'The Last of Us' Has an Entire Episo Foced on Its Gay Characters

Contents:

• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
• FRANK Y BILL: LA HISTORIA LA PAREJA GAY EN «THE LAST OF US»
• EL PíTULO 3 'THE LAST OF US', MASACRADO POR LOS HOMóFOBOS TRAS NARRAR UNA HISTORIA AMOR GAY
• ‘THE LAST OF US’ PRENTS AN ACHGLY BETIFUL GAY LOVE STORY

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. The game’s storyle don’t avoid trop altogether, though: It was cricized for “buryg s gays.

THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY

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.

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. For one thg, we see gay sire portrayed all s plexy, but wh a touch as light as a breeze playg through curtas.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

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 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 Y BILL: LA HISTORIA LA PAREJA GAY EN «THE LAST OF US»

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. 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.

EL PíTULO 3 'THE LAST OF US', MASACRADO POR LOS HOMóFOBOS TRAS NARRAR UNA HISTORIA AMOR GAY

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.

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.

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

Acrdg to crics who have seen the show, we're gettg a whole lot more of The Last of Us' gay characters than we Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across a post-apolyptic Ameri tryg to avoid fung-fected zombi. La cena en que Ellie encuentra la revista ‘Bearsk’ idénti en la serie y el viojuego, n la joven entando que tiene po texto, pero imágen muy terant, hasta haciendo la misma broma sobre las hojas revista gay para adultos clo una pia exacta la enntrada en el juego, n los mismos títulos en su portada y una foto un hombre mculoso llamado Ace Von Champ en la misma pose.

“Dón tá la tegoría l Emmy a la Recreación más fiel una revista gay un viojuego, porque ‘The Last of Us’ la ganaría” los fans l viojuego fue divertido el ver recreada la cena, pero al ser muy rápida y humorísti, algunos fanátis la serie HBO que no tán faiarizados n el juego no supieron quién era la b en la ma sas para distraerse, encuentra un sete músi y la revista porno, pero Joel al darse cuenta se apena e tenta explirle que no para niños, pero por s nervs no pue cirle bien qué reacción Joel lo que ha generado algo nfión, n algunos fans creyendo que la revista tal vez era suya; s embargo, el dueño e número ‘Bearsk’ en realidad rerdar los eventos l tercer episod se pue ver que la ma siempre ha sido Bill y n la enfermedad Frank que lo ja en silla edas, el úni que se ha subido a ella el prop vez, al no por tener más timidad por la salud nte Frank, que Bill ndió en la ma la revista gay y así por placerse s ntarle a su el viojuego queda más claro que la revista Bill porque cuando Joel y Ellie llegan a su sa, Frank ya lo abandonó hace tiempo. La serie «The Last of Us» HBO Max ntúa haciendo e semana tras semana n s episods, en su último pítulo prentó la historia una pareja gay.

En la vida real, Murray Bartlett abiertamente homosexual, mientras que Nick Offerman tá sado n la actriz Megan Mullally. The show is already garnerg high praise for s third episo, which lved ep to a si story wh two gay characters at s re. Several more gay characters are sttered among the game’s st, and future episos — and seasons — will see the h characters realized live-actn for the first time.