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The Queer Joy Journey of The Last of Us
Intro/hook
In 2013, game developer Naughty Dog released a zombie apocalypse-styled third-person action-adventure game, The Last of Us. In the game, you play as dad Joel, whose daughter Sarah, is killed in 2013 at the beginning of a mutated fungal outbreak (called the Cordyceps Brain Infection, or cordyceps/CBI for short), that tear apart their world. After losing his daughter to a gunshot wound from military forces, the main character Joel gets swept up in smuggling across the country a young girl, named Ellie, who turns out to be immune to the zombies (known as infected). This is 20 years after the infection started, and there is hope that something inside Ellie can create a cure for the infection. In the game, players help Ellie and Joel fight their way from Boston to Salt Lake City to see if this is true.
In the Last of Us Part II, the aptly named second installment in the series released in 2020, players get to see from Ellies perspective as she is hellbent on revenge for the death of Joel - and players also get to see the events from the perspective of the character Abby, the one who killed him.
Because the beginning of the outbreak takes place in 2013, there are many things that are different in Joel and Ellies world than in ours. There is little to no food, electricity or running water (except in places that have either been taken over by the military response, FEDRA (which stands for Federal Disaster Response Agency), or the rebel factions, the Fireflies). Kids that were born after the outbreak have no frame of reference for what the Before Times looked like, except in books (or if, like Ellie, they find someones diary) or movies.
The bulk of the games, and subsequently the HBO show, take place in a fictional time near our own (2023-2029 ish for the show, and 2033-2039 for both games). We do not get to see first hand exactly how these changes to their world happened. Instead, we get snippets through items (known as artifacts) found in the game, and in visual clues (as well as flashbacks) in the show.
So how did this world wide apocalyptic pandemic effect queer people? Hi, I’m Melody, and here on my channel I talk about queerness, music, movies, and queer musical movies. If that sounds fun to you, subscribe, like, etc. and let’s get into it.
Point 1
The queer moments in the first installment of The Last of Us games are few and far between. As The Last of Us first game was released two years before the US (where the games are set) legalized gay marriage, this is not wholly suprising.
We get one example in the first game of a possibly queer relationship, through the characters of Bill and Frank
Game 1/Season 1
Bill and Frank in the game
In the game, Bill and Frank’s relationship is merely alluded to. Bill, a cantankerous friend of Joels, helps Joel and Ellie out by guiding them to a working vehicle
Joel and Bill have a chat, wherein Bill chastises Joel for having acquired a partner, or someone he is close to, in Ellie.
Bill reveals that he too had a partner and that it brought him only trouble.
The two men then discover the body of Bills partner, Frank, who has hung himself, due to being bitten and possibly infected. Bill’s teary-eyed reaction suggests that there is more to the title of partner than Bill originally let on.
There is also a note that players can find that lends more to the story. Frank writes in this note that he is tired of Bill and that he is too stuck in his ways. If the player gives the note to Bill, a conversation ensues in which one can hear even more sadness in Bill’s voice. This inference of Bill’s gayness is mostly due to the incredible voice acting from W. Earl Brown.
This is because, as the game creator, Neil Druckmann, confessed he wasn’t thinking about representation when he created the character of Bill and that Frank was conceived as a best friend. It was the voice actor for Bill, W. Earl Brown, who infused queerness into the character post-script after Druckmann allowed him to define their relationship at a table read. (https://gamerant.com/was-bill-gay-in-the-last-of-us-game/#:~:text=The%20biggest%20hints%20towards%20Bill,not%20paying%20close%20enough%20attention.)
Ellie will also show Joel a magazine that she found in Bills hideout (and can also be seen by the player when looking around) that solidifies Bill being gay.
As I already said, since the game was originally released when it was, it makes sense. It is the only queer relationship hinted at in the game, and left much to be desired.
Bill and Frank in the show
Lucky for us now, we have the HBO show.
