(The Last of Us 2) It's Not That Deep... | Why It Fails to Connect

[Laughter] sequels are hard when following up from great success the question of what comes next is typically the immediate reaction upon completion of an initial new piece of fiction for success especially great success cannot be left to lie alone the audience has grown attached to these characters they've invested time in learning their backstories and nuances upon the completion of a great new piece of fiction the audience typically has a complete understanding of the characters and the fictional world the others crave the next entry one where this investment will be rewarded with a new adventure but with the added benefit of complete familiarity with the world and its lead characters while audiences may state they wish for something new or different in a sequel what they typically seek are superficial changes a new location a new adventure a new villain a new set of clothes what they do not seek to change are the core aspects of the initial story what we would boil down to the core formula of an original piece for most sequels this manifests itself in the easy path of bigger and better you take the premise of the first entry and you simply make it even larger you had one alien now there are more aliens there was one giant mech now there are many you escaped the jungle now escape the city the core formula of the initial entry is kept intact but its scope may be enlarged thus audiences are met with something new while cloth and the safety of the familiar formula they had come to love yet there are those special sequels that eschew such safety and dare to be bolder to challenge their audience the same way their initial entry had as opposed to going bigger they may go smaller instead of following familiar characters we might follow new characters instead of telling one story they may attempt to tell two stories such bold storytelling that refuses the mainstream call for familiarity should be heralded however to be bold involves taking great risks as without the familiar safety of the initial formula you risk losing what made audiences love your series in the first place there is no question that the last of us 2 is a bold entry for an eye dog series it does not seek to wrap itself in the familiar narrative formula as the last of us won but instead attempts to forge a new path forward for the series which challenges the player as much as the first title the question is whether this bold attempt is a success in terms of narrative or that it falls from the lofty heights it seeks to reach personally i'm a fan of bold sequels that do not seek to shackle themselves to the constraints of their originals however in my opinion the last verse 2 ultimately fails to capture the spark of the original title failing to land its mighty ambitions and craft a meaningful and thought-provoking entry in the series this will take some time to explain so strap yourselves in as i attempt to dissect white alaska two simply failed to connect with me i feel it's almost silly to have to qualify this critique at the start but as gaming discourse still often finds itself in the bottom of the barrel filled with racist homophobic and sexist remarks i find myself pressed to offer these qualifications at the outset the last verse two does not fail to me because joel is murdered by a burly woman or because it's too woke whatever that means that's not criticism it's simply knee-jerk reactions from toxic fans typically bearded white dudes sorry bearded white dudes no this would be a careful analysis as to why alaska's two story and themes as presented in the game simply failed to land with me if you want an angry filled toxic take then the internet can easily suffice to provide you with such demeaning and reductive reviews but before we can begin talking about the last of us two we have to go back to the first title to start i have to briefly recount why i found the last of us one so compelling the first game is not some unique or original story in fact i myself roll my eyes anytime anyone says this as it feels like they're tripping over themselves in an attempt to place the game on the art typically to justify the existence of video games but the last of us one's plot is 100 percent generic you've got the jaded old man in the post-apocalyptic world that slowly regains his humanity as he's paired with an innocent young child now this is not a criticism there's nothing wrong with a bog standard plot template the devil as they say is always in the details and by that we usually mean the characters the last of us exceeds because his characters are all rich and exploit interesting facets about humanity and the nature of living as opposed to survival is it merely enough to survive is survival all it takes to be human or are connections with other humans necessary to truly be considered alive these are interesting questions and common for the post-apocalyptic genre blasphemous one unlike most video game stories also excelled in the area of subtle storytelling it doesn't slam its themes into your face or have characters mouth their motivations and hang-ups repeatedly a good detail that has never commented upon the actual story is joel's watch the watch was given to joel by his daughter sarah but it breaks on the night of the outbreak the same night she dies his watch is thus forever stopped at the time which of course mirrors his own internal characterization as a man stuck in that moment incapable of moving on this is never mentioned in the story while certain cutscenes will perhaps pan to the watch momentarily to add to this motif at no point does joel mouth to ellie that he's a man stuck on time just like this watching my wrist i've been unable to move past the moment my child died a broken man just like this watch now i genuinely love hideo kojima's games and find many of his titles to have fantastic stories but if there is one area he absolutely does not exceed at its subtlety that fake dialogue i just made up is exactly how kojima would have written those scenes for kojima nearly every character motivation and internal struggle must be explained as opposed to simply visually told if a character is named fragile oh you better believe there will eventually be a cut scene where they painstakingly explain to you why they are called fragile asthmatic connection to their personality and backstory more importantly philosophers one presented an interesting dichotomy as we followed a relic of the old world with the young innocent ignorance of the new world this made the character dynamics interesting as joel reveals old world details to an ignorant ellie who never grew up in such luxury this is all later on top of the parent child dynamic going on all in all it makes for some wonderful character storytelling as we traverse this dangerous world by the end we are left to ponder joel's final decision did he do the right thing is there such a thing as a right choice in that situation it's a debate that still rages to this day a question we are still left pondering with that in mind let's now turn to the last verse 2 what interesting take on human nature is it attempting to examine what questions is it asking the player ponder well let's see after 20 or so plus hours i have come to the enlightened revelation that revenge is bad wow hand this game an oscar all right clearly i'm just over simplifying things plus didn't i just explain how the last one was a bog standard generic plot yet still considered it a great narrative yes i did but again the devil is in the details the last one took a standard plot and elevated it it made it interesting through thoughtful careful character writing the last two simply fails to achieve this it takes a box tender plot fills it with a rather one note theme and then continues to pound that same theme into your head for 20 plus hours long after any insane human being has gotten the point one of the triumphs of the last plus one is its subtlety it is completely discarded in the sequel however the leftist two is about as subtle with its themes and characters as a brick to the face as hard as you try and look and examine the last two you end up with the same conclusion the narrative just simply doesn't have a lot of meat on its bone now this will tie into my later examination of the game's pacing and editing but it's important to have a general overview of this main failing at the outset to understand the narrative failings it's important to break down its main themes and narrative thrust at the start we open the game with joel's murder which in my opinion was poorly handled and again not because joel goes out without a fight or some other dumb critique in the scene the plot contrives joel and tommy turning into a bit too trustful idiots as they willingly walk into the wlf crew trap remember joel and tommy are the people that used to run raiding tactics by having one person pretend to hurt and call for help relying on the good nature of others before ambushing them taking all their stuff and likely killing them yet here they aren't at all suspicious of a super buff girl who says she has a whole crew camped out nearby their town hey maybe they just got soft living in jackson all these years you know whatever i can excuse a plot contrivance to get the story going i'm not going to focus on such minutia rather i can say the scene simply failed to emotionally connect with me since we start the game distant from joel in fact we do not play as joe beyond the opening flashback and do not interact with him as ellie really at all the game expects us to emotionally connect with the joel because of our connection with joel from the first game in hindsight it might have worked better to me if we played the whole opening as abby and never switched until after the murder but i feel this is just a personal preference so i won't dwell on it much further the larger point of this horrific opening act is that ellie is robbed of her father figure as she helplessly watches joel get beat to death without even a final word of goodbye she is forced to watch the man who's loved and protected for all these years have his head bashed in without even an explanation as to why thus ellie embarks on a path for revenge now i'm already not on board this since i know that a joel kind of deserved what he got and then some and b the simple fact that nothing good ever comes from revenge this is something the game itself tips off even this early into the game in the very scene where joel is murdered the scene is shot in such a way to show the total revenge has taken on abby she gets