much, and has led them from good – looking to unnaturalistic due to the unnatural enhanced features. The question is why have they been changed to look like this, by the power of computer technology? Even though they wouldn’t look like this in reality? As a result, it just gives the audience a sense of inferiority, as they feel that they are lower quality, by making them feel worse than they are. From watching the Dove advert “you’re more beautiful than you think”, it sends an intended message to say that people perceive you as more beautiful looking than you believe. In this video, they have taken a forensic artist to drew someone twice from the somebody describing themselves, and a stranger describing that person from observation. The drawings that were drawn by the stranger’s observation, were much prettier and positive than the first drawing, where the person described themselves. This implies that strangers and other people perceive us prettier than we think, as ourselves notice the small imperfections that others don’t notice. Overall, this suggests that media plays a big role in affecting people’s self-image, making them feel self-conscious, through the use of Photoshop, enlarging breasts, buttocks and having an hourglass silhouette, and men having shiny skin, broad shoulders, and large muscles.

Compare the representation of gender in both Mens Health and Tomb raider. 

This essay is exploring the stereotypical representation of both male and female ideologies. I am going to be comparing the portrayal of a woman and how the male perceives a female in tomb raider. On the other hand, I will state how the male is illustrated in ‘Men’s Health’ in relation to the subject matter and the images conveyed. 

Let us start with the front cover of ‘Men’s Health’, and the iconic sign being ‘vin diesel’ (the man centred on the front page). This will entice people to buy the magazine as a celebrity is on the front cover making it a primary selling point. There are a number of reasons why he has been chosen for the front cover, mainly that he has a muscular frame that other males can aspire to. This signifies that the male gender is stereotyped into being this broad muscly man. The title which is in blue is another attempt to stereotypicalise males as blue is for boys and pink is for girls. There are several captions all either in blue or black.  The font size on one of the captions, the phrase ‘BLAST BODY FAT!’ is exceedingly large in comparison to the rest of the captions as it is in bold and capitalised. This symbolises that men must be a certain shape with no body fat, and they are made to feel ashamed with the terminology used about fat. This is again leading to gender specifications in order to be masculine and dominant. With the use of the words ‘fat, flab, lose 8kg fast’ can make certain vulnerable readers anxious leading to mental health disorders. Therefore, this is a misrepresentation as the idea of fitness is positive, however the male demographic is unsustainable. On the other hand the index shows different articles in the magazine , it uses specific page numbers to target the valued and important topics in the magazine and puts a positive slant by stating that fitness has a positive health and wellbeing, There is an article on page 84 saying “Could your iPhone aptly treat mental health ills?” The use  of this puts the audience in a position of positivity for males who struggle emotionally. Age discrimination is also tackled in an article on page 96, giving a positive representation for the male gender at all ages regarding fitness.  

In contrast Tomb Raider is specifically targeting a gender specific audience which is a stereotypical male. The front cover of the game identifies a female in a provocative position in order to entice the male demographic. The mise-en-scene being body language and costume shows Lara Croft in tight clothing, short shorts in order to accentuate her butt. The female is being represented as a sexualised symbol, the connotation of Lara Croft as a sex symbol makes men appeal to the game more. This is representing males and females both in a negative light by using this advertising especially with the camera angle that has been shot enlarging certain parts of her body as well as centering the chest at eye view. The typography of the big bold wring ‘tomb raider’ is angled towards her chest. The selective representation is of Lara Croft has negative connotations for a women and males use this ideology gaining an advantage over women. On the back and the front of the gaming cover the parental guidance sign shows age 12 appropriate, aiming at young adolescents who are easily influenced and are grown into adulthood to expect women to conform to this body image. Inferences can be made from the back cover showing for images all showing different angles of her body and some closeup shots of her. 

In comparison both ‘tomb raider’ and ‘men’s health’ use the same typography of bold lettering to draw the audience in. They both appeal to men in the sense that one is aimed at body image and one is aimed at female idealisation. Both stances of the man and women are positioned in such a way. Lara Croft is twisted to reveal all aspects of her features, but this is not a natural way to be positioned. The dominant signifiers (man) stance shows a commanding presence as his arms are in front of his body, so the focus can be mainly on his arms and the size of them. Both also stigmatise male and female roles in society as the image conveyed of men are dominant, masculine and virile and these traits are supposed to attract women. In ‘tomb raider’ Lara Croft shown as a sexual object for men to idealise and this is degrading to women thus making them feel inferior. 

