HBO’s The Last of Us expands Bill & Frank’s gay romance om the game - Polygon

Contents:

• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• HBO’S THE LAST OF US GETS REVIEW BOMBED AFTER HISTORIC GAY EPISO
• ‘THE LAST OF US’ PRENTS AN ACHGLY BETIFUL GAY LOVE STORY
• THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
• THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
• THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO
• THE LAST OF US SHOCKS VIEWERS WH GAY LOVE STORY
• THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST
• WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?
• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’

HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE

Bill is gay the game, but ’s referenced so vaguely that plenty of players missed . The cisn to keep muted, hted at a sgle le of dialogue and a hidn letter, was both praised and cricized — was easy to overlook, but also avoid a lot of gay-character trop, and allowed Bill to be a human and not “a maniftatn of sexualy, ” as Polygon’s Danielle Rien put at the time.

HBO’S THE LAST OF US GETS REVIEW BOMBED AFTER HISTORIC GAY EPISO

The game’s storyle don’t avoid trop altogether, though: It was cricized for “buryg s gays. And bee of this gay reprentatn on-screen, a ntgent of largely homophobic dience members have been quick to share s vrl. Bill n’t exist whout beg gay Frank’s arms.

‘THE LAST OF US’ PRENTS AN ACHGLY BETIFUL GAY LOVE STORY

Apparently the wrers thk Bill and Frank’s inty was jt that they were gay, nothg more than that. Oh and that person jt happens to also be gay?

THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG

"And jeroen-10631 even lled out the episo's haters, sayg review bombers should "be ashamed of themselv" and that "clearly the story of two gay men ma you so unfortable:""Some of the people mentg about “polil propaganda” and 'checkg off liberal box' should be ashamed of themselv. Clearly the story of two gay men ma you so unfortable that you only subnscly realized you are so behd the tim and been raised rigid and immature while htg that '1 star' button.

All tak is a simple Google search to figure out that this is simply the act of homophobic ter trolls. In the game, while not overtly shown, Bill is gay. What we got stead was a psule episo, and a particularly bracg one, given the show’s opprsively bleak mood th far: The hour is dited to the love story of Bill and Frank, a gay uple who—due ially to Bill’s skills as a bunker-stockg, booby-trappg, Don’t Tread on Me survivalist—manage to build a largely happy existence together an abandoned and eventually fortified ral hamlet for almost 20 years.

THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE

Wh Bill and Frank, we were given a portra of love—specifilly gay love—that feels surprisg and urgent. In our own 2023, we are not exactly lackg for media imag of whe gay men.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

For one thg, we see gay sire portrayed all s plexy, but wh a touch as light as a breeze playg through curtas. Bill’s is not a “type” of gay man I n say I’ve ever seen mastream media before, and watchg him slowly reveal and epen that aspect of himself wh Frank’s help—sexually, y (Hollywood: more hairy bear love scen please!), but exprsively and culturally as well—is thrillg.

But Bill and Frank create somethg else, a ltle oasis of their own that’s regnizably gay, full of quiet bety and joys the size of new strawberri. Frank wants to fix up the block and some of the “not stupid” shops—the we and furnure stor, the clothg boutique—bee he hop they might one day have unfected guts (which they eventually do, the form of Joel and Ts), but really bee makg thgs nice, pecially when nicens isn’t valued, is one of the great gay llgs.

As an echo of the gay experience wh AIDS, is, as veteran activist Peter Staley put a Facebook post, a ftg tribute to the “tenr love & bravery gay men summoned when facg ath durg the plague years, cludg those who did so on their own terms.”. How powerful, then, to see not only a gay uple given an entire hour of a marquee show, but a gay uple who are held up as the keepers of civilizatn, as stewards of bety, as emblems of human digny and possibily.

THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO

A man who his alone a bunker, after all, don’t have to worry about beg rejected, by eher homophob or other gay men who simply aren’t terted. Bartlett, an openly gay actor whose most famo rol have been as gay characters The Whe Lot, Wele to Chippendal and Lookg, is a well-chosen scene partner. There’s a good chance Bartlett will be playg a gay character: the ia that Offerman’s character might be too blossoms as litely as the pair’s relatnship.

As the gam have been adapted for the screen, there has not exactly been a wealth of gay characters to choose mak Bill’s barely-mentned relatnship The Last of Us somethg of an outlier. Gay storyl on TV, while not ubiquo, are not unheard of. After wng turns Lookg, Tal of the Cy and The Whe Lot, he’s fast beg one of the medium’s most proment gay the episo nears s end, and Frank be curably sick, the uple’s last scen together are profoundly movg.

The episo is, among other thgs, a subversn of the much-cricised “bury your gays” trope.

