What The Last Of Us Actually Changed

[00:00] do we need this that question hangs

[00:02] around HBO's adaptation of the hit video

[00:04] game The Last of Us like a noose there

[00:07] was a tendency among a fair portion of

[00:08] fans of the game to roll their eyes at

[00:11] every new bit of news about this

[00:13] adaptation because of that question and

[00:15] grappling with that question seems to be

[00:16] one of the main things the showrunners

[00:18] themselves were preoccupied by do we

[00:20] need this obviously obviously not right

[00:23] so then why do this okay yeah Fair The

[00:27] Last of Us was a game that was already

[00:28] as close to a movie or a television show

[00:31] as a video game could possibly be it's a

[00:34] linear narrative experience and a pretty

[00:36] much linear gameplay experience too it

[00:38] was technically a video game but in

[00:41] contrast to the rest of the industry it

[00:43] was not one sold on the appeal of the

[00:45] player getting to shape the narrative I

[00:47] suppose you have the choice over

[00:48] precisely how or maybe if you murder

[00:51] each group of enemies as you progress

[00:53] through the game but the corridors

[00:54] themselves Lead You inevitably from

[00:56] point A to point B you will watch all

[00:58] the same cutscenes listen to this same

[01:00] banter see the same ending as anyone

[01:02] else who plays the game it actually kind

[01:04] of melted people's brains at the time

[01:05] because of just how much it went against

[01:06] the grain of what so many other major

[01:08] video game Publishers were doing in

[01:10] 2013. in an era where so many other

[01:12] games let you do a Choose Your Own

[01:14] Adventure pick blue for boring pick red

[01:16] for psychopath style gameplay this

[01:18] sequence at the end of The Last of Us

[01:19] was legitimately surprising and that it

[01:22] uses all of the conventions of those

[01:24] kinds of games and leads up to a moment

[01:25] where you expect to have a choice only

[01:27] to not have a choice Joel kills the

[01:31] Doctor Joel always kills the doctor it's

[01:34] a linear experience and not for nothing

[01:36] a good one so why do this

[01:40] the motivation for adapting a story or

[01:42] at least the most like pure motivation

[01:44] for adapting a story is that you think

[01:45] the story will benefit from the shift in

[01:47] mediums to explore parts of the story

[01:49] that the original just couldn't an audio

[01:51] visual medium provides storytellers new

[01:53] ways to enhance a story told previously

[01:55] as a book or as a comic book music can

[01:57] create a different emotional reaction to

[01:59] a scene and bringing something that was

[02:01] only previously in the realm of

[02:02] imagination into real life can be

[02:04] extremely satisfying but the last of us

[02:06] was already in an audio visual media and

[02:09] it used that Medium to its fullest or

[02:11] rather it used it in a way that ape the

[02:13] conventions of film the composition of

[02:15] its shots the editing the music its

[02:17] motion capture performances all of it

[02:19] working in tandem to create a

[02:21] well-crafted experience that kind of

[02:23] feels like

[02:24] well it kind of feels like a Prestige

[02:26] HBO drama Naughty Dog Games stand up

[02:28] from the rest of the video game industry

[02:29] for this reason when two characters have

[02:31] a conversation in a naughty dog game

[02:32] it's either happening in gameplay or

[02:34] it's a performance captured cutscene

[02:36] that emphasizes the subtleties of each

[02:38] character's emotions they never just

[02:40] have two characters cycle through four

[02:42] or five generic animations while the

[02:44] player chooses from four or five

[02:45] dialogue options that's not a criticism

[02:48] of games that do that but an observation

[02:50] that those games want you to feel like

[02:53] you're interacting with the story while

[02:55] The Last of Us wants you to feel like

[02:57] you're watching a story The Last of Us

[02:59] did all of this extremely well pretty

[03:00] much better than any other video game it

[03:03] created dozens and dozens of really

[03:05] effective moments between characters

[03:07] that have stuck in my mind for a decade

[03:10] you're not my daughter

[03:14] and I sure as hell ain't your dad

[03:17] so if you're adapting a story like this

[03:19] you're in an extremely tough spot