In conclusion, I believe that ‘tomb raider’ and ‘men’s health’ are portraying gender discrimination as both of them show that body image is the main factor. This discriminates because men are put under pressure to have the perfect body which can be unsustainable. It discriminates against the women as the body image that is shown is sexual in nature and can undermine women’s confidence. Both are aimed at people who have leisure time to get fit and play games, however the symbolisation is having a detrimental effect on how we think men and women should look and behave in today’s society. 

The representation of gender in both Men’s Health and Tomb Raider portray different interpretations, through the use of semiotics and print language. In this essay, I will be exploring how each media sources portray this, explaining how they interpret it in their front covers, back pages and in the magazine (men’s health). I think that for both of these media sources they come across very different with gender representation through radical and reactionary ideas.

First of all, the representation of gender in Men’s Health and Tomb raider comes across both as very different especially through the use of images and semiotics. Tomb Raider represents traditional gender roles, sexual objectification and stereotypes, where women have a significant role of being cast as supporting characters because of gamers preferences, meaning for boys. Lara Croft (the main girl character) is portrayed differently to what the majority of females that are played in games. This allows the gaming industry to widen, allowing women to be presented as strong, powerful and equally as powerful as males that are in video games. There is evidence of this as seen on the covers of the game of Lara being seen as powerful. She is holding a gun with passion and confidence which creates a sense of power and danger in her. In other images on the back cover, she is shown fighting, climbing and jumping to keep this stimulus of Lara up. She is the dominant signifier of this game who is positioned sideways. This is done to show off her “unrealistic” body type, this is done on purpose to be sexualised, this proves Lara is designed to attract men, as her athletic physique would be attractive to many men who would describe as perfect. On the other hand, Men’s Health has a target audience for men, it creates an ideology of being the stereotypical man, staying fit and being a particular way in which society expects. The dominant signifier is a strong, tall and built man, this intention is carried on throughout the pages of the magazine. But there is a widen target audience accepted of older people, this is created through the interview and image of the 69-year-old man talking about his fitness “your only limit is yourself better”. Images are carried on the sense of fitness for men. Such as images that say “best fitness classes for men 2017”, “flour power” and “feel the benefit” all these quotes in the magazine show a key representation of gender which is men. I know this because there is no say or sign in images of interviews with women in.

Another way in which each media source represents gender is through the use of denotation and connotation of their sources. They both use the typical product styles such as a header, font type, size and colour, plugs, colour and many more. Tomb Raider uses signs and symbols (signifier and signified) to show the use of gender representation such as guns, Lara Croft herself and the different images on the back cover of the featured gameplay. These signs show the use of power and shows that games like this do not need a main character as a man to create this stereotypical gameplay. The main colours of the covers are black, yellow, red and brown. These colours are in some way good as it shows that having a main girl character doesn’t need typical girly colours such as pink etc. But these colours draw men in even more as the red symbolizes danger and it shows the character as more of an athletic figure, making them want to buy the “perfectly” designed character. The use of denotation in Man’s Health is quite different from Tomb Raider. Man’s Health screams the stereotypical man magazine. There is evidence of this through the title of the magazine “Men’s Health” this shows it is mainly for men and is the easiest way to keep females aways for the magazine. It is also due to the main image of the strong-looking man, this shows the main ideology of this magazine, fitness in men. The text size, shape and style help the magazine show this. The text is bold and uses man colours, blue and black. The magazine includes an interview in the format of columns about a man’s fitness “how has your fitness developed over the years”. This makes the magazine more attracted to men as the interview is about a man’s transformation of fitness. The use of text and phrases used in the magazine implies it is more for men “shortcuts to t-shirt arms” “lose 8kgs fast”.

In conclusion, gender representation in both sources suggest different ideas. Tomb Raider is based on showing that perfect women to men. Men’s Health shows how a stereotypical man should be presented. I think Tomb Raider has a radical response due to the presentation of women in this game. I think Men’s Health also has a radical response as all men do not need to be presented as strong. I think both the target audience for Men’s Health has been presented in a good way in such but Tomb Raider has not.

In this essay, I am going to compare the representation of gender in both ‘Men’s Health’ magazine and tomb Raider video game cover focussing on semiotics, print language, representation and audience theory. I will argue the negativity of how males should look in society, body shame, social ideologies, how language represents gender and uses and gratifications theory.  