In the show, Bill and Frank (played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) have an entire dedicated episode called “Long, Long Time”. In this episode, we get to see how Bill and Frank meet, fall in love, and eventually die. Bill in the show is a much more fleshed out character, and as such we get a helluva lot more character progression through him. He meets Frank when he sneaks onto Bill’s property (which can only be described as a compound) trying to find food. Frank ends up in a trap hole and is cornered by Bill who eventually decides to feed him (a lavish dinner with wine). Even though Bill seems to be a typical masculine prepper, we get to see his more tender side expressed to Frank which was so expertly and subtly played by W. Earl Brown in the game. In the end, as we learned through a note that Joel and Ellie found, the two men ended their lives after growing old and being happy together for around 20 years
This is such a stark opposition to the normal “bury your gays” trope that Hollywood has loved to use in the past. By showing us Bill and Frank’s long happy relationship, The Last of Us shows us that joy and hope can be found by queer folks - even in a zombie apocalypse
Ellie and Riley (The Last of Us: Left Behind, Season 1 Episode 7)
The first game installment has a DLC called “Left Behind” (no, not that Left Behind), in which players get to see, through Ellie’s eyes, what happened right after Joel was injured by falling on a piece of rebar during the first game. This is interspersed with flashbacks of Ellie and her “friend” Riley as they sneak out to an abandoned mall a few weeks before Ellie and Joel meet.
During this time, Ellie is a soldier-in-training at a FEDRA facility, and Riley has recently left the FEDRA school to join the Fireflies.
Riley reveals that she is training under Marlene (the character that recruits Joel to transport Ellie in the first game) and that she is going to be leaving Boston soon on a mission for the Fireflies.
This is her last chance to spend some quality time with Ellie who is understandably upset about Riley leaving her in the first place, as she didn’t even tell her she was leaving. Ellie thought she was dead and, while she is very happy to see Riley again, there is tension between the two.
This tension is seen while the girls are exploring the mall, but we also get to see the depths of their love for each other.
And yes, they do kiss.
This romance is unfortunately cut short, not only by the fact Riley is leaving town, but also by infected that show up at the mall.
The girls fight off the infected as long as they can, but they ultimately both get bit. This is when Ellie realizes she is immune. Riley, unfortunately, is not.
“Left Behind” was hailed for its story and for centering a queer teen romance, which was groundbreaking at the time for mainstream video games. (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-02-26/the-last-of-us-hbo-episode-7-ellie-riley-left-behind-american-dreams)
Ashley Johnson, who portrays Ellie in “The Last of Us” games. “See[ing] those glimpses of [Ellie] getting to be a kid and … being carefree and those first moments of having a crush on someone. Being next to someone and [thinking] ‘Oh my God, I want to kiss them so bad.”
This episode in the game and show is actually based on a prequel comic series by the original game writer, Druckmann, and artist Faith Erin Hicks.
While the pair did not originally set out for Ellie and Riley to fall in love, we can see that Ellie clearly looks up to Riley and admires her fearlessness.
At this point in the story, Ellie is not quite sure of herself or where she wants to go - does she want to stay with FEDRA or leave and join the Fireflies like Riley?
She worries about getting caught while they are out way more than Riley does, and Riley is very much the leader in their relationship
The budding romance is very much portrayed as fresh and appropriate for two young teens. Storm Reid, who portrays Riley in the HBO show, said of the portrayal of the kiss “I do think Riley saw it coming a little bit … Despite her feelings and her inkling of, like, ‘Ellie might like me a little bit’ … she maybe didn’t think Ellie would have the balls to kiss her, so I think that’s the surprise.”
Reid goes on to say, “I think it’s beautiful that we ended where it ends and we don’t have to see … what happened to Riley,” said Reid. “That scene is essential to bring us back to what the world [of the show] is and bring us back to [understanding] this is beautiful and they are experiencing love and they’re experiencing joy, but we are living in times where your time is cut short.