[03:21] because you don't just want to

[03:22] thoughtlessly Echo something like this

[03:24] and yet the scenes are so good on their

[03:26] own your story would be less good if you

[03:28] didn't include them right you're right

[03:32] you're not my daughter

[03:34] I'm not sure as hell ain't your dad oh

[03:37] my God they shot it from a different

[03:39] angle

[03:40] which means that any adaptation of The

[03:42] Last of Us is destined to instantly be

[03:44] cut up by the internet into shot by shot

[03:46] comparisons The Last of Us season one

[03:48] side-by-side scene comparison The Last

[03:49] of Us episode 1 TV show versus game

[03:51] comparison The Last of Us episode 2 TV

[03:54] show vs game comparison episode three

[03:56] four five six seven eight nine TV show

[03:58] versus game comparison so why do this

[04:00] and more importantly how and more

[04:03] importantly why for a moment I just want

[04:05] to set aside the obvious answer to this

[04:07] which is money The Last of Us is an

[04:10] extremely recognizable IP and any

[04:11] adaptation of it good or bad was bound

[04:13] to make HBO a tidy profit but that

[04:16] doesn't really answer why these specific

[04:18] creatives would want to be involved with

[04:20] this Craig Mason the showrunner for The

[04:23] Last of Us was fresh off a huge success

[04:25] with Chernobyl a show that won or was

[04:27] nominated for all of the awards he could

[04:31] presumably have been part of whatever he

[04:33] wanted to make he chose this so why

[04:36] fungal infection of this kind is a real

[04:38] but not in humans true true fungi cannot

[04:41] survive if its host's internal

[04:43] temperature is over 94 degrees and

[04:46] currently there are no reasons for fungi

[04:48] to evolve to be able to withstand higher

[04:50] temperatures but what if that were to

[04:51] change what if

[04:52] for instance the world were to get

[04:55] slightly warmer unlike the game the TV

[04:58] show opens with a lengthy interview

[04:59] scene between a TV show host and a pair

[05:01] of doctors which in my mind immediately

[05:03] seeks to answer the question at the top

[05:05] of this video in the scene one of the

[05:07] doctors outlines how a fungal pandemic

[05:09] could be orders of magnitude worse than

[05:10] a viral pandemic he explains how the

[05:12] fungi could burrow into people's brains

[05:14] and turn them into puppets handling a

[05:15] bunch of the World building for the rest

[05:17] of the show but he also reframes the

[05:19] central Catalyst of the Apocalypse from

[05:21] what it was in the game tying it

[05:23] directly to climate change that Craig

[05:25] Mason would do this is not that

[05:26] surprising when you compare this to what

[05:28] he did in Chernobyl the guest that show

[05:30] is about telling a story around the

[05:31] Chernobyl nuclear disaster but it's not

[05:34] just about that it's about climate

[05:35] change hot take guys Chernobyl had

[05:37] climate change themes institutions

[05:38] repeatedly ignored the warnings of an

[05:40] environmental disaster because of their

[05:42] own political agendas and then in the

[05:44] midst of the crisis attempted to

[05:45] continuously downplay how bad things

[05:47] could get but nuclear radiation doesn't

[05:49] care about International politics or

[05:50] what's happening inside the Kremlin so

[05:52] you know can we please deal with this

[05:53] thing before it kills us all in The Last

[05:55] of Us video game there was no

[05:57] explanation for the apocalypse it was

[05:58] just something that happened but I think

[06:00] you can make a compelling case about the

[06:02] original Last of Us that while it is

[06:03] never explicitly stated to be about

[06:05] climate change that it was subtextually

[06:07] about climate change it's a game where

[06:10] most of the settings are Urban

[06:11] environments that have been reclaimed by

[06:13] Nature where the main enemies are a kind

[06:15] of fungi and where the central themes

[06:17] are all about pitting individual needs

[06:19] against what is good for society as a

[06:22] whole a theme that has some extra

[06:24] resonance when seen through the lens of

[06:27] climate change in the show a guy just

[06:29] says it what if the world was to get

[06:31] slightly warmer he just tweeted it out

[06:34] and it's in this way this method like

[06:36] not just the scene but this way of doing

[06:38] things that the show justifies its own

[06:40] existence if it can't tell the story of

[06:42] The Last of Us better than the last of

[06:43] us already did then it can at least tell

[06:46] the story more explicitly it can make

[06:48] the subtext text I want to make a

[06:51] distinction here for the kind of subtext

[06:52] and talking about I'm not talking about

[06:54] what we could call conversational

[06:55] subtext so in many a well-written scene

[06:58] in both versions of The Last of Us two

[07:00] characters are talking to one another

[07:01] and because they are human beings and

[07:03] not robots when they say things they

[07:04] don't always say everything they mean so

[07:07] Time Heals all wounds I guess

[07:15] Jules puppy dog eyes fill in the blanks

[07:18] of what his words imply the text is it

[07:20] wasn't time that healed his trauma the

[07:22] subtext was that it was meeting and

[07:23] bonding with Ellie that healed his

[07:25] trauma both versions of the story have

[07:26] moments like this which are very good

[07:28] because both versions are very good so

[07:31] when I say HBO is The Last of Us turns

[07:33] the subtext of Sony's The Last of Us

[07:34] into text I don't mean everyone starts

[07:36] saying what they mean literally I'm

[07:38] talking more about the themes and plot

[07:40] points that the game originally left

[07:41] ambiguous cordyceps mutated

[07:44] someone that got into the food supply

[07:46] probably a basic ingredient like flour

[07:49] sugar example number one Joel and Tess

[07:52] now if you're a freak like me when

[07:54] you're playing the original game there

[07:55] are probably a bunch of times during

[07:57] scenes with Joel and Tess when you

[07:58] thought to yourself they [ __ ] come on

[08:02] make this easy for me

[08:04] canonically the answer is probably

[08:06] probably like probably not definitely

[08:09] but but when you watch the show one of

[08:11] the first times you see them together is

[08:13] they're together

[08:17] in the original game there was something

[08:18] ambiguous that players wondered about

[08:20] and now in order to give this new

[08:22] version of the show some kind of

[08:23] identity that is different from the game

[08:25] but which doesn't outright contradict

[08:26] the game the show gives a solid textual

[08:29] answer to that thing that was previously

[08:31] ambiguous example number two communism

[08:33] hey isn't it kind of funny that in the

[08:35] post-apocalypse the healthiest most

[08:38] productive most just and safe place in

[08:40] the entire game is kind of a

[08:42] narco-communist like Tommy and his Pals

[08:44] over here are communists aren't they and

[08:46] isn't it you know doubly funny that we

[08:48] put this location in Jackson Wyoming the

[08:51] state with the heaviest Republican lien

[08:52] in the country 20 years of Apocalypse

[08:54] turned all these Macho conservative

[08:56] Cowboys into Macau bakunan well uh in

[08:58] the show everyone pitches in we rotate

[09:00] patrols food prep repairs hunting

[09:03] harvesting everything you see in our

[09:05] town

[09:06] greenhouses livestock all shared

[09:08] Collective ownership

[09:11] so uh communism

[09:13] ah I didn't like that it is that

[09:16] literally this is the commune we're

[09:17] communists

[09:19] example three David is well even worse

[09:23] than than the game says okay so in the

[09:25] game Joel gets injured and the player

[09:27] gets to play as Ellie for a little bit

[09:28] where she Encounters this guy David who

[09:30] manages to gain Ellie's trust before she

[09:32] learns that he and his gang are a bunch

[09:34] of cannibals who are going to eat her

[09:35] but there are a couple of moments in the

[09:37] game that make you feel like David is

[09:38] even worse than a cannibal like this

[09:40] moment when he tries to regain Ellie's

[09:42] trust and they hold hands or in the

[09:44] final fight scene which can be read as

[09:45] merely David attempting to murder her or

[09:48] is he trying to

[09:49] you know the fighting is a part I like

[09:52] the most there's no fear in love oh okay

[09:55] so he's just full-on pedophile okay got

[09:57] it

[09:59] example four Bill and Frank now I take

[10:01] the master stroke of the series is how

[10:03] they handle its queer representation in

[10:05] the game Joel and Ellie meet one of

[10:06] Joel's old friends a complete [ __ ]

[10:08] named Bill Bill lives in almost total

[10:10] isolation and has protected himself from

[10:12] the outside world with a series of booby

[10:14] traps in his level of the game the three

[10:15] of them work together to make it to the

[10:17] other side of town so that they can

[10:18] acquire a car battery bill has exactly

[10:20] one friend named Frank who lives on that

[10:22] side of town but they find that he has

[10:24] hanged himself when they get there for

[10:25] many players it's pretty easy to miss

[10:27] the fact that bill is a gay man because

[10:28] that fact exists mostly in the subtext

[10:31] of how Bill reacts to Frank's death

[10:32] which could imply a romantic connection

[10:34] between the two of them but can also

[10:36] very easily be read by a straight

[10:38] audience as just a man mourning his

[10:41] friend

[10:42] he was my partner but Bill squaredness

[10:44] also exists as non-mandatory content in

[10:47] Frank's house the player might find a

[10:49] note from Frank to bill which expresses

[10:51] Frank's growing resentment towards bills

[10:53] stuck in his Way's Behavior again the

[10:55] player needs to read between the lines

[10:56] here to understand that this is a queer

[10:58] relationship

[11:00] I'm sure your friend will be missing

[11:02] this tonight

[11:04] the only tangible piece of evidence of

[11:05] Phil's homosexuality is when Joel and

[11:07] Ellie are driving to Pittsburgh and

[11:09] Ellie starts looking at a magazine she

[11:10] got from Bill's house which is a male

[11:12] porn magazine in each case it does

[11:14] require the player to think about what

[11:16] they're seeing in order to come to the

[11:18] conclusion that bill is gay now this is

[11:20] all a bit

[11:23] problematic the fact alone that Bill's

[11:25] queerness is hidden to this degree is

[11:27] worth criticizing and it was like in a

[11:30] game which again was almost entirely

[11:32] linear the one important character

[11:34] detail that's consigned to optional

[11:36] content or blinking you'll miss its

[11:38] story beats being the pieces of evidence

[11:40] that lets you know that there's a queer

[11:42] relationship going on here at all is not

[11:44] exactly what you'd call good queer

[11:46] representation it's the kind of

[11:47] representation that is slipped in so

[11:49] that it's not noticed by most

[11:51] heterosexual audiences because that way

[11:54] the game avoids a reactionary backlash I

[11:56] guess but come on is that really

[11:58] something to worry about oh yeah I guess

[12:00] so now arguably this moment of queer

[12:01] representation is better than nothing

[12:03] but the showrunner is wisely understood

[12:05] that they had to do more than this in

[12:07] the adaptation so in the third episode

[12:08] of the show they raised the queer

[12:10] subtext to queer text it's the biggest

[12:12] narrative departure from the game by far

[12:15] the writer's craft an entire episode

[12:16] that is almost completely separate from

[12:19] Joel and Ellie's Journey telling a

[12:21] positive impactful story worry about

[12:23] Bill and Frank falling in love with one

[12:24] another it's a very good episode but

[12:27] it's also a little irritating that in

[12:29] order for them to tell a good queer Love

[12:30] Story it seems it has to be entirely

[12:32] sequestered away from the rest of the

[12:34] narrative so what are we to make of all

[12:37] these decisions in the case of the bill

[12:38] and Frank episode the show adds so much

[12:40] more to the story than anyone expected

[12:42] that it sort of ceases to be an

[12:44] adaptation of The Last of Us and more of

[12:46] a standalone one-hour movie that happens

[12:48] to cross over with the last of us with

[12:50] that exception though the general

[12:51] strategy of raising the subtext up to

[12:54] the level of the text is pretty much the

[12:56] only way that this adaptation is able to

[12:58] establish its own identity separate from

[13:00] the game but are these really ideal

[13:03] changes I sometimes vote while watching

[13:05] the show that I was less watching HBO's

[13:07] Last of Us than I was reading Craig

[13:09] Mason's PhD level thesis on the Last of

[13:12] Us The Last of Us climate change and the

[13:14] decay of American Community The Last of

[13:16] Us querying the post post-apocalypse the

[13:19] last of subtexts oh wait that's mine in

[13:21] calling out all of the sub text of the

[13:23] original story though HBO is The Last of

[13:25] Us doesn't have much subtext of its own

[13:27] all of its Mysteries are thoroughly

[13:28] explained all of its character

[13:30] relationships explicitly detailed and I

[13:33] don't know it's it's fine or whatever

[13:35] but like do we need this

[13:39] one of the things I love about the last

[13:41] of us is its unique World building all

[13:43] these interesting fungal creatures in a

[13:45] world with different factions it's just

[13:48] a well-realized post-apocalyptic story

[13:50] for me World building is one of the most

[13:52] enjoyable parts of writing and if you're

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[15:17] [Music]

[15:25] thank you

[15:27] [Music]

[15:42] laughs