In ‘men’s health’ men are represented as strong and fierce. The cover image of a male has been staged so that his arm muscles are further forward making them the dominant feature of his appearance. This is an indexical sign linking to the dominant ideology of how people think men should look in society. All together, this is a negative representation of males in todays society as the majority of males do not look like this and it causes the audience to misinterpret the male gender. The main image is a bribe to persuade men to buy the magazine, A semiotician Ronald Barthes states that ‘ a photograph is a kind of speech in the same way as a newspaper article if an object means something it becomes speech’. This image on the cover speaks to the audience and impacts them to think this is how they should look negatively placing ideologies in the audiences head in order to sell their product.

Similarly, on the ‘Tomb raider’ cover Lara Croft is extremely sexualised to make her appealing to the audience. In the same way as ‘Men’s health’ the tomb raider cover uses Lara as an indexical sign linking to social ideologies. However, the purpose is different. In men’s health the purpose of the cover model is to provoke guilt and body shame in the audience so that they purchase the product but on the other hand the main character in tomb raider is sexualised to appeal primarily to men to buy the product so they can look at Lara. This product takes advantage of a feminist theory called ‘the male gaze’ which states that some media ‘presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.’

The print language In ’mens health’ represents men as lazy and impatient. Some cover phrases include ‘103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms’, ‘lose 8kg fast’, ‘burn 100kcals in 5 mins’ these create a constructed reality in male society that weight loss and muscle gain is simple which in most cases  is really a misrepresentation. The producers of the magazine believe that the way to advertise to males is to use the dominant ideology that males will be attracted to quick results using the words ‘shortcuts’ ‘fast’. They are also represented in society as interested in war and fighting ‘vin diesel’s blueprint to wage war on flab’ the producers use metaphors such as this to attract males to be interested in weight loss and exercise.

However, on the ‘tomb raider’ game cover the print language represents men as gullible using the quote ‘tomb raider is till one of the greatest games ever made’- xbox 360 gamer. Since the quote is from a very vague source it seems fake and untrustworthy however the cover designers believe this will convince the audience to buy the game (the target audience being males). The text is also in a similar font to the well know Indiana jones movies this is because the game is roughly based of the movies. This adventure style font is gold and sans serif.

The audience for the ‘men’s health’ magazine is males who feel they need to loose weight, are interested in body building or feeling pressured by ideals of society to look how society thinks they should. Bulmer and Katz came up with ‘uses and gratifications theory’ this suggest that the audience chooses what it wants to consume for five different reasons. Information and Education, Entertainment, Personal Identity, Integration and social interaction and escapism. Men’s health would most likely be purchased for the audience to be inspired by others who are physical role models to them this would fall into the personal identity category.

On the other hand, the sexualisation of Lara croft is used pejoratively so that the product is consumed for entertainment (although a game would normally be purchased for entertainment the addition of a female character appeals to the target audience and boosts sales of the game).

To conclude, I believe that both CSPs represent gender (both male and female) pejoratively. I think that this type of media influences extreme body shame for individuals and creates a non-realistic representation of how society really is. Men’s health could be considered as an inspirational piece of material for males as it encourages them to become fit however it creates unrealistic goals and uses images to body shame. Tomb raider represents women to men as physically different to how women really are. This is a misrepresentation and creates false dominant ideologues in society which is also the cause of low self-esteem. 

In comparing the magazine Men’s Health and the cover of the video game Tomb raider we can identify various ways gender is represented in both radical and reactionary terms. By considering the use of print language and signs we can infer how gender is represented to the audience. 

The magazine Men’s Health portrays a mostly reactionary image of masculinity. This can be seen on the front cover where the main image is one displaying the subject’s stance which accentuates his muscular frame and shows him with a serious expression on his face. This image is classically what the readership wants to attain, and this is emphasised in the magazine by the quote “Diesel’s [the subject] slant is one to aspire to”. Furthermore, this quote hints at the idea of the creators of Men’s Health creating a myth around the iconic sign of Vin Diesel as the ideal male physique. This image also accentuates how the audience views the topic of their health seriously since this magazine is marketed to men wanting to become healthier and lose weight. This is further reinforced via the subjects of the subheadings on the front cover, which allude to weight loss regimes detailed within the pages of the magazine. The colour palette used of muted colours such as blue, grey and black also conform to the reactionary stereotype of colours associated with the male gender. Also, the use of blocks of colour rather than patterns or designs reinforce the masculine nature of the magazine. However, the magazine is radical in its portrayal of age and gender in the interview with Phillip Howells, a 69-year-old “marathon man”. The subject’s body type does not fit in with the previously established aspirational physique of Vin Diesel, which suggests that Howell’s physique is less traditionally masculine. Instead of portraying him as less masculine, the magazine implies through the interview and captions that he just as masculine as Vin Diesel, making it a radical portrayal of the male gender. 