Game 2/Season 2
This feeling of everything being cut short is extended into the second game, The Last of us Part II, and the second season of the HBO show
In this part of the story, we follow Ellie, who is now fully integrated into the seemingly safe society that resides in Jackson, Montana
As is shown at the end of the first game and season, Joel and Ellie have returned to Jackson, where Joel’s brother Tommy and his wife Maria, preside over a safe haven, of sorts. The town is fortified by walls and snipers and a host of other safety measures that protect the town’s citizens from infected. The citizens have also formed an almost fully-fledged community complete with farms, stores, and community events They even have their own form of government that acts as a voting body to decide what citizens can or cannot do
We see this voting happen in the show when Ellie, who has witnessed the death of Joel at the hands of an unknown rebel group, wants to avenge his death by chasing after the group The governing body votes “no”, but Ellie and her friend Dina, decide to sneak out anyway and head to Seattle, where the members of the rebel group (called WLF) is supposed to be hiding out. (Just a side note, but the small details are a little different in the show than the game, but the basic story is still the same.)
Ellie and Dina sneak out with the help of a man who Ellie thought would never help them - the character Seth, who reacted with bigotry after seeing Ellie and Dina kissing while inebriated at a New Year’s Eve party a little while before Joel’s death This is the first instance of such bigotry that we see in the world of The Last of Us
Point 2
How these moments reflect the changes in the timeline
Major Differences
Obviously, this world is a little bit of a fantasy, because the timeline of the real world split after the onset of the Cordyceps infection in 2013 (or 2003 in the show)
So why do things seem so less bigoted in The Last of Us?
Well, despite the obvious fact that it is a fictional game/show, it is just like most art. A mirror, and also an idea of what could be. In the story, since it is set in the US, the writers have held up a mirror showing our political world here - showing the polarity of the two-party system that exists. As such, the world of The Last of us also has two political sides being represented
First, there is the militaristic arm of the government, FEDRA. They turn more authoritarian over time in the story, eventually encroaching more and more on citizens’ rights In the first game, in the part where Joel and his smuggling partner Tess are trying to find Robert (a fellow smuggler), players can witness FEDRA soldiers interrogating citizens FEDRA soldiers are scanning citizens to see if they have been infected. This scene culminates with one person being shot and killed, even though the scanner said they were negative for the infection. In the show, in episode 4 of the second season, we get to see things from the perspective of some FEDRA soldiers. One soldier questions why the citizens are referred to as “voters”. Their commander says it was because they, FEDRA, took the citizens’ rights to vote away - something the political right in the US is wont to do
Secondly, we have the Fireflies and the WLF Both the Fireflies and the WLF are “rebel factions” that arose to fight against increasing authoritarianism by FEDRA. The Fireflies are the ones that will develop a cure from Ellie, and are thought to be “the good guys” However, things in the world of The Last of Us aren’t that simple, and we eventually learn that the Fireflies and WLF are on the opposite side of the same coin as FEDRA
We also have another party being represented, though it’s not as strong politically as these first three This is the “regular citizen” party, and is represented throughout the games and show by characters like Ellie and Joel, Tess, Dina, Sam and Henry, Bill and Frank, and the residents of the town of Jackson, MT Regular citizens have created their own political bodies and sense of morality based on what will keep them safe
In Jackson, we see that, while things are a little more left-leaning than our current political climate in the US, this is to keep the town safe
For example, the residents are not happy when Seth displays his bigotry toward Ellie and Dina at the New Year’s party, which takes place in a church in the show. Joel punches/pushes Seth, and bystanders make comments that this is a family event. Maria eventually steps in to mediate the issue in her role as mayor, and Seth apologizes for his bigoted comments.
There are also undoubtedly religious people still alive after the cordyceps infection took hold.
We see in the game that Dina and her family is, or was, Jewish. We get to explore a synagogue and learn a bit more about Dina’s backstory. In addition to meeting the WLF in Seattle, we also meet the Seraphites in the second part of the Last of Us story In the US, a lot of the conflict with the queer community comes from certain religious groups. Similarly, in the story of The Last of Us there is at least one religious group that causes conflict for the protagonists - the Seraphites, or “scars” (known as such because of the ritualistic scarring they make on their cheeks)
In the game, during Abby’s part of the story, we get to know a little more about this religious group and how they operate
Abby gets rescued from certain gruesome death by a teen sibling pair named Lev and Yara. Abby then turns around and saves Yara from dying due to having her arm bashed in for being an “apostate” We later learn that this happened because Yara’s brother, Lev, is trans - something that is apparently frowned upon by the Seraphites due to their polygamous ways - Lev was due to be married off as young wife to a much older man, and ran away due to that - and because he is trans and could not safely live as a Seraphite any more
In the US, conservative Christian groups have fought against progressive queer policies since at least the 1960s, when tensions rose after the Stonewall riot and other such incidents - when queer folks asked for simple things like equal housing and employment rights.