no pleasure in killing joel no relief and in fact seems to be in as much pain as joe and even her own crew are appalled by the severity of her vengeance so at the outset we're immediately shown that revenge no matter how seemingly justified just leads to more pain thus i'm already at a disconnect with ellie that will continue throughout the rest of the game at every point you just want her to stop to turn back but she refuses the last two is unique in this regards perhaps in offering such a sharp disconnect between the player wants and character wants this is not a kill build scenario where the inciting murderous act is portrayed in a clearly biased viewpoint meant to have the audience load the antagonists with each member basking in glory in full frame as they beat joel miller to death no it's treated as a horrific act and distasteful act even the people committing the murder still ellie persists and we embark on our quests accompanied by our new cast of characters the only problem is that the character writing here just isn't as interesting as the first title now his companions are rather stiff and boring largely because they do not stay with her long enough to develop anything as impactful as joel and ellie's relationship we don't get the interesting dichotomy of character as we did in the last of us one because all of ellie's friends come from jackson and grew up in the same post-apocalyptic world as her they also failed to challenge ellie's views and are mostly willing to go along with her quest to get revenge the only character i genuinely liked was jesse and not because he's really interesting or presents a great dichotomy but simply because he's the only quote adult in the story the only person with a reasonable head on his shoulders doesn't make sense as he gets shot off the main theme deriving the pursuit of vengeance is really the only thing the game has to say and it just keeps beating you over the head with it once ellie's bathed in red lighting clubbing another human being to death born from her intense craving for vengeance you've dropped all subtlety yet despite so many moments when you think ellie has finally learned her lesson the game keeps going having her descend even further until she finally gets it and because the theme is so singularly focused and transparent there just isn't much for the player to chew on nothing for them to critically examine in essence the player is forced to watch or rather play an extremely slow car crash unable to change the course of either car paralyzed to watch its inevitable collision there are a few twists or turns along the way and the game ends with our characters learning the lesson that has been transparent for 20 hours a far cry from the last of us on the brilliant character work and moral philosophical ending at this point i want to compare the last verse 2 with the film which tackles many similar themes in the 2013 film prisoners directed by denise villano the plot centers around two young girls who are abducted in broad daylight in a small pennsylvania town the narrator focuses on the two families who are forced to grapple with the abduction of their daughters and the local detective assigned to solve the kidnapping as the title implies the film revolves around the prisons each of the characters find themselves trapped in for the girls their abduction places them in a physical prison yet their families are equally trapped in their own emotional prisons as they deal with this horrific event the film takes care to emphasize that escaping a prison or maze as it is frequently alluded to in the film is more than a physical act but a mental one an individual can escape their little confinement and still be mentally trapped in their own mazes our three main characters consist of detective loki and the two fathers keller dover and franklin burch each would attempt to navigate their own way out of this maze centered on the kidnapping of these young girls keller a deeply religious and orderly man places no faith in government or other people instead trusting only in himself this will eventually lead to conflict with his own faith which he professes to follow yet refuses to trust him instead he sheds a teaching of his faith to take direct action himself to find his daughter no matter the personal cost or how far it will lead him astray from his faith franklin in contrast places his faith in people including his family and societal systems he joins search parties cooperates with the police and attends the community visuals held for the girls later when kell reveals his kidnapping of alex jones franklin's personality eventually forces him to tell his wife soon after he refuses to take part in any further torture of alex but he won't go so far as to stop it either again he returns to placing his faith in people in society lastly there is detective loki who as a law man operates upon logic deduction and compassion for his victims as opposed to a pure emotional pursuit he will follow where the facts take him and operate within the boundaries of the law this is in contrast to keller who relies purely on emotion gut feelings and extrajudicial actions each of these characters are tested in the film and each break from their chosen paths keller breaks with his faith franklin break with his trust in people and the system and detective loki breaks in his logical and lawful quest eventually resorting to extrajudicial violence each time these characters stray from their paths results in further anguish and severe repercussions when detective loki abandoned his lawful logical detection of the case to beat up on bob taylor the suspected killer the immediate result is us by killing themselves and thus all leads drying up we will of course later learn that bob taylor was in fact a victim himself still trapped in his own mental prison or maze despite escaping his physical confinement adding to the tragedy of the situation much like navigating a maze characters who move away from their correct paths can only find themselves at a dead end that's only when characters remain intruded themselves that they are able to escape the maze and are rewarded franklin is the first to get his daughter back without the aid of detective loki his trust in people is rewarded as a simple kind stranger rescues his daughter after she escapes preventing her from being hit by traffic detective loki finds joy next upon returning to his path which relies on law and logic keller is lastly rescued after literally hitting dead end rock bottom faced with no other way out and the fact that he cannot rescue either himself or his daughter keller returns to his faith it is only after this that detective loki is able to hear his whistle and will likely save him too as the film makes clear staying on one's true path is not easy as it is surrounded by temptations full of alleged quick and easy shortcuts but only by staying true to ourselves can we find a way out of the maze returning now to the last of us too and we can understand that the driving factor for both characters is overcoming the loss of their respective fathers each character is sacrificing their humanity in pursuit of revenge in the hopes will heal their trauma yet neither finding fulfillment in their violent quest essential tenant of the last phase 2 is an inability of its lead characters to practice empathy consideration for another person is feeling or empathy for another side in a conflict such empathy is considered treacherous a sign of submission in the world of philosophers too an individual's own feelings and desires are their prime concern the concerns of others are not worth consideration no matter how justified they may seem because the empathize with another requires you to examine your own behavior to reflect on the supposed righteousness of your own actions and how they might affect others much like the film prisoners our protagonists in the last of us two are attempting to escape the prisons of their own trauma an endless maze that can only lead to the same cycle if one chooses the incorrect path each of our main characters are molded by individuals who lack a certain amount of empathy and key moments joel is an incredibly selfish person he acts out of his own self-interest to protect himself and those he considers his family his character arc in the last of us one is in no way learning to overcome this selfishness by regaining his ability to extend it to others for better or worse in the very opening of the game we are given a clear view of joel's selfishness while escaping with his family he denies aid to another family screaming for assistance reminding tommy that they have to take care of themselves first by the end of the game troll repeats this same act choosing ellie's life with a possible salvation of humanity joel is unwilling to view the perspectives of others and how his selfish actions might hurt them in fact when it is revealed to him that ellie must die to extract any type of vaccine joel remarks that the firefly should find someone else thus revealing he's not opposed to their methods on moral grounds but purely on the selfish fact that ellie will be killed so long as the fireflies aren't harming him or those he cares about he does not oppose our means or methods meanwhile abby's father is unwilling to consider the moral implication of killing an innocent child without even any consent it takes him all but two hours of observing ellie for him to conclude she must die and to immediately advocate for the sanctioning of her death in moral philosophy terms would categorize him as a consequentialist or utilitarian someone who believes the end justifies the means so long as the good his action produces outweighs the evil one pointed out if he will do the same to his own daughter he can only hide by having truth that it's not his own daughter thus he doesn't have to consider it finally on the extreme end of the spectrum is isaac who possesses zero empathy whatsoever in isaac's world there is only his way his will and no others opposing sounds are not just worth the zero credit rather they aren't even afforded the fact that they are human instead they are dehumanized as scars thus even the most horrendous acts of violence including child murder is justified for our protagonists their main struggle is learning to shut the negative aspects of their father figures and embrace empathy the only path that can lead them out of the prison of their trauma i use the word empathy here very specifically as others have mentioned the concept of forgiveness being a major theme however i do not see this as a case forgiveness