Similarly to Men’s Health, the game cover of Tomb Raider portrays a reactionary and radical depiction of a woman. The reactionary element is present in the fact that Lara Croft, the main subject of the game cover is heavily sexualised to appeal to the target audience of male teenagers and young men. She is also made this way to appeal the male fantasy which enforces a reactionary view on women established by men. Lara, however, challenges the reactionary views on female combatants and independent women by being shown defeating monsters and performing stunts while exploring tombs on the back cover of the game. Another radical view promoted by the game is how Lara Croft’s stance on the game cover highlights her holding pistols and standing in a way that asserts she is confident, which again challenges the reactionary view on women being unconfrontational and weak. 

In Conclusion, Tomb raider represents a much more radical view on gender, with many stereotypes of women being challenged, compared to Men’s Health, where reactionary views on masculinity and gender are often presented as ideals men should aspire to. 

Media essay– Tomb Raider and Men’s health 

This essay compares the representation of gender in both Men’s Health and Tomb Raider. Issues raised in this essay consist of how Lara Croft, the main character in Tomb Raider, is portrayed sexually, to appeal to male gamers and how you have to work out and have the ‘best body, to be a man, in Men’s health. Gender stereotypes will also be brought to light and how they are defeated or highlighted.  

Lara Croft is a well-known video games character in the game Tomb Raider and is the dominant signifier. She is very popular with men due to her small wait, large chest and behind. She also wears short shorts, suspenders and a crop top, which adds to the sex appeal. This, however, is not a good influence on young girls. Even though the games age rating is a 12, teenage girls are heavily influenced by the media and if they are seeing Lara Croft, who has a very unnatural figure, they will start to believe this is the norm. This idea links into the Reception theory, created by George Gerbner, which states that exposure to reinforced messages will affect our ideas, attitudes and beliefs. So, if girls are constantly seeing her small waist and large chest, they feel like they need to do everything to be like her. Lara Croft is quite diverse in a way, even though she is heavily sexualised, she defeats the idea of gender stereotypes, such as ‘women are delicate and gentle,’ but clearly Lara isn’t this. In the first picture on the back cover, it shows Lara crossing a vertical wall with just a single rope. This highlights her bravery and strength that she needs to pull herself along the wall. As it is also high off the ground it shows her fearlessness. These attributes that Lara has, stereotypically belong to men, about having strength and being brave. But, however, the illustration is also focused her suspenders and skinny legs, giving men another reason to buy the game. As it is on the back cover the audience will see what they are buying into and giving them a taste of what they are going to be playing. This is linked to the idea of mise-en-scene, on how she is purposely placed there with her suspenders on show. Similarly, the idea of Lara’s highlighted body is also portrayed on the front cover. The texture of the colours and where they are placed, emphasises Lara’s body, with light shining from her legs and chest, so people will look at that first. The contrast between the light dark colours reflects the game is all about Lara. There is a lot of light around her eyes which makes the audience look into them, which gets them hooked as she is using her eyes in a sexual way to entice people. The character is almost contradicting herself in the fact that she is doing activities which males would predominantly do but at the same time she is sexualising herself. This gives men more of a reason to buy the game as Lara is an independent woman, yet they still get to physically control her.   

The second point raised in this essay is about the magazine ‘Men’s Health.’ Likewise, this magazine also reflects gender in a good and bad light, much like ‘Tomb Raider.’ This magazine is mainly aimed at men who are looking to become fit and healthy.’ The index symbol on the front of the magazine shows Vin Disel, who is very muscular and looks very strong. This is portraying that this body shape is the shape you need to be, to be an ideal man. The image is surrounded by tag lines which are all about ‘127 ways to build a stronger core’ and ‘103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms.’ Just by these 2 tag lines we can see that the idea that is drilled into men’s heads is that you must be big and strong to be a ‘man.’ This also reflects the idea of the Reception theory and how we are so influenced by the media, seeing these big and buff men becomes the usual to us and we need to be like that to be accepted in today’s society. The tagline ‘shortcuts to t-shirt arms’ is also a play on words as the word ‘shortcut’ could reflect the shortcut arms on a t shirt. Having fun and catchy taglines encourages the reader to want to continue reading. There is one tag line which goes the against the idea of male stereotypes. It is ‘#slay winter blues.’ This is showing that a big platform like ‘Men’s health’ will be able to give the opportunity to people about opening up about mental health issues. It shows that no matter how big and strong you are, you can still suffer from mental health and be able to openly speak about it to people and seek help. The stereotype that men aren’t weak, or men don’t cry is being defeated. The fact that the text is in bold and in capital letters shows it is important. Also having an icon like Vin Disel on the front shows he is an ally of mental health awareness and the audience seeing him supporting it may encourage them to speak up. On the second page it shows that page number 125 is about style. This is also going against male stereotypes because it is usually women who are into fashion and clothing, but men also need to have that platform as well. Men can also take pride in what they wear and want to feel nice in what they are wearing, as well as women. Finally, the final page shows an old man running. This goes against the idea of age and how stereotypically ‘old men’ can’t to do anything as they are too fragile and weak, but Phillip Howells goes against this idea and ran 794 miles competitively in 2016. This page of the magazine is showing that are other forms of fitness as well for men and not just body building and gym work out sessions. But there is running, cycling and swimming which Phillip Howells talks about in his interview.  

