HBO's 'The Last of Us' Director Says You Need to 'Trick' Viewers to Watchg a Gay Love Story

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
• THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY
• HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ DIRECTOR SAYS YOU NEED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG A GAY LOVE STORY
• THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO 'TRICK' DIENC TO WATCHG THE GAY ROMANCE STORY
• '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'
• Y, ELLIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’

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. 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.

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

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.

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!

HBO’S ‘THE LAST OF US’ DIRECTOR SAYS YOU NEED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG A GAY LOVE STORY

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.

THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO 'TRICK' DIENC TO WATCHG THE GAY ROMANCE STORY

"One person wrote: "The #lastof gets worse wh every woke BS never stops"Another person said: "Woke HBO ma Ellie gay—absolutely disgted. 5 percent, the next hight percentage total, givg one the release of Episo 7, some viewers mented on how the episos that feature LGBT characters are the on that have received the most wrote on Twter: "The fact that Episos 3 and 7 of #TheLastOfUs are beg hated by certa viewers as 'woke' for the sheer fact that gay people exist this universe is not only homophobic, but genuely mak me wonr if the supposed 'fans' even played the gam they claim to love. "Another anticipated the "woke" cricism to Episo 7 by addg: "Me wag for the evable anti-woke and homophobic ments om the ual spects.

#TheLastofUs ep 7"While one er add: "Anyone who lls tonight's perfect adaptn of #TheLastofUs vio game gay soap opera/woke trash/whatever BS they are peddlg obvly did not play the vio this dlc is ccial to what will bee the very heart of Part 2. It's not jt viewers who have lled out homophobic backlash to the show, as both Ramsey and Reid have shared their thoughts on the importance of LGBTQ reprentatn the an terview wh GQ earlier Febary, Ramsey said: "I know people will thk what they want to thk. "If you don't want to watch the show bee has gay storyl, bee has a trans character, that's on you, and you're missg out.

"A majory of viewers heaped praise on the show for executg another storyle wh two gay characters like had done wh Episo 3, while others shared how much they enjoyed Ramsey and Reid's performanc. HBO’s h vio-game adaptatn seri The Last of Us took an unexpected tour to gay terrory s most recent episo, focg on a buddg romance between the characters played by actors Nick Offerman and Murry Bartlett. In a recent terview, the episo director said viewers sometim need to be tricked to watchg a gay love story.

'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'

Director Peter Hoar, who is openly gay, spoke to the science-foced se Inverse about makg the show. Hoar directed the recent Brish miseri It’s a S, which followed the liv of a group of gay men at the height of the AIDS epimic. The Last of Us' director for episo three has revealed that he wanted to ‘trick’ dienc to watchg a gay love first two episos of the seri, based on the beloved 2013 game, follow Joel (Pedro Pasl) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they stick together to survive a athly viral fectn that has n rampant across the US.

Y, ELLIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GAY ‘THE LAST OF US’

”Ah y, the old sneakg the shredd rrots to the brownie, who is gay, also spoke on Bill’s sexualy and how his characterizatn shatters LGBTQI+ stereotyp. I would fely argue that Bill don’t e across as a gay man, ” he said.

Shortly after the episo aired, one person wrote on Twter: “Was not prepared for the Last of Us or Nick Offerman to grab me by the throat and stroy me wh one of the most betiful gay storyl I've ever seen, but here we are. In a world where we see virtually nothg but awful stereotyp of gay men our ntent, the pictn of Bill & Frank (and their relatnship) was betiful and expertly handled. The episo tled "Long, Long Time" stars Nick Offerman as Bill, a character om the origal game who is implied to be gay.