The show’s episo about an olr gay uple’s love a dire settg brought back memori of mment and heartbreakg loss a time when much of society was unable — or unwillg — to help.
Contents:
- THE LAST OF US PART 2 REVIEW: BURY YOUR GAYS, EMOTNALLY
- HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
- THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
- ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? RELATNSHIP EXPLAED
THE LAST OF US PART 2 REVIEW: BURY YOUR GAYS, EMOTNALLY
While The Last of Us and Left Behd were both guilty of the bury your gays trope, Part 2 steps up by attackg the soul. 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.
HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
Wisler died his arms, and like so many other gay men, he died before the most effective treatments to ntrol the vis stroyg his immune system were available — after polil difference stifled early medil efforts. Peter Staley, one of the untry’s most proment AIDS activists of that time, lled the episo’s metaphor “a gift, ” sayg that “tears flowed rememberg the tenr love and bravery gay men summoned when facg ath durg the plague years” as he watched.
The relatnship between Bill and Frank didn’t ronate wh him as a metaphor for those wh HIV or AIDs — and Halkis has spent time documentg the lived experienc of other HIV-posive gay men who survived that era. Depictg that kd of love — where two middle-aged gay men fd happs growg old together — was also val to the shownners, as Maz explaed on the official pann podst for “The Last of Us. That’s why he believ seeg a love story between two olr gay men beg told on “The Last of Us” was surprisg and pellg for so many.
Bee of where they lived, and the tim they lived , g out as gay or admtg to beg HIV-posive meant takg on real risk. 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.
THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
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.
So, are Bill and Frank gay The Last of Us?
ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? RELATNSHIP EXPLAED
It is clear that Bill and Frank were gay The Last of Us when they were attracted to one another durg their first meetg and proceed to have an timate moment. In that regard, was clear that Frank was gay, as Bill probably never knew that he was also attracted to men.
This uld mean that he was possibly the closet as a gay man for a long time before Frank me along to make him realize that he was attracted to men all along. While episo 3 clearly tablished that Bill and Frank were gay and that they were a romantic relatnship, the thg is that the relatnship between Bill and Frank wasn’t as obv the vio game versn of The Last of Us.