is only mentioned once in the game at the very end with regards to joel at no other time as forgiveness brought up or advocated by any character even at the end when both our characters have completed their respective arcs neither seems to have forgiven the other abby never apologizes for murdering joel she never offers words or actions seen as an apology likewise ellie never verbally forgives abby however both characters are able to understand the actions of the other how they both experience loss and how it draws them to seek violent retribution ellie's final conversation with joel is not one of forgiveness but a recognition that she may one day be able to forgive him that she can try to understand why joel did what he did that she's willing to embrace empathy as a bridge to reconciliation and is through empathy that both characters are able to begin to overcome their loss but they're able to navigate out of their own mazes abby reaches this level of enlightenment as we might call it earlier through her saving of yara and lev by the time he plays abby she succeeded in enacting revenge for her father's death yet she finds no peace she's still angry isolated and suffering nightmares about her as murder as if it's not obvious at this point the game is slamming home its matches that revenge does not cure loss the longer we plays abby the more we realize she has done morally reprehensible things in service to the wlf much like joel she has closed herself off from humanity and embracing the most negative aspects of her father she lives instead for what she believes to be a righteous cause something to give her life purpose and allow her to channel her violent urges and need for retribution for supposed justice however throughout our playthrough she begins to doubt the justness of her actions especially once the character of owen loses his faith in the wlf this causes abby's mental defenses to break down as she begins to reflect on her own actions she begins to see that the certifieds are just people as she is and that she's committed cannot possibly lead to any morally beneficial result once she's able to save yara and lev she's finally able to overcome her loss and begin healing this is made clear directly through her recurring dreams in her dreams she's repeatedly chasing down the hallway to reach her father but always arrives after his murder upon saving yara and lev she has the same dream again except for the first time she's able to see her father alive smiling only through an act of empathy through compassion is she able to see her father again and begin to heal the problem with the narrative and the theme that seeks to espouse is it requires very little examination from the player ellie's and abby's actions seeking violent revenge are unequivocally wrong there's no ambiguity the game never attempts to paint it as right or just if we return to the film prisoners momentarily the audience is constantly questioning whether the actions of keller are just the audience has no idea if alex jones is a person who kidnapped the children the film beautifully plays with our minds by seeking just enough information for us to believe he is a kidnapper along with just enough doubt to make us question the shaky conclusion formed by keller the film wants us to question what we would do in such a situation if it were our own child this keeps the audience engaged not just on a plot level as they seek to uncover the truth regarding the kidnappings but also on a philosophical level as we debate the ethics of the actions with the last verse 2 there is no real interesting plot no juicy mystery and no real moral or ethical debate to consider ellie and abby are wrong full stop every character keeps telling us that they are wrong and nothing good can come from their actions yet they keep going that it takes our characters so long to finally see the light is just torture as opposed to enlightening is hero pacing and editing is so crucial and in this regard the pacing in the las vegas 2 fails as the gameplay loop becomes so apparent and eventually tedious the pattern is familiar with the gameplay that is broken into exploration combat beat large toy beat then back to exploration and rinse and repeat i guess the point of the gulp between the story beats and the exploration and combat beats becomes so wide that you just become worn out you soon just long to get to the next story beat every single time it's a scenario meaning to get to point b but sorry that way's blocked or the door is jammed so let's spend an hour before finally getting back to point b by going through point c d and e it becomes almost comical alright abby we just need to get into this building right here let's see will the door be locked now sorry you're such an idiot why did you possibly think the door be open you idiot now go to 50 other things to get around this locked door the last place was able to keep players interested during the large gulf between story beats because our constant companion constantly allowed narrative to be delivered while outside of cutscenes however because of the central narrative of the last of us too very few characters accompany ellie in the first half of the game and when they are present they aren't helping sell the overall themes they aren't challenging ellie's quest or mental state instead they are largely silent if not supportive for a large portion of her chapters one challenge does occur it almost always happens in cutscenes later when we switch to abby this golf is somewhat mended with the addition of lev but this happens far too late especially since abby spends too many portions of her day alone to add to this the patient takes a further nosedive as we take over as abby as if we hadn't already realized that revenge is indeed bad and self-destructive as if we couldn't already see why someone like abby would want joel dead the game forces us to replay all three days as abby we have to watch as this soldier in a fanatical army that kills children also learns a lesson that hey revenge is bad and destroys the life of those around you we truly are the last of us abby finally the two stories converge and we think all this violence is over as the game literally has a sequence in which we witness a cycle of violence abby tries to kill ellie dina tries to kill abby levi shoots at dina abby proceeds to bash deana's heads in before ellie finally tells her that she's pregnant and lev convinces her to stop surely at this point ellie has learned her lesson especially now that jesse and we presume tommy are dead too let's vote now if ellie has learnt the game's lesson remember you can dial a friend to help did you answer yes nope let's keep digging that hole until le2 has lost everyone before finally realizing as she attempts to drown abby that revenge is indeed bad you cannot heal your trauma or overcome loss through violence now you can tell a story about a character just increasingly making bad decisions that anyone with a brain is screaming at them not to do but to stretch that over 20 plus hours is just torture it's hard to sit there and play all the time in complete disconnect with your player character and i film this isn't usually a problem since films are typically contained to two hours or less as a result the pacing can be extremely tight a good recent example is the film uncut gems directed by the sapphi brothers featuring adam sandler if you've watched the film then you know it's a two hour anxiety rush as we witness san luis character howard bling go from bad decision to worst decision the intensity never lets up and only increases until we finally get relief at the end howard's litany of bad decisions finally catches up with him a natural consequence of his actions it's an extremely effective piece of filmmaking however the film could never work if stretched out to 20 or so hours you can't keep the audience that level of intensity and disconnect with the protagonist for that long before you eventually lose them especially when the overriding theme is so painfully obvious if the last of us two was at least half its length then perhaps its impact would have landed more effectively but as it stands the runtime just leaves you exhausted completing it almost out of obligation to any personal want now if that is what the game intends then bravo i guess however i somehow doubt that when a game central theme is so obvious there's little for the player to engage with a little for them to ponder as the narrative unfolds the last verse 2 lays all of its cards on the table pretty much from the start and proceeds to present the player with exactly what it laid out with very little surprises or twists thus the player is left having to come to terms with their narrative and thematic elements long before our central characters have resulting in a long game of catch-up as we the player must idly wait for our protagonists to discover elements both plot and thematic we have long figured out and it's this lack of meaningful narrative or thematic content for the play to engage with that makes the playing feel so protracted there's no central mystery of the player to ponder and uncover or any looming philosophical questions they must contemplate along the way what the player sees is what the player gets and what is presented is very straightforward and basic so stretching the game out to 20 plus hours when its narrative and thematic content clearly does not support it was a mistake in my opinion with that said the content presented may have been able to keep a player engaged for longer and the last phase 2 made better use of editing glass verse 2 in my opinion just has really lackluster editing editing is a crucial part of storytelling especially visual storytelling as you need someone to cut the bits that aren't needed as well as a range of scenes in the order that provides for the maximum impact to the viewer who's providing the appropriate context at the appropriate time the importance of an error can be seen in films like the original star wars if you've ever seen the initial cuts of a new hope then you understand how proper editing can completely change the emotion and quality of a film proper editing will determine whether a twist or emotional beat lands with the intended force or fizzles out the audience like a dud one of the most effective tools an editor can use is time itself i.e the sequence in which the narrative plays out stories can play out chronologically or they can play backwards or they can start in the middle or they can crisscross from start to finish blending various times into one another yet despite