The Last of Us director says he wanted to ‘trick’ viewers to watchg episo 3’s gay romance | The Inpennt

Contents:

• THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY
• THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO
• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST
• HOW LAST OF US EPISO 3 AVOIDS CLICHé GAY TROP EXPLAED BY CREATOR
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
• THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG EPISO THREE’S GAY ROMANCE

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

“It was geo, and I was so not expectg , ” said Darn Lowenste, 41, a vio game nsultant, who is gay. “Obvly, I’ve played the gam religly and I know there’s gay characters there, but I was not expectg an 80-mute … tearworthy piece of art.

” Queer-themed gam date as far back as 1992’s “Gay Bla, ” acrdg to the LGBTQ media advocy group GLAAD. Though Bill’s role the game is small, and his mentn of beg gay brief, did not go unnoticed by LGBTQ gamers like then, he was his early 20s and still the closet about his sexualy.

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

”Adaptatn giv gamers hope for more reprentatnSome queer viewers exprsed excement that Sunday's episo would expose even more people to gay vio game characters. 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.

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

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 EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST

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.

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. 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.

HOW LAST OF US EPISO 3 AVOIDS CLICHé GAY TROP EXPLAED BY CREATOR

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. As a rult of that, ’s about what is that mak you a gay man, a queer man, or whether you n hi .

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

I’m very happy if people want to send me their gay terview has been nnsed and Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO the bt of what’s queer.

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.

Some er reviews on Metacric clud homophobic ments. 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.

THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG EPISO THREE’S GAY ROMANCE

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.

LGBTQ+ them are not somethg entirely new to The Last of Us anchise, as the first stallment of the seri also showsed a gay NPC and then a very graceful lbian kiss the Left Behd DLC. Bill is gay and had a relatnship wh a man lled Frank, who is later found ad the game, much to Bill's dismay. Unlike Da, Bill tri to hi his homosexualy and ially only refers to Frank as someone he had red for.