In conclusion, gender is heavily represented in Tomb Raider and Men’s Health. Whether it be with positive or negative stereotypes. The main stereotype of women which is defeated in Tomb Raider is ‘women are weak and soft,’ but Lara clearly isn’t weak as she is fighting dinosaurs and swimming down into the depths of the tomb. Males are represented in ‘Men’s Health’ to be big and strong but the stereotype of ‘men don’t cry’ and ‘men are mentally strong’ is conquered when it says ‘#slay winter blues’ which really emphasises what mental is important to men as it is to women. However, both these covers portray a negative atmosphere on gender. As ‘Tomb Raider’ is all about sexualising women and men using them as objects and controlling them and ‘Men’s Health’ is portraying that you need to be into fitness and be strong to be a real ‘man.’ If the audience don’t have the body shape of Lara or Vin Disel this could make them feel worthless and useless. So, they both highlight positive and negative representations of gender. 

While Tomb Raider portrays women as strong and independent, it also objectifies and emphasises her looks over her actions. Furthermore, Men’s Health stereotypes men as big and masculine to show the ‘perfect’ man while still representing other parts of being a man. This means that both CSP’s portray gender in a positive and negative way through the front covers and features spreads.

On the Tomb Raider front cover, Lara Croft is shown as the only dominant signifier and is used at an MLS to show off her face but also to show her body. She is also angled to show off her assets which is clear objectification as the aim is targeted towards most of the straight male audience. On the back cover, the camera is angled at her butt as the player follows behind her which is very objectifying as it denotes that her butt is the focus and so the most important part of her. On the other hand, Men’s Health shows off an MLS of Vin Diesel (synergising the two brands of Vin Diesel and Men’s Health), which also applies to the male audience due to health tips of how to be a healthy man. This means the he isn’t as objectified as much as Lara Croft due to being produced for most men. While at the time, Tomb Raider was more of a radical text as it uses a positive stereotype compared to the normal misrepresentation of women in video games, being the damsel in distress. Men’s Health is a lot more of a reactionary text as it supports the dominant ideology of men being large and tough.

However, the new Men’s Health issues are more radical texts which don’t use traditional stereotypes. The front cover talks about ‘#slay winter blues’ which addresses the issue of mental health instead of just physical health. This refers to emotion and therefore more feminine which ‘shouldn’t’ be talked about on a men’s magazine. In the contents page, in shows Phillip Howells who is 69, these counter the dominant ideology of all male athletes being very young therefore creating a positive message while representing the elderly in a positive light. It uses countertypes to the traditional feminine traits by making her wield guns as they connote violence and action which are more traditionally masculine stereotypes rather than being a fragile and caring woman. However, the guns are small compared to other games with male character that are holding larger weapons compared to 2 small pistols.

Both texts apply to the straight male who usually fits into the emergent service workers as they have high cultural capital. This is because Tomb Raider objectifies women while Men’s Health try to make men feel better and healthier. The hegemony of culture is changing as those dominant ideologies about gender and the fluidity of identity is changing. This is to due the idea of being a man becoming a wider term to include those with differences such as mental health, sexual orientation or gender to apply to a larger and different audience. Referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, after physical health and safety the next need is for that of love and belonging. By these case studies applying to this larger audience, it makes people feel represented and belonged to a community, leading to a change of the constructed identity in society while representing gender in a broader spectrum without misrepresenting the target population.

Although both case studies use stereotypes and countertypes to portray men and women in different ways, these prints show the changing times as traditional masculinity is only portrayed through physical health and appearance to the relevance of identity and mental health. While women aren’t portrayed as helpless and have become powerful and independent without the need of help from men.