telling a story with two main characters the lifeless 2 fails to utilize editing in an effective way displaying the events in a rather literal sequential ordering of events blame the benefits of a more intricately edited narrative the play through yellow story witnessing all three days complete with some rather lengthy flashbacks with joel then we stop rewind time and play through all three days again to the perspective of abby complete with her own lengthy flashbacks i think most players will agree and that they felt a general sense of annoyance and exhaustion once they reach day three with ellie all of a sudden when the narrative is at its peak in terms of dramatic tension the whole thing suddenly stops deflates itself and demands a play let go of all their emotions built up over the course of 10 hours to return to a slow and steady build up of abby's story from day one before they can return to this dramatic peak back on day 3. unfortunately i failed to see the benefits of such an approach with regards to the editing of the narrative while the intent of abby's chapters are clear the editing fails to capitalize on this purpose in the mind of the developers you play as ellie mercilessly killing abby's crew whom you know little about then we switch to abby we slowly learn all their personalities which hopefully elicit some guilt or shame upon the player as we come to realize these individuals we've been murdering are just people too with their own lives loved ones and reasons the problem is we've just spent 10 hours with ellie in which abby's crew appears as big characters at best once we reintroduce them by abby's chapter we already know their fates so attempting to invest in them is difficult after their deaths oh hey it's that vita girl i stabbed that's cool i guess even more perplexing is the fact that the majority of abby's chapters are not spent with her wlf crew members deflating any purpose of getting the player to empathize with him on the other hand a more tightly woven narrative that interspersed abby and ellie story might have benefited by lending greater emotional weight to these characters and the personal journeys each of our characters are going through for example dina's pregnancy announcement could immediately cut the character of mel he can move from ellie's first wlf murder to abby's first time saving the life of an enemy in this way the narrative and themes would support each other the sequencing of events letting emotions and thematic weight carry across time and space however the worst of the editing problems tied directly to the game's use of flashbacks to put it bluntly there are too many flashbacks and the ones that are crucial are arranged in an incorrect order i said at the outset that the last of us 2 has absolutely zero subtlety and its use of flashbacks is the prime example of this failing as opposed to letting a player infer a character's emotions or past the game has to specifically spell all out for us the use of flashbacks abby suffers from the most superfluous flashbacks as many of them are simply unnecessary the first flashback sequence in which you play as abby and meet her father is far from necessary let's think about the purpose of this flashback if the intent is to get us to emotionally connect to the before nameless doctor that joel murdered the flashback fails after all we barely have any time with the doctor whom we learn now is abby's dad so clearly the game can't expect us to care about this new character in the span of five minutes alright then perhaps the intent is display abby's younger self before her father is murdered and thus to exemplify the effect his murder has on her well maybe except can't the player infer that from the fact that abby's still haunted by his murder years later and if the intent is to shine the light on the effect his murder has on abby why is it framed in such a way to emotionally manipulate the player and feeling guilty about killing this doctor in the last vest one this flashback is the most blatant attempt to rehabilitate a character to portray a previously morally crushable character in a sympathetic light we watch this totally loving kind father and brilliant doctor waste his spare time saving the life of a poor innocent zebra caught in some barbed wire do you feel guilty yet still you can justify the existence of this initial flashback yet the subsequent flashbacks with owen are just painful as they spot the obvious troubled relationship the two had remember how i said i learned everything i need to learn about abby and her crew from the opening that included owen and abby's relationship right from the start we can tell the two are close and likely we're a couple at some point in the past as abby feels quite hurt and upset that mel is pregnant with owen's child these subsequent flashbacks with owen do nothing but spot the obvious as we watch his close couple drift apart as abby's quest for revenge damages any potential the two have for a meaningful relationship we get two two whole flashbacks in this aquarium both of which convey the same point about the rift between abby and owen that grows due to her unresolved trauma once again the game takes simplistic ideas that should be painfully obvious to any player and hammers them into your head repeatedly until even a five-year-old child is screaming i get it i get the point abby's flashbacks are in desperate need of cutting especially when the pace is already at a standstill by the time a player switches over to her side of the story meanwhile ellie's flashbacks on the surface appear to be more meaningful but they too can be cut or at least severely trimmed barring that a better editor could have arranged them in a more interesting order at least flashbacks are entirely about joel and play through in chronological order we watch her grow up in jackson initially ignorant of joel's actions we then witness her slowly developed doubts learn the truth and then finally attempt reconciliation yet this chronological sequencing fails to capitalize on the weight built up from the preceding scenes in the narrative the flashbacks just sort of happen often being used to provide context to something after we've already been told about them or reveal a fact we have long inferred the problem is that since the game starts with ellie and joel already distant it means that watching the separation occur chronologically feels redundant we're watching a narrative play out extremely slowly which we already know the outcome too and one in which we can easily infer what the reason for the separation was let's bring up some examples the first flashback we get with joel comes after our first day in seattle upon where dina and ellie discovered leia's body and the pictures of the rest of the wlf crew the two reached the theater to rest with the night where dina reveals ellie that she is pregnant this then leads to a fight between the two and ellie storming off alone to start the generator and play her guitar we then cut to ellie's birthday party with joel an extremely happy time for her this seems terribly at all to the scene preceding it as well as ellie's own emotional journey ellie has been having nightmares about joel's murder his face laying down a pool of blood it seems odd to recall such a happy memory here and now especially after a fight with dina instead wouldn't it make more sense to cut to a flashback with tommy at this moment remember in the preceding scene we are witnessing ellie become distant to dina signaling relationship troubles the flashback to tommy starts off with ellie being distant as tommy recount his murder problems and attempt to pass the rift between joel and ellie it ends with ellie attempting to prod the truth from joe who sticks to his story increasing their rift this more closely mirrors what is happening in the present between the relationship of dina and ellie the cracks beating the surface as secrets are being withheld whereas a birthday flashback with joel is purely a happy memory a time of stability for led yet ellie is far from stable at this point in the narrative so for me it feels out of sequence but since the writers and editors decide that all flashbacks must play in chronological order we are stuck with these odd juxtapositions our next flashback occurs after ellie is rescued by jesse the two reunite with gina at the theater and we witness dinah and jesse beginning to get close again causing ellie to feel distant as if she's a third wheel in the game we now flash back to the tommy scene however this will be the perfect moment to flash back to the dance scene it makes greater sense for that moment to dwell on ellie's mind as she now quietly doubts where the relationship with dina will work with dina pregnant and l jesse seemingly back in the picture ellie is feeling pushed out the dance scene being shown at this point would further contextualize these feelings both of ellie's relationship with dina as well as her relationship with joel in the dance scene joe feels like the third man out as ellie seems to be moving on without him just as ellie now begins to do the third party out with regards to dina and jesse yet the worst use of editing in terms of flashbacks occurs at the very end as a sequence just doesn't make any sense from an editing standpoint why now during this final moment of drowning abby does ellie manage to reconnect with joel and let her hate go what significance is there to the water and drowning abby that allows ellie to recall this moment why is ellie remembering joel with his guitar here and now why couldn't she remember this earlier perhaps after stabbing a pregnant woman it's hard to understand why now as opposed to and the other time she finally sees the light so to speak and let abby go it seems completely arbitrary and this has solely to do with editing you know how at the end of batman vs superman when batman is about to kill superman but stops when superman yells out his mother's name as corny and cheeseball as that is it at least makes sense because it is set up and then paid off in the narrative the film starts with the murder of bruce's parents and his father calling out his mother's name with his last breath bruce is able to reconnect at this moment and recognize clark for the human being so to speak that he is when he too mentions out his mother's name before his death which coincidentally is the same name as bruce's mother yes we all know it's stupid however nothing in the last verse sets up early learning now as opposed to any time before this final happy memory with joel as ellie comes to understand that joel wouldn't