HBO's The Last of Us: A Failure in Visual Storytelling

I don't hate HBO's The Last of Us I just mourn what it could have been being such a fan of what is arguably the greatest game created from a narrative standpoint a visceral standpoint an emotional standpoint this video is dedicated to everybody at naughty dog who had a hand in its creation thank you thank you thank you part video essay part love letter to the game part to storytelling critique whatever it is I hope you enjoy it so I guess we should start with adaptations you stand at a perilous Crossroads do you try to recreate the original within the constraints of this different medium or do you interpret it through your own Creative Vision the last of us had an even bigger problem how do you adapt something that more or less shares the same stage something that's already cinematic with Incredible acting visuals and storytelling do you do a shot for shot Recreation or do you change it just enough to allow it to stand on its own the showrunners did a bit of both and unfortunately that decision yielded a disjointed and all-around inferior version of The Game's fantastic story let's start at the beginning where the central problem with HBO's The Last of Us lies the very first scene we're presented with an interview on a sound stage with a live audience two scientists discuss pandemics viral bacterial but more specifically you guessed it fungal levity surrounds a subject matter until one scientist unleashes a monologue on the power of fungi the hypothetical dangerous let's compare this with the opening scene of the game we see Sarah Joel's daughter fast asleep on the couch alone until Joel comes home concerned about losing a job she gives him a gift for his birthday his repaired watch after she falls back asleep he carries her to bed and just before he leaves he says not baby girl [Music] remember that because it's important so what's the problem the problem is literally in the way the show Runners frame the story they pulled the camera too far back now let me take a step back after watching the first episode something felt off faithful story beats occurred more or less the characters felt authentic more or less why did this feel like a somewhat shallow reenactment the performances a little the dialogue slightly the way it looked more like a network show than the Cinematic experiences HBO is known for yeah that too but there was something else something deeper so I took to the internet and found a slant article titled The Last of Us review HBO's video game adaptation is All Flesh no bones hmm But the meaning of that headline wouldn't fully connect until I watched more episodes so again what's the problem you ask we see the scene with Joel and Sarah later who cares what order it's in because order dictates importance where you start a story shows us what's truly at stake what truly matters it gives us a thematic Foundation of what the story is about Saul Stein a famous fiction editor and novelist States in his book Stein on writing good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader not the fact that it's raining but the feeling of being reigned upon let's use that lens and language to re-examine the opening scenes the scene with Sarah and Joel evokes sensation we start with people not information we see their love their connection we feel it the feeling of being reigned upon the scene with the scientists gives us information we learn about potential pandemics and fungi again we're given information the fact that it's raining I'm not sure why the showrunners decided to literally pull the camera so far back start the show with information instead of sensation was it because of the global pandemic we all experienced was a self-conscious writing to inform the viewers of what was to come I'm not sure all I know is the game did it right the game had the camera right where it needed to be right where it could tease the theme of the story right where we could feel a play devil's advocate for a moment maybe you want to know about the fungal infection you need that information to understand the dangers our protagonists are up against fine let's see how the game did it sound bites of news broadcasts and distress calls conveyed everything we needed to know over the opening credits they gave any other details to us throughout the course of the game this is the text crawl technique made famous by Star Wars we're all familiar with dated sure but the video game version of The Last of Us did it in a much more elegant and efficient way another example is the film Blade Runner 2049 where we're given small pieces of information to quickly set the stage time to a musical score quick and efficient HBO is The Last of Us gave us a fungal version of The Game of Thrones title animation followed by a big steaming info dump presented to us by characters we'll never care about unfortunately the show continued to pull our attention away from the two characters who matter most were shown another expository scene except this time in a lab in Jakarta we're taken inside a resistance group in Kansas City The Game's approach is a testament to the skill and Care naughty dog took to do this right the artist's animator cinematographers directors developers audio Engineers talent and of course the writers speaking of writers Neil druckman is credited as the writer of the last of his video game but we know it was a collaborative project co-led by Bruce Straley it's really the reason the show Lost sight of what they should focus the camera on or was it HBO and Craig Mason's influence we'll never know now let's pull the camera back ourselves and examine a few other things that will further illuminate the flaws in the show's visual storytelling how this misstep to frame the show purposefully made it suffer let's start with episode 3 the famous or inFAMOUS depending on who you ask episode of Bill and Frank if you didn't play the game we briefly meet Bill not on a flashback but in the present we learn of a relationship and the end of that relationship but nothing more again the writers kept focus on Joel and Ellie now I did like the episode with Bill and Frank hell I even shed a tear Ivan made a video debunking Ben Shapiro's storytelling criticisms of it and sorry Ben the last of this is about feelings not facts but after watching the entire series now I'd have to agree a little bit with Ben it should have been cut but not for baby making reasons stay with me it was a nice bottle episode though a little heavy-handed