Stop calling The Last of Us a love story

Over and over again, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the storytellers behind HBO’s Last of Us — based on the PlayStation game by Naughty Dog that Druckmann co-directed alongside Bruce Straley — assert that their story is about love. The most obvious example of love is the bond Joel (Bella Ramsey), and Ellie (Pedro Pascal), forge within a world that’s filled with discord. They also argue that, in addition to acts of care and altruism — Bill and Frank’s romance in episode 3, or Henry and Sam’s brotherhood in the show’s Kansas City arc — there is a dark side to love worth exploring. Like Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), who leads the Kansas City resistance to fascism in a long-simmering rage over her brother’s death, and, of course, Joel’s ultimate decision to murder a building full of Fireflies to stop the surgery that will kill Ellie in hopes of a cure.

Mazin and Druckmann both assert that Love contains many things. Mazin describes love in Vulture as this:

It is love that drives the most outrageous choices and engages in the most bizarre behaviors. Are you more in love with this person than the other people? Parents say things like this to their children all the time: “I love you more than the world itself.” Do you? For Joel, the answer is “Yes, I do.” That is profound, and the ambiguity of the positivity of love is what we should be taking forward. Joel’s selfish acts in love are understandable, but it is an unselfish act. The chain of events it sets in motion will never be broken. If you look at any kind of intractable conflict between people or peoples, at some point you’re gonna find somebody doing something because of love. Fear, hate, xenophobia or racism can all be manifestations of that love. These things that start like little seeds grow into massive things that we can’t comprehend how to get out of.

This assertion tends to go unchallenged; it’s why the pair keep repeating it. This is the upside of talking about an abstract yet universal idea like “love” — it’s something that can look different for everyone, which means that everyone can read a story like Last of Us You can make your life a little more enjoyable by thinking a little differently. Mazin and Druckmann go on to explain that there are other emotions driving our behavior. NotLove, although too wide to be universally defined, can usually be described as an intense affection that is sometimes disruptive or even irrational.

For love, people move all over the globe to leave their homes. They give up their jobs to change careers. They make a commitment to care for pets they don’t like or kids they didn’t want. They create poetry, sing and cry. They drink to feed another.

Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

How the characters look Last of Us Do instead: Grieve. They work through their collective trauma, poorly in most cases, yet sometimes — in Bill and Frank’s case, or most successfully, with the community in Jackson — they are able to grasp a simulacrum of what they lost, even as they mourn it. Joel’s foundational trauma in Last of UsThe loss of his little girl is what makes him a less sane man. Treating Ellie as his substitute in this episode is why he is a more pleasant presence in the second half.

Joel’s feelings for Ellie Could It could be love. But it could be something more. It might be a need to have the girl he lost. Ellie is not the object of Joel’s affection, she is a vessel for his grief — he even calls her “baby girl,” his pet name for his long-deceased daughter. Ellie may also be able to love Joel. Or she could simply trust him in a world where she isn’t able to trust anyone else, happy to reflect what Joel sees in her back at him. He could be viewed as deluded, to whom she will give in for lack of alternatives. Or, or, or.

This is what makes it hard to accept Mazin’s efforts to assign love as the root cause of oppositional notions like “fear, hatred, xenophobia, racism,” or “religious superiority.” It’s poorly supported by the text of the show.

Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

It is the universe of Last of Us, love isn’t so much a multifaceted emotion, but a catalyst for things that are already there. It is also justification after the fact for abusers like David, the preacher in frozen Colorado leading his congregants to unwitting cannibalism, as much as it is for Joel’s final rampage against the Fireflies. Attributing all this to “love” sells Mazin and Druckmann’s own work short, as well as that of the performers bringing the story to life, oversimplifying what could be a rich text if it were interested in WhyThese are the characters ThinkTheir actions are fuelled by love.

Mazin appears to have some understanding of this. He also speaks out in the Vulture interview about the storytelling philosophy of Mazin. Last of Us:

Good stories are not built on themes like “brotherhood” or “anger”; those are just words. Stories that are good and compelling are built around arguments. It’s worth killing everyone to save the person you love. That is up for debate.

To some, “Did Joel do the right thing?” may be the animating question of Last of UsHowever, this reduces the whole work to a complex and violent Trolley Problem. You should ask the better question.s “Did Joel do an understandable thing?” because then the question is about whether or not Last of UsIt achieved its objectives.

The argument is that it did. Mazin claims we could debate the ending. The tricky part, and the reason it’s worth interrogating the showrunners’ rationale is worthwhile, is that the Why of it all matters so much when it becomes time to answer the question every person who enjoyed the show wants answered: What’s next?

Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

A second thing to remember about love. It must have a certain level of symmetry in order to make it real, last long, and be authentic. Mutual respect and communication are essential. The tragedy of the show is that this is missing in its central relationship between Joel and Ellie — the heartbreak of that final shot comes with knowing that this potential bridge has been destroyed. The way the show is told across the globe makes it more powerful. Last of Us.

This is a story set in a world that has been transformed by the Cordyceps fungus, Last of Us It was always a goal to preserve the roots of the apocalypse at the fringe. The worldviews of the characters reflect their worldview. Cordyceps Avoiding it is a must. They are like zombies but they’re faster and stronger than them. Over time, the infected can take on terrifying forms that could cause great violence. What’s more — they’ve won. As humanity was dissolved into factions, tyranny and mycelial networks, nature has taken back much of the planet. CordycepsThe plant grew and prospered. This is where the advantages are. Cordyceps fungus has over all of us: It’s connected.