want her killing in revenge for him that she must seek to forgive even if she can't that she must try as she was going to try with joel this flashback is never hinted at before it's shown it's never constantly playing in ellie's mind the same way joel's murder is instead it merely appears for the first time at the end without any prior setup so you have to ask why now let's be clear i get the point of that final scene with joe in this scene joel admits to his actions at the hospital and that he'd do it all again to save ellie and ellie loving joel except that she must try and forgive joel for what she did because she loves him too she's not able to in that moment but she'd like to try what's worse is that the game is providing context yet again long after ellie has committed an action in the game in the drowning scene the full flashback does not play while ellie is murdering abby rather it plays as a final scene when she re-enters nina's farm and picks up joel's guitar as the final scene plays it gives context for ellie's relentless revenge pursuit against abby as abby robbed her of that final reconciliation with joe she can never tell joel that she forgives him thus we the player are able to now understand what ellie saw in that moment of drowning abby that she too must learn to accept what abby did as she acted out of selfish desire she is able to understand joel in this moment and finally empathize with abby she likely can't forgive abby not yet at least but you can try and understand the same way she was trying with joel but again flashback is both played after they let abby go and was never hinted at before it appears thus it feels abrupt seemingly coming out of left field i'd like to again suggest how simple editing might have benefited the entire ending sequence and bookended the game to me interspersing brief flashes of the memory throughout the game's flashbacks would have kept a great way in setting up the scene's eventual payoff it would also keep the player curious why ellie keeps thinking about joel playing his guitar this is typically how flashbacks are handled in the majority of narratives the audience has shown snippets or a particular point of view in a flashback which they can infer their own meaning only to the full contact provided at the end which really contextualizes the whole memory a brilliant example is seen in the classic revenge tale once upon a time in the west in the film the character known only as harmonica harbors a resentment against a primary antagonist in the film frank played by henry fonda we aren't privy to the details of why he's so obsessed with getting revenge on frank but throughout the film we are treated with brief flashes of a younger frank out of focus it isn't until the very end that the full flashback is shown to the viewer and we see how a young harmonica was forced to act as a human stand for his brother who's had a nose placed around his neck by frank and his gang eventually frank sticks her harmonica in his mouth and is forced to balance but his weight eventually his balance is lost causing the older brother choked to death it's a powerful scene but would never have the same impact if the flashback was not built up throughout the film the constant drip feed of the flashback creates intrigue in the mind of the audience and prevents exposition overload once everything is laid out similarly the flashback with joel would have had more weight had it been treated in similar fashion instead of simply thinking of joel's face as he's beaten ellie could also briefly think back to joel on his porch this image could flash in our mind during key moments create further intrigue with the audience suddenly when ellie sees joel on his porch while drowning abby it doesn't feel random but is a combination of suspense built up in the audience once she lets abby go the audience will now be at peak suspense ready to have the full flashback play again an example of how simple editing can enhance the narrative but that's just one example but you can see how that simple rearrangement of scenes can provide far greater emotional poignancy than the current chronological setup the game maintains in fact it's rare to find any story or film with such plain chronological structuring as the last of us ii especially when dealing with multiple protagonists as it stands the adding in the last verse 2 is just plain and uninteresting having events play out in standard chronological fashion to the point of boredom offering a little fanfare or creativity in fact the standard chronological retelling of past events actually conflicts with the personal conflicts each of our main characters are struggling with ellie in the last 2 is a broken person she's a mess awash with conflicting emotions and feelings abby continues this examination of a broken individual as she struggles to reclaim her identity in this sense wouldn't it be more apt for their memories to also reflect such a jumbled state with flashbacks and memories coming to the forefront with no consideration to sequential time no you know that's just a thought you know something to consider with the pacing and editing problems understood we can now explore this fast of the game's narrative the last of us 2 seems to relish either intentionally or unintentionally with disconnecting the player from the player character now this by itself is not an issue and if done correctly could lead to interesting scenarios and deeper reflection yet this use of disconnect between a player and player character seems at odds with the narrative itself which appears to be based on the player's connection with the player character let me explain the main thematic thrust of their narrative is having ellie and thus the player understand empathy to teach the player that each life has value and things are really as simple as good versus bad so when you engage on a personal quest for revenge you can only push away those who support and care for you and can only ever continuous cycle of violence as opposed to healing this is why enemies have names this is why the violence is so graphic this is why abby has a freaking dog the game does not want you to feel empowered through violence it wants you to feel sick yet this can only work if the player is somewhat in sync with ellie the player character the game seems to want you to feel the same things ellie feels with regards to joel's murder it wants you to seek revenge the issue is that unlike blasphemous one the play is true to a large breath of information that ellie as a player character is not privy to and vice versa we knew even before this was a second title that joel lied to ellie so when we play these flashbacks as elio slowly learns the truth we aren't feeling what ellie feels since we've long known the truth many players have long come to terms with and even agreed with joel's actions thus seeking vengeance for his murder did not come with an added weight of unresolved forgiveness yet for ellie it does on the other hand ellie is proven to details concerning her relationship with joel that the player is not told about until the very end of the game these details recontextualize ellie's entire emotional state throughout the whole game following everything the player thought they knew about ellie's motivations out the window going further the game attempts to guilt the player with regards to its use of balance again comes at odds because the game continually presents a play with information that ellie does not have we start the game playing as abby and we learned that owen has impregnated mel what this means is that when ellie decides to hunt them down we have this knowledge already in the back of our minds we know that revenge on owen and mel could mean so when ellie eventually confronts the two the player already understands the seriousness of the situation as a result when ellie finally discovers the truth it isn't a moment of shock or guilt but instead a past moment but we are forced to watch elliot committing an act we long feared would occur but if the intent is to rally player of the satisfaction of violence and vengeance wouldn't it make more sense to conceal the pregnancy from the player until after that moment mel is murdered if the game expects a player to still empathize with ellie in her quest for revenge at this moment and the intention to get the player to reflect on this journey in this crucial moment then wouldn't it make far more sense that the player felt the same shock and disgust as ellie in that moment after murdering mel and finding out she's pregnant it's clear the aquarium mission is supposed to be a pivotal moment a moment the player has to confront whether things have gone too far beforehand the murder of every other wlf member was not as clear-cut jordan our first murder was an incredible [ __ ] that was ready to torture and kill the player out of squashing a bug norris torture is the moment when the player should start to question things but even she is presented in an unsympathetic light when she will she that she enjoyed torturing joel and calls him a little [ __ ] owen and mel are unlike these other murders as they don't initially attack ellie nor antagonize her in any way they are scared and they just want to live yet here's ellie threatening them with both murder and torture so clearly the game intended an incremental increase in the doubt of the player should feel upon executing each wlf member which again brings us back to the question of why the game felt the player should be disconnected from ellie in this moment by supplying ellie and the player with different sets of information if the opponents have the player disconnected from ellie then why routinely concoct scenarios and gameplay systems that are mentalistic sympathy and connection with our player character if the point is instead to connect with ellie such that we feel the same emotions that she does then why keep the player along with ellie and abby with different sets of information it's not really clear as the game waves between having the player vicariously living through our player character in certain instances while being at a total disconnect with them at others this disconnect then finds its way mudding the game's own themes by making the violence extremely graphic the game attempts to force a player to confront the brutality of violence and having enemy embassies have actual names with their teammates shouting upon their murder is a further attempt to elicit guilt and reflection upon the player yet at the same time the players carving their path through enemy territory where npc shot the name