it also was consistent with the themes of the core story and as solstein might say I felt the rain it was even a nice homage to the title screen of the video game at the end of the episode however Stephen King advises Kill Your Darlings Kill Your Darlings even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart Kill Your Darlings that means to remove things that don't serve the story even if they're hard to let go because this story isn't about Bill and Frank it's about Joel and Ellie this is a numbers game we only have nine episodes roughly 10 hours compared to the game's 20 plus hours pulling Focus to something that doesn't serve the story is a dangerous move a mistake though it would be interesting to see if they cut all of the other non-thematic storylines and point of views will they still have time for Bill and Frank I'd wager they would so what's the solution the entire show should have been told from the perspective of Joel and Ellie like the game it would give us the precious time to learn to love them allow the actors to sell us their versions of the characters give this story time to breathe and hopefully we re-experience the feeling we got from the game the emotional resonance the story has feel the rain now you may say but you can't have the entire show from a single point of view that works for a game but not a TV show or movie well Cormac McCarthy thinks you're full of [ __ ] John hilcoat thinks you're full of [ __ ] but most of all Viggo Mortensen really thinks you're full of [ __ ] the road by Cormac McCarthy is a Pulitzer prize-winning post-apocalyptic novel adapted to film by John hillcoat starring Viggo Mortensen it's told from the point of view of a father and son a father and son only it's incredibly Bleak incredibly emotional incredibly powerful incredibly beautiful I definitely felt the rain you never learn what caused the end of the world why because it doesn't matter that is not what the story is about I'll say it again the entire story is from the point of view of a father and son a father and son only why because it matters that is what the story is about and the last of us has far more plot than the road so it should have easily been able to stretch to Nine episodes without adding extraneous content imagine if HBO broke new ground like they used to by telling a nine episode story from such an intimate point of view one can only dream with all this talk of Framing and keeping the camera where it should be let's take it a step further and examine the Artistry of the game's cinematic directors something the show didn't match let's start with Joel interrogating two of David's men to find dolly game Joel stabs the man in the leg they're at each other's level almost intimate no Cuts TV Joel is similar but with different framing choices we're lacking the impact of the two men's faces in the shot which shows both the rage and every Grimace of the victim we mostly focus on Joel which dehumanizes the victim giving us distance instead trying to elevate Joel's rage game Joel Taps the guide to the jaw which is oddly ironic a soft Pat amid all the violence almost a moment of respite remorse maintaining that intimacy TV jewel is holding him by the hair more of what you'd expect serviceable but not as powerful but this is the best part demonstrating the superior cinematography in the game the superior visual storytelling let's start with a show TV Joel nice the guy in the gut I can appreciate the consistency of the knife from the leg to the gut but it's less efficient for what the scene needs to do game Jewel breaks the man's neck and the chair Falls over the momentum of his fall drawing or Eye To The Man in the background who is now visible we see the fear on his face Joel picks up a pipe we don't see his face he's detached and human until we do anticipation the show Cuts all over the place doesn't draw our eye with movement doesn't tell a story okay last one and I hope you remembered that important thing I told you tvla finishes her master of David walks out of Rona cord shaken to find Joel wandering in the snow they Embrace and he says okay baby girl the words we expect but I'd argue they're less effective than the game the show anchors us to the death of his daughter the problem is Joel isn't saving Ellie there is no Redemption Ellie walks out on her own she saves herself so the payoff is subtextually inconsistent let's see how the game did it Ellie fights off David and destroys him with his own weapon Joel has to pull her off he has to save her this is the first time they embrace the first time he holds her and wait for it we've come full circle folks these simple words are when Joel completely arcs he's literally risen from the dead transformed accepting the loss of Sarah and embracing his love for Ellie it anchors us to a moment of Peace putting Sarah to bed not violence her death allowing Joel to focus not on the devastating last moments with his daughter but the happier ones but we're not done yet folks this scene is doing double duty Ellie has given in to being saved she can't survive in this world without Joel she doesn't push him away she doesn't walk out into the snow alone she gives in to his Embrace then he says something to her but she's too shaken to hear demonstrated by the rising music they leave we focus on the handle of the machete the mark of what she has done what she has become that is visual storytelling done right the last of us is not about a zombie outbreak it's about people two people Joel and Ellie about what they've lost and how they can learn to trust again to love again and what lengths that love will take them to all It Ever Was and all it ever should have been back to the slant article that is sort of right just the wrong way around it should have read all bones no flesh HBO is the last of us has the skeleton of the story albeit missing a few bones with some broken ones in the mix what it desperately needed was flesh what we needed to feel so the next time you're watching a show or movie or reading a book and you wonder why something feels off ask yourself were you told it was raining or did you feel the rain thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Jason Fuhrman

Views: 15,619

Keywords: the last of us, hbo max, neil druckmann, bruce straley, pedro pascal, storytelling, writing, cinematography, reviews, tv show review, movie review, the last of us review, video essay

Id: tT1EgwWLqis

Length: 12min 33sec (753 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023