THE LAST OF US SHOCKS VIEWERS WH GAY LOVE STORY

Here, y, are two gay characters who die. How The Last of Us creat a betiful oblivn for two gay men love. The third episo of The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time, ” featur a gay love story between two characters, Nick Offerman’s doomsday prepper, Bill, and Murray Bartlett’s wanrg artist, Frank.

Stori on TV featurg queer characters are routely mishandled, givg rise to the “Bury Your Gays” trope where queer stori are plagued wh unwarranted pa and ath, so ’s rehg that The Last of Us shows don’t have to be that outbreak ed massive loss of life and stctn across the world, but for Bill, who adms a letter to Joel that at one pot he hated the world and was happy everyone died, the zombie apolypse is a eeg experience.

It’s probably a safe bet that, before the apolypse, Bill chose to stay the closet bee he wanted to spare himself the judgment and discrimatn gay people face, not to mentn humane anti-LGBTQ+ laws. But, thanks to the outbreak, all that disappeared overnight, and wh , seemgly, all of Bill’s fear about beg openly gay.

THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST

Episo 3 director Peter Hoar and wrer Craig Maz get pots for tellg an excellent story that looks at the zombie apolypse genre through a queer lens, showg how would uniquely (and unexpectedly) affect a closeted gay man, but they go one further by learng om mistak ma by other shows.

You may be able to fd the same ntent another format, or you may be able to fd more rmatn, at their web of you reprentativ om the Miserable Onle League is gonna start somethg about Nick Offerman playg someone gay and I want to remd you he is married to Megan Mullally which qualifi as a gay marriage— nolan (@anxluxe) January 30, 2023Philip Ellis is News Edor at Men's Health, verg fns, pop culture, sex and relatnships, and LGBTQ+ issu. Some er reviews on Metacric clud homophobic ments.

WAS BILL GAY THE LAST OF US GAME?

HBO's latt episo of "The Last of Us, " s new vio-game adaptatn, aired Sunday to wispread praise and imprsive the episo, tled "Long, Long Time, " is seemgly gettg review-bombed by angry, homophobic fans of the the review aggregator Metacric, the episo has a er ratg of 4. 9, the past, review-bombg — or when people liberately give a show or movie a low ratg to crease s sre on s like Metacric and Rotten Tomato — has typilly occurred for racist, sexist, or homophobic reasons. Lookg through the er reviews, 's clear that some of the game's fans didn't like the episo's central love story between Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray the game, 's evint that Bill is gay and had a relatnship wh Frank, who never appears HBO seri tak their relatnship a different directn: In a flashback, Frank across Bill's hoe after beg the lone survivor of a group travelg to the Boston quarante zone.

He also reported that the episo featurg two gay men, Bill and Frank, om earlier the season was not eded the regn spe havg more kiss and scen of physil timacy. 1677524263Certa regns (ually the Middle East or Rsia) are notor for this kd of censorship of gay scen and 2021, the MCU’s first gay kiss the movie The Eternals was eded out the Uned Arab Emirat, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Ethpia, Palte, Syria, and Turkey.

Then, a year later, referenc to Alb Dumbledore beg gay the film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore were also eded earlier this year, the Rsian versn of The Whe Lot featured some heavily-eded episos, cludg climactic scen the fale. A scene where Jennifer Coolidge’s character says that a group of “gays” was tryg to kill her was eded to say was a group of “men. Sign up today for our ee To TopTelevisnThe Last of Us TV Show Perfectly Recreated the Game's Gay Adult MagWe sudnly all want to read a py of Bearsk.

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’

Episo four of HBO’s The Last of Us featured Ellie (Bella Ramsey) readg a physil py of Bearsk – a gay adult magaze that had been spotted the viogame seri. 1675649673\u201cWhere\u2019s the Emmy tegory for \u201cmost fahful recreatn of a gay magaze om a vio game\u201d bee The Last of Us would w \u201d — Tom Zohar (@Tom Zohar).

1675730581It was a lot of fun for gamers and viewers alike to see that the HBO seri recreated this gay magaze so accurately stead of g somethg more generic or not featurg the scene at all. Over the urse of 80 mut, the episo tak a gay relatnship mentned only passg the source material and turns to a s-spanng character study embodyg the show’s overarchg them of love and we first meet Bill (Nick Offerman) he’s a doomsday prepper who’s happy to watch the human race fall to piec — until a chance enunter-turned-romance wh fellow survivor Frank (Murray Bartlett) giv both men a life-alterg sense of purpose that has major ramifitns for Joel and Ellie years down the le. But I thk ’s not jt as simple a story as him sayg, “Oh great, here’s a man, here’s a gay man, and we n have a good time together.

”I mean, I’m a gay man, I’m 53. ’s not really a queer drama per se, but ’s about a boy who jos the Mar as a gay man, and of urse at a time where was illegal.