of their dead partners we are also able to pick up notes and contextual narrative clues about the areas were passing through and the forces we are encountering yet rather than attempt to garner further empathy from the player the majority of these notes tend to do the exact opposite these notes often lament the rise of the wlf and isaac detailing the atrocities they have committed and our first introduction to the certified is witnessing an extremely brutal execution of an unarmed individual followed by an arrow through our own shoulder oh and they are also transphobic thus instead of feeling increasing empathy for these individuals in a path a player is more likely to justify the active violence against them for the wrongs they've committed on others when the player discovers scenes of forced executions of unarmed prisoners committed by the wlf it's hard to understand what the game feels we should care about the way we knife david or whatever nbc we killed three minutes or so ago rather than reinforcing this theme of empathy and perspective and the immorality of revenge the game often will attempt to justify violence against the factions in our way whether it be through wlf atrocities the bigotry of the certifieds or the outright evil insanity of the rattlers the latter captain game off with a completely amoral enemy force which it never doesn't even attempt to justify as worthy of empathy or perspective what's the point of all those graphic bonds and enemies begging for the life when the players confronted with a completely amoral enemy like the rattlers should we feel sorry killing the slavers the game is constantly wafting between wanting to play to extend empathy or perspective to enemies and at the same time wanting players despise and hate them the inclusion of a faction like the rattlers hurts the overall thematic point and once again blurs whether players should feel connected or disconnected with our main character honestly i hadn't felt the same amount of thematic whiplash since watching sicario 2. on related note zakaria 2 is a bad film oh don't watch it lastly let's talk about visual symbolism and cinematography found in las vegas 2. to be blunt the last verse 2 is not a visually and or symbolically rich game whereas death stranding for example uses symbolism aplenty to the repeated use of bridges hands and embracement to symbolize both the ability and inability to connect with others the last two is rather sparse with regards to visual symbolism or even interactive symbolism to drive home its themes of empathy compassion perspective and human connection in fact as i delved into just prior the environmental storyteller can often drive us further apart from reconciliation or empathy when examining the game's cinematography we can see that cutscenes are shot in an extremely traditional and i'd say generic manner offering very little depth or additional meaning behind shots most cutscenes are simply two characters talking in a very standard manner there's no creative use of the camera to enhance the emotion of a scene no attempt to add for the meaning through details just two characters talking often while hanging off the side of a railing literally this same reeling shot is done about five separate times in story just one character after another leaning on a railing and talking when the cinematography gets truly daring they'll have characters talking in front of a window this is just poor use of the camera let's be clear this cinematography isn't awful it's just basic serviceable unobtrusive functional it rarely takes away from the storytelling but it almost never adds to or elevates it now i don't want to single the last first two out here the majority of games tend to have poor cinematography as less developers have an understanding of film and utilizing visual storytelling yet i feel i must get into it with the last of us too once posturing itself as the cinematic experience but fails to capitalize on the inherent benefits of visual storytelling as opposed to a novel or even a stage play once again here i must give some praise to hideo kojima who routinely thinks about adding depth to his shots in cutscenes even if you people tend to overdo it at times with kojima shots are established and then repeated in different contexts to reinforce themes he wishes to convey in the case of death stranding the theme of human connection is most important camera shots are used to either highlight the separation between humans the barriers we place between ourselves or to highlight the embracing of our social networks but let's look at some examples of the last verse 2. so let's take this conversation between ellie and jesse we start with the actor's in profile close-up no use of wide lens or a wide shot to establish the area we then get a standard reverse shot in profile when ellie reveals in his pregnancy ellie remains in focus thus jesse's reaction remains out of focus the scene continues in shot reverse shot in profile then we switch to a medium shot with both characters in the same frame as they agreed to rescue tommy then back to profile shot reverse shot and the scene ends with tommy staring off into the distance so what's wrong with this scene well nothing is wrong it's just basic it does little to enhance the writing in the scene it's not adding to the emotions we the audience and the characters are feeling in this moment let's break this down a bit at this point in the story ellie has become increasingly distant from her friends as her quest for revenge has infected her more and more thus from her character standpoint ellie and jesse are not on the same level emotionally they are on complete opposing sides even though this has yet been fully realized by the audience so wouldn't you want to hint at this through the cinematography and set construction why have the characters shot leaning on a railing at equal level why not shoot them on stairs or play up some height differential to emphasize a difference in their emotional dynamics you could have jessie standing on higher stairs and ellie looking down on her to hide their difference in personal ghosts this could signify ellie's descending lower interventions and retreating from her humanity while jesse represents the complete opposite compassion and empathy for others this is just one simple idea let's also talk about lighting why both characters lit exactly the same with zero difference or contrast in their respective backgrounds look at the medium shot and their profile shots both characters have even lighting on their faces and both exist in the same space with minimal background lighting even when we switch to our character's respective close-ups their backgrounds do not evoke any real difference now here's a thought why not have jessie's side lit with some brighter lighting perhaps moving closer to a window so every close-up reveals the outside light behind him meanwhile ellie's close-up remains bathed in darkness the same goes for this profile shot why not play up the fact there's an ever-growing distance between ellie and her friends does wouldn't you want something between them to break up this even level between the characters again these are just suggestions that can enhance the emotion and writing this scene as opposed to the sheer nothing we get as it is shot in the game now i can already hear the crown arguments the last of us is all about minimalism he doesn't go for fancy cinematography that calls attention to itself yeah i mean this game is all about the subtlety of themes and cinematography let's also be clear you can shoot a quote minimalist approach and still effectively use cinematography to enhance your storytelling as i talked about earlier prisoners is a type of minimalist film the colors are desaturated the clothing of the characters is mundane the set design is ordinary yet denis and deakins know exactly how to use cinematography to convey deeper meaning and evoke greater emotion with the audience with every shot whether it be the use of hard shadows or the framing of symbolic elements in any given set another clear set of examples can be seen in the film the social network this film is all about detail and displayed and friendship that occurs over mark zuckerberg and edward sovereign during the founding of facebook the camera is subtly and not so subtly used to highlight the growing tension between the two friends despite much of the feeling being about these two characters together just talking they're often shot in on equal terms one character may be at a higher eye level than the other in another scene they may appear to be separated by the boundaries of their respective rooms yet another they may be separated by a whole other person and of course by the end of their relationship they are separated by a giant table with a team of lawyers on each side in comparison the last verse 2 fails to make use of the camera to really bring greater weight or depth to the majority of its scenes when it does do so it's typically in the most obvious places usually at the start or ending of any major scene for example this shot where ellie has been defeated yet speared by abby we see her as separated from dina ellie's still bathing a red glow to indicate that she is still not resolved in her feelings regarding abby and the loss of joel and of course the big shot near the end to indicate her isolation very subtle very minimalist but perhaps most perplexing part about the cinematography in the las vegas 2 is adherence to shooting most scenes hand-held to briefly explain this means the camera is not mounted on a tripod or any sort of steadicam instead it is literally hand held meaning the cameras will often have subtle shakes and movement associated with someone holding a camera now a film will typically use a handheld camera in a shot to create a sort of documentary feeling or create a sense of unease a handheld camera calls attention to the audience that the camera is a present entity this can be used to play with character's paranoia or heightened sense of tension for instance the very nature of a handheld camera means that the image is unstable in which you can use to highlight instability in any given scene with the character the issue here is that the lastphase 2 nearly shoots all scenes with a handheld camera without any real purpose while both ellie and abby can definitely be characterized as unstable characters the shots remain handheld regardless of their emotional state handheld shots are used before joel's death at the start of the game they use after joel's death they are used entirely during abby sequence and even more perplexing they are used in both characters flashbacks including abby's first flashback yes the time when abby was most stable and happy the camera is handheld i.e unstable this is just mind-boggling i can understand and wanted the game to have a kind of documentary feel but adhering to a single camera trick regardless of the narrative or emotion of a scene blinds you to the alternatives you could have utilized for greater effect it also means that because everything is shot in the same manner nothing particularly stands out it reminds me of recent games that i've attempted to shoot everything in one shot it's a big show-offy cinematic technique but making everything one shot means preventing moments from standing out through other camera techniques dead stranding's initial bt encounter works so well utilizing a one shot pretty softly because the game is not shocked full of its same use similarly philosophers 2 could utilize a handheld camera to greater effect by having it more closely match the actual narrative or emotion of a scene imagine instead the game is shot more traditionally on a tripod or some sort of mount with nice stable shots only for the picture to become gradually more unstable as a narrative progressive and ellie's emotional state plummets ever deeper at the very least these flashbacks of happy memories should absolutely not be shot with a handheld camera but i think that's enough criticism let's also highlight some good amounts of cinematography and symbols these shots between ellie and abby are evocative even if not quite on the nose but again when it comes to visuals it's okay to be less than subtle the scene shows ellie waking up in light you'll notice that two of the lights are blown out with only one light remaining to illuminate ellie signifying how close she is to total darkness in contrast abby wakes up in complete darkness symbolizing the start of her character arc there's this shot after abby defeats ellie which we can see ellie separated from dina still bathed in red light to signify that she's still not overcome the feelings of hate and rage caused by abby and of course there's that museum scene with joe just really good stuff here with regards to symbols hands are a major recurring visual theme hands are portrayed as a means of connecting with others ellie specifically uses her hands to play the guitar and connect with joel the loss of her fingers signifying the lodges endured over the course of this journey lastly high differentials are used as some effect to denote change in character states for instance much of abby's journey is spent ascending she started from a feeling of complete emptiness darkness and has to slowly climb out of her personal pit to overcome her trauma she spent much of the game on an ascent culminating in the hospital sequence with lev where she must ascend to terrifying heights to eventually set herself on the correct personal path which leads to her reconnecting with her father on the other hand kelly spends much of the game indecent it's not a surprise that the encounter with owen and a male occurs in an aquarium literally underground the fight sequence between her and abby results in both characters crashing down from a theater in the final sequence ellie spends the entire santa barbara level in constant descent eventually stopping on desolate baron shore it's also not a surprise that the final scene is her ascending and tidiness farm outside of jackson ascending the steps to recall the final member with joel prepare to move on now i know i said i wanted cinematography and symbolism to be my last point but i lied the reason because i wasn't sure i wanted to tackle this particular topic as a cis-straight male while cis-straight men are certainly allowed to talk about lgbt issues as valued allies the fact that we are not part of the minority group affected affects our analysis since we can only imagine coming from the outside the particular problems that may arise in any piece of medium that focuses at all on lgbt issues i know that i as a black man it's nice to hear why allies speak about systemic racism however i also know it's hard for such an ally to truly get the black experience in the west or why a particular piece of media might be problematic alas for the sake of spurring discussion i feel i can't remain sound especially in today's climate and i find it must speak and only some of the problematic elements found losses too regarding lgbt issues but also racism and americana well i can certainly speak from personal experience with the latter two elements the former one is one that i recognized i may be out of my wheelhouse and i'm open to full criticism of and opposing takes from members of the lgbt community with that pre-face out of the way let's dive in so what exactly do i find wrong about the last two's depiction of say lesbian and transgender lives and issues how could this title possibly be problematic regarding those elements after all aren't all angry fanboys upset of their inclusion in the first place believing the game to be too woke the game has an out and open a lesbian couple it starts two women as it sleeves and has a trans character in a large supporting role how is any of that wrong well as always the devil is in the details the writing for the last phase 2 is handled by neil druckmann and haley gross with additional writing credited by josh sher and ryan james and to the best of my knowledge these individuals are all cis heterosexuals the result is the last two fields written by a team of cis straight people tackling lgbt issues for a primarily cis heterosexual audience what do i mean well to start homophobia and transphobia are treated as a mostly colorful background setting that isn't at all explored in the main narrative you start the game with elliott coeurs into accepting an apology from a bigoted member of the community that called ellie and dina dykes an especially charged homophobic term yet outside this sequence lasexuality is never questioned or explored ever again in the narrative enemies don't hurl homophobic slurs at her nor does she experience any kind of homophobia outside of a single instant even joel just simply accepts alley sexuality without question or judgment at the outset ellie begrudgingly accepts the apology and the narrative simply moves on it's as if the writers felt that ellie had to experience some form of homophobia otherwise the game wouldn't feel real or they wouldn't be helping further the lgbt cause by showing a beta get put in their place but this is exactly the kind of perspective that comes from a cis-straight person attempting to write lgbt narratives the feeling that unless you display a bigoted character getting put down then your story doesn't have weight or depth as an lgbt story yet the last of us two is set in the future not the past it does not have to portray a world caught up in the same bigotries as our present you think humans would have other things to worry about than two lesbians kissing at a dance you can tell a story of featuring lgbt characters in which they face no oppression or discrimination a story of complete acceptance and that would be just as valid in advancing the lgbt cause the original star trek was famous for portraying a future world free of bigotry such as racial discrimination to the point that martin luther king jr himself convinced actor nichelle nichols who portrayed lieutenant uhura to remain on the show as it was one of the few positive examples of black people especially black women on tv at the time a role in which a black person wasn't reduced or limited in their fictional role due to their skin color in philosophies too homophobia is just casually thrown out without any care or examination and then quickly forgotten we don't win ally points for simply mentioning an issue they should ideally be explored and tackled within the narrative if they're going to be brought up at all this is not the case with the lots of us too and as such we begin to see where the problems arise however i want you to remember this particular moment with seth at the beginning as there's an even larger issue looking beneath it as it questions the community of jackson as a whole but we'll come back to this point instead let's move on to lev the sole trans character in the story again we're meant to sympathize with lev and it's great that he's come out and transitioned into his appropriate gender yet again lev's trans identity is an incidental element to the narrative of philosophers too trans identity transphobia trans acceptance into the family and society at large are all background character painting for a lev sometimes to give his character some sort of tragic backstory but they aren't actually explored in any meaningful way the game isn't actually interested in exploring transphobia how it comes about and how it's perpetuated how it affects trans individuals and how his bigotry can be tackled it isn't interested in really exploring life's identity crisis instead it mostly just wants us to feel good that lev is able to come out and live freely with abby everything with regards to life's identity and trans issues are told to the player even worse they are told the player by a cis heterosexual individual in the form of his sister it's lev's sister that details his identity issues lev's sister that talks about the discrimination and abuse he suffered and lev's sister we are meant to be comforting in this moment love is not part of the conversation at all lev doesn't get to talk about the feelings he felt when his sister hit him how we don't even get the witness abuse hurled at lev when he returned to the certified island to confront his mom in what is supposed to be a pivotal moment for the character and the trans individual he confronts his own mother who refuses to accepts him attacks him and love is forced to kill her we as a player only get to arrive after the scene has transpired and quickly confirmed lev regarding the entire episode this is problematic not just because there's no way to actually explore trans issues but also because the trans experience in the game is one that is presented without participation of the actual trans character who remains largely silent on their personal issues now you may say well lev doesn't talk about these issues he bottles them up thus we need yara to speak about his trauma for him to that i say this is a fictional game love doesn't speak about these issues or his trauma because he's written not to speak about these issues and his trauma that he's written not to speak about that is not a valid excuse as to why his character is silenced for these critical moments as you can see the last of us 2 has a tendency to want a padded stuff on the back by including these diverse characters dealing with bigotry when it comes to actually exploring such discrimination the game falls woefully short exercising them in favor of its reductive pedestrian critique of hate and violence and here at last we can discuss some of the overarching problems with the last fist two which is too often found in post-apocalyptic media now this issue is quite subtle and likely subconscious on the part of the developers but the power of visual media is that while even though we may not intend defense or seek to espouse problematic viewpoints the very nature of presenting certain images in certain ways leads to perpetuation of harmful truths or myths call of duty does not particularly seek to espouse any particular point of view it simply wants to be a fun militaristic shooter however that does not also mean it isn't subconsciously trying to perpetuate ideals of western militarism particularly the idea of beneficial or humanitarian us foreign interventionism transformers isn't a war propaganda film for the us military but the way it portrays american soldiers and its military in such a positive light leads one to believe the righteous might of the us military even if it is a film about talking transforming robots with regards to the last of us two it too runs in danger of the harmful myths perpetuated in many post-apocalyptic stories which tend to slide into far right-wing fertilization for right-wing libertarians personal liberty free from government control isolationism protection protectionist property rights extreme gun rights and a very loose leash when it comes to personal defense that makes use of such free willing gun rights are political ideals that should be aspired to it is in this sense that post political narratives suffer such an enticing escape for such far-right ideologues a world where many of the fruits of modern society still exists such as roads electricity medicine but also where gun restrictions are non-existent government comes in the form of small local control property is exclusive and defendant to the death where any outsider is treated with immediate suspicion such that their outright execution is considered valid and individuals are free to roam and do as they please including strike it out on their own to survive by the wits of their own rugged individualism if they don't choose to conform to local community standards in this way the post-apocalyptic word most closely mirrors the old american west and this is why such fiction often cribs from the symbols and cinematic language of the old west horses cowboy hats revolvers these are all symbols of the american old west and more importantly associated with far right-wing libertarian ideals a time when men could be men and do as they please without the government getting in their way the problem is that this view of the old west is a myth perpetrated by well white colonizers the cowboy was not a symbol of freedom he was a symbol of oppression his tools the horse the revolver the lasso these are all pieces of equipment the white male cowboy used to push native americans off their land to commit genocide against whole civilian populations and to claim and re-see their lands as their own white americans see the old west through the eyes of john wayne a rugged hero that tamed the west but in actuality it was a brutal campaign of genocide force relocation and land theft when we turn to the last fist two we can already see how the trappings of a post-apocalyptic narrative can perpetuate such harmful myths consciously blasphemy does not seem to glorify its world is a harsh and brutal world that no sane human should wish to live except for the existence of jackson and it is now we can come back to seth's homophobia and the community of jackson altogether jackson is represented the player as an ideal community tommy and maria are kind loving people that accept strangers into their community jackson is not presented as militaristic do not seek out new lands or people to conquer or subjugate but they will protect what they've built jackson is presented to the player as a place of safety for joel ellie and all of her friends what this new world could look like if everyone worked together and yet when we look at jackson what do we see we see the trappings of the old west horses revolvers cowboy hats cattle ranching plaid shirts country music square dancing oh and white people at the head you could not pick a more utopic presentation of white americana than jackson as a community out of a normal rockwell painting its culture its speech its identity is purely american and not just any type of american white conservative america a place where you take your significant other to the country line dancing at the barn at the end of a hard day's work of farming a place where new world cowboys roam the frontier and patrols tending it for the rest of the community a place for good family fun which translates to white anglo-saxon protestant christian fun now the last of us two is not likely intentionally seeking to espouse the righteousness of right-wing libertarianism or the false ideals of the old west but that is the image portrayed on a subconscious level there is no reason why jackson had to be placed in wyoming a bed of white country americana in this series tommy came from boston and went west he could have settled anywhere else in the west with more diversity the game chose white country america jackson didn't have to adhere to the stables of the old country white america again this is a game set decades in the future so why are all the civilians dressed up like american ranchers and plaid shirts and listen to country music this is especially odd when the title intentionally forces diversity into the jackson community so it doesn't appear to be lily white they're telling me that black people and asian people and all the hispanic people living in jackson they all just don't contribute to the culture of jackson they all just accept the choke trappings of white americana there's no hip-hop or rap music to be found no meso influence no decorative elements that don't conform to a midwestern white country aesthetic yet if jackson has been the melting pot the game desperately wishes it to be why is it so cohesively white in culture do you know of any diverse american city that looks like jackson do you think new york or los angeles is one pure cultural setting in jackson there is no mosque no synagogue i see no signs of a buddhist altar no cultural artifacts of chinese people are found in their homes nor outside their businesses there are no salsa dancing lessons no chinese folk dancing lessons seth's bar is exclusively decorated in midwestern iconography but you know we do have line dancing lessons country music a christian church and white frontier iconography and dress style of plenty this is not a diverse community it's a homogenized white community in all but skin color it is this final element where we can see some of the harmful images that the last of us two perpetuates by portraying jackson as this ideal community the rest of the world should aspire to this community being stiflingly white and conservative it's also a community where homophobia festers let's be clear seth being forced to apologize does not mean jackson is a tolerant community we must recognize that for seth to feel comfortable espousing his views means that such sensibilities are ever present in the community ellie and dina have been living in jackson for years and we know they aren't the only non-straight individuals in jackson are we really to believe this is the first time seth has witnessed homosexual activities in the open in jackson he straight up calls ellie and dina slurs pretty much the worst world he could cargo them to feel comfortable saying that in the public can only mean that jackson isn't as accepting as we should believe this is of course not what the game intends but what it is is what it's perpetuated by having such a character like seth exists to spot bigotry in the open and at the end his bigotry amounts to nothing more than a forced apology is seth really sorry has he actually come to terms and learned why his actions were wrong and learned to accept people like ellie i doubt it but as the game isn't interested in exploring the issue it is forgotten cass aside so it can return to its true purpose a sesame street critique of the player for the use of violence and harboring of any hatred it is uninterested in confronting the hatred that exists in its own ideal community and that is a true tragedy of the loss of us too it's simplistic themes and lack of critical examination of any real moral social or philosophical elements relegated to a bargain bin of simply all right stories there will be no great debate as we had with the last one regarding the morality of joel's actions ellie and abby were unequivocally wronged to seek revenge there's no ambiguity that it took them so long to realize this is just torture as opposed to enlightening a simplistic lesson it took our characters 20 hours to realize but that which a player should have learned in grade school it may be a universal lesson but it isn't a particularly insightful lesson and to teach the player it casts aside more interesting compelling and timely questions that would resonate with our present society and with that i end my long critique i look forward to your reactions in the comment section below do you agree with my analysis do you think i'm way off the mark do you want to see a savage starlight game let me know below anywho those are my general thoughts on the game and its narrative and that's that this video took a long long long long time to produce so i appreciate you taking the time to sit down and watch the whole thing given my current video output i make no promises as to when the next video will be or what the next topic is going to be i'm just going to make videos when i have time to make them and on subjects i find interesting and i feel i have something to say about it that's unique to what everyone else is out there saying so again thanks for stopping by uh leave a like or comment the section below and thanks again hands up where's abby you're that girl from jackson tell me where she went how do we know you won't kill us give her what she wants and we're dead you guys can survive this i just need here [ __ ] a few moments later [Music] [Applause] my dad um is out there and he's kind of different he trