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.
HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
The game’s storyle don’t avoid trop altogether, though: It was cricized for “buryg s gays. 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.
THAT ‘THE LAST OF US’ GAY LOVE STORY IS GROUNDBREAKG
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.
ARE BILL AND FRANK GAY THE LAST OF US? RELATNSHIP EXPLAED
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.