Okay,
so let’s talk about The Last of Us. I would think it doesn’t need to be said
that this game is one of the most amazing games of the 7th
generation of video games. A latecomer to the generation that shook everyone
that played it, and served as Naughtydog’s sending off gift for the Playstation
3. Now this isn’t going to be a video game review, 1, the game has been out so
long, 2, IGN pretty much has the monopoly on good video game reviews, and 3,
they bore me. If you don’t have this game though and are looking for a reason
to play it, there is no question, you should get this game. Okay time to get to the actual thing I want
to talk about, fair warning, I’ll be talking about a lot of things related to
the plot, and just so nobody gets accidentally spoiled: SPOILER ALERT!
The Last of Us gets a lot of praise
for its gameplay mechanics, compelling story, likeable characters, and
beautiful aesthetics. I would think that in the 18+ months that this game has
been out, all of the praise-able things have already been praised again and
again and again, just look at how many TLoU vids there are on youtube. Now what
would make this specific article any different? Well we’re about to get to
that. I just wanted to talk about something I observed during my second
playthrough of the game, and to my knowledge I have not heard anyone talk about
this before.
There’s a connotation with zombie
apocalypse settings that people assume that people lose any semblance of their
humanity in exchange for the paranoid, panicked, adrenaline-filled will to
live, and that’s pretty much a given, we are naturally led to believe that with
the fall of civilization and society, survivors lose any reason to cling to
social rules, and everything descends into anarchy. My initial assessment for
The Last of Us setting is that this connotation was still applicable,
especially when I found out that there was a group that resorted to cannibalism
to survive, and aside from government quarantine areas, there was a stunning
lack of social organization. The entire game reinforced that idea for me, all
the fights and interactions with people helped build the idea of anarchy, but
during my second playthrough, one scene made me re-evaluate everything.
“You have no idea what loss is.”
This one line changed everything for
me. In the ranch scene when Joel and Ellie were having a heated argument, Joel
says something that explains the entire game, their entire world. “You have no
idea what loss is.” Now we’re already aware by this point that 20 years prior
to the end of the world, Joel lost his daughter, Sarah. Now we see how he
carries that loss. Of course there was an early indication in the first chapter
when Ellie pointed out that Joel was wearing a broken watch, the watch that we
know came from Sarah. You may be thinking that this is just a redundant example
that the survivors in zombie settings have their own share of horrible
experiences. But I’m not here to debate whether or not they have experienced
hardships. I’m here to explain how that relates to their humanity. It is not
the nature, or presence of the loss or hardship that counts, but how they
relate to other people regarding their own wounds and pains. “You have no idea
what loss is.” We are given an insight into Joel, that he clearly sees his own
pain as the greatest pain any one can ever experience. He talks to Ellie in
such a condescending manner, implying that she could not possibly have any
experiences that would amount to those that he experienced. Let’s take a look
at another example:
“But whatever it is you think you’re going through
right now is nothing to what I have been through/”
Towards the end of the game we have
Queen Firefly Marlene talking down to Joel about Ellie, and again we see that
same tone in this one line. There’s Marlene talking down to Joel saying that
her hardships are worth more than anything Joel could ever experience. This is
a recurring element in the game’s characters and it reinforces my point. The
Last of Us is not a story of people that abandoned their sanity and morals in a
world full of spore spewing infected, quite the opposite actually. I argue that
it is in this setting that we see the full extent of their humanity. I go
against the notion that this setting presents people without humanity. The fact
that they still hold their own experiences in a higher regard over others is a
key indicator that they are still human. It’s only showcased more conspicuously
in a setting where they can no longer afford to hide their thoughts and
opinions. This idea humanizes all of the characters in the game, even David,
ringleader to the people-eaters. The most horrible human enemy (depending on
who you ask), can still be considered human. What about Ellie though? What
about our young companion that was born after civilization? Well we need to
take a look at one final dialogue line:
“I’m sorry about your daughter
Joel, but I have lost people too.”
In an odd twist, we see Ellie react
with similar gripes but in a different manner. We know a little about Ellie’s
back story from key items we find in her backpack during her winter levels, as
well as her entire story with Riley which was told through a DLC earlier this
year. So we know that she has her own hardships, but she never used it to loom
over who she was talking with, in this case, Joel. I just love how calmly Ellie
states her pain. This instance expresses a different dimension of her being a
polar opposite of Joel. This goes beyond her lack of knowledge on Football
rules, teen romantic flicks with wolves, coffee, and the list goes on and on.
The Last of Us is built heavily upon the contrast between Joel and Ellie, survivors
from both sides of the spectrum, an older man who saw the world that was, and a
young girl that was born into a world of chaos. We can now see Ellie as a
beacon, the manifestation of the human condition in their apocalyptic world.
What kind of person would you become if you were born into a world heavily
governed by militia, and a world in constant fear of the infected? You become
Ellie. You become a person with the understanding that pain is present in all
people, and that your own pain does not make you any better than others.
Perhaps that’s why the game is called The Last of Us, not in that the humans
are being eradicated by the infected, but rather, the generation that saw the
world’s end is slowly dying out, and with it, a new breed of human is born.
FINAL NOTE:
Because it took me 7 million years to put up this post, I have also come across new information that might be interesting for all of you. I watched a video of TLoU gameplay which had commentary from three important people in the game's creation. They offered their own takes on the themes, and events in the game, and most definitely you'd take the Director's opinions to be canon, but give it a watch and think about what the game means for you specifically.
That's all for now, be sure to check back because I may or may not have a new post coming soon.
Because it took me 7 million years to put up this post, I have also come across new information that might be interesting for all of you. I watched a video of TLoU gameplay which had commentary from three important people in the game's creation. They offered their own takes on the themes, and events in the game, and most definitely you'd take the Director's opinions to be canon, but give it a watch and think about what the game means for you specifically.
That's all for now, be sure to check back because I may or may not have a new post coming soon.
I promise it won't take me so long again.
Kiboo Out.
