The Last of Us’s gay love story breaks new ground for an entire genre

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’ PRENTS AN ACHGLY BETIFUL GAY LOVE STORY
HBO’S THE LAST OF US GETS REVIEW BOMBED AFTER HISTORIC GAY EPISO
'THE LAST OF US' STAR BELLA RAMSEY THKS 'S 'IMPORTANT' TO PICT LGBTQ LOVE A POST-APOLYPTIC WORLD: 'IT'S NOT LIKE ALL THE GAY PEOPLE GOT BLOWN UP'
THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
THE LAST OF US’S GAY LOVE STORY BREAKS NEW GROUND FOR AN ENTIRE GENRE

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

Wh Bill and Frank's story beg told Episo 3 of The Last of Us, we analyze how their gay romance fi expectatn. * the gay episode of the last of us *

Bill is gay the game, but ’s referenced so vaguely that plenty of players missed .

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

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’ PRENTS AN ACHGLY BETIFUL GAY LOVE STORY

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.

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

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. 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.

'THE LAST OF US' STAR BELLA RAMSEY THKS 'S 'IMPORTANT' TO PICT LGBTQ LOVE A POST-APOLYPTIC WORLD: 'IT'S NOT LIKE ALL THE GAY PEOPLE GOT BLOWN UP'

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. 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.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

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.