This has often been fought against under the guise of “protecting the children”
In a world like in The Last of Us, where children are rare, due to the immediate threat of the Cordyceps, and having young children would only slow someone down and take more resources. Although there are kids, people don’t seem too concerned with making sure they don’t grow up to be gay. They are more concerned that the children survive and can grow to help protect everyone else - like in the FEDRA and rebel camps (even the Seraphites), where kids are trained young to defend themselves. In a society like Jackson, kids are seen as a precious part of the community, and even attend school. But they are still expected to help out with maintaining the society they are a part of. If this cordyceps infection were to happen in real life, some Christian groups would no doubt take advantage of the situation to promote more hate against queer folk than such groups do in TLoU. After all, birthing more children might be important to some groups as they would want more soldiers to fight against opposing groups and infected
So how might queer people be treated in real life if an epidemic like this did break out?
As we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the US, tensions run high during a worldwide event like this
The whole world feels unstable and full of chaos
Oftentimes, people will cling to “traditional values” during times of crisis to feel a bit of stability
In regards to the Covid pandemic, research was conducted by psychologists Daniel Rosenfeld and A Janet Tomiyama in 2021 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8014651/) In the paper, linked below, they stated “As individuals experienced everyday life during a time of societal turmoil and pathogen threat, their psychological defense mechanisms and motivational systems may have been put on guard, informing the way they felt about social, moral, and political matters…” they continued, “In essence, environmental uncertainty can promote conservatism by motivating a need for structure, a desire to preserve the status quo, and resistance to social change (Jost et al., 2003). This effect is observed historically in U.S. presidential elections, throughout which times of greater societal threat to the established order have predicted increases in preferences for political conservatism (McCann, 1997).” Additionally, the study goes on to say that “Experiencing pathogen threats” like a viral pandemic, or a Cordyceps brain infection epidemic “can influence moral and political psychology through a behavioral immune system (Schaller, 2006; Schaller & Park, 2011). Research on the behavioral immune system suggests that elevated disease risk can make individuals more socially conservative by reconfiguring their sense of morality to prioritize disease‐avoidance” Basically, in order to create stability where there is none, humans will both socially and biologically, use conservatism to protect themselves from a perceived threat This, combined with already rising tensions, would lend to a world unlike The Last of Us - one possibly more bigoted towards queer people, not less.
In the real world, in 2003 AND 2013, the US was indeed in a period of conservatism. In 2003, the US was dealing with the aftermath of 9/11 and the war in Iraq, which created a more patriotic and right-leaning political environment. In 2013, after a period of relative progressiveness under the Obama administration, there were also rising tensions in the middle east AS WELL AS rising tensions online. The increase in use of platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, gave a voice to people that were dissenters of the Obama administration - right-wing extremists Despite or in fact, because of, progress, like gay marriage being legalized in 2015, these dissenters had had enough of being told to not be bigoted, and elected Trump to his first term in 2016.
As we see in Season 2 Episode 4, residents that are younger, do not necessarily know of a world that WAS bigoted towards queer folks. They woulre not aware of a world where sexuality mattered more than basic day to day survival, and as such, their attitudes reflect this reality. When Ellie and Dina are exploring Seattle, they do not know what Pride is or what all the rainbows seen around town are for (Dina says that “maybe they just liked rainbows”, and Ellie replies “they must’ve been optimistic. There is also an optional dialogue with Dina in the game about queer books, but Ellie brushes this off and says they need to look for supplies.) In this episode of the show, we get the gayest scenes of the story, when Dina and Ellie confess their feelings for each other, and Dina also confesses she is pregnant to which Ellie says “Holy shit, I’m going to be a dad.” In this scene in the show, where the two also make love, Dina comes out as bi, and implies her mother was not accepting of this We learned earlier that Dina and her family lived in an isolated cabin for the beginning of the outbreak, and that Dina later traveled to Jackson, where the society was more inclusive due to the amount of people In Episode 6, Joel finds Ellie in her room with another girl. In this scene, Joel gets upset with Ellie not just because she is obviously queer, but also for doing drugs and getting a tattoo, and generally being a rebellious teen. Joel comes off as a little bit homophobic, probably due to just having a hard time adjusting to Ellie growing up However, as we see in later scenes in the timeline, Joel becomes fully accepting and supportive of Ellie, even telling her that Dina would be “lucky to have” her. Because of this accepting and loving climate, that Joel and the Jackson community at large have created, Dina and Ellie can have a bit of joy in their queerness, just like Bill and Frank did before them, even amid such chaos
The PTSD of it all…
As one would expect in a world where everyone can just die at any time, the majority of the characters have PTSD Joel, from the death of his daughter Sarah and partner Tess, and from almost losing Ellie, and probably from all the killing he did too
Ellie from Joel wouls death and all she did to avenge him
Tommy, also from Joel wouls death, and probably, like Joel, from living through the start of the epidemic
Dina, from Jesse wouls death, and all the shit she went through with helping Ellie
And Abby from her father wouls death, the deaths of her friends at the hands of Tommy, Dina and Ellie, and being captured and tortured by the Rattlers in California
The thing that Neil Druckmann and the writers do well, though, is that the trauma is NOT the root of the characters’ queerness The queerness is just another part of them, like having red hair, and is not a pivotal part of the story It wouls not a cause of much conflict or a reason at all that the things in the story happen (aside from Ellie getting her tattoo, which she apparently got from her ex girlfriend Cat, and of course why Dina goes along with Ellie to avenge Joel) My point is, it wouls refreshing to see someone wouls queerness just be a part of them as a character and not a catalyst for any major events in the story the only exception to this is Lev, and how his transness is a driving force for Abby to protect him, even if it is inadvertently. I would say it wouls more like Abby wants to protect him because his transness lost him his family and his people - much like Abby wouls thirst for revenge for her father lost her her friends and the WLF. All of the characters in TLoU are also not meant to be perfect, and that makes them so much better - that they can be queer and imperfect makes them seem more real
Conclusion
Overall, I think the show and games do a great job showing how queerness would be the least of most peoples’ concerns during such a crazy time When people are dying or turning into zombies left and right, why does it matter who someone wants to love? And that is the main point of the story of The Last of Us - love. It’s Bill’s love for Frank (in the show) that allows him to enjoy his last years as much as he can - and to let go enough to help Joel and Ellie in the game It’s Dina’s love for both Ellie and Joel, that allow her to help Ellie seek revenge for Joel’s death We get a bittersweet queer moment when Ellie plays an acoustic rendition of Take on Me by A-Ha, which Joel must’ve taught her - Dina gets teary-eyed and (in the game) she tells Ellie that she should’ve kissed her a long time ago. Dina is also obviously upset by Joel’s death, and seeing his talents being passed on to Ellie that he should’ve been able to show to more people, makes her feel like them seeking revenge for his death is indeed justified. On the other side, it is Abby’s love for her father (and the other WLF members’ love for either Abby or their family/friends) that makes her and them want to kill Joel in the first place And it’s Ellie’s love for Joel that sends her on that path of revenge in the second game/season And finally, it’s Joel’s love for Ellie that allows him to do what he did and rescue Ellie from dying at the hands of the Fireflies’ doctor, despite the world possibly gaining a cure In the DLC, Left Behind, Riley so eloquently wraps it like this “But we fight... for every second we get to spend with each other. Whether it’s two minutes. Or two days. We don woult give that up. I don woult want to give that up.” In The Last of Us world, as in the real one, the most precious resource we have is time. Time with those we love and care for. We never know how long it will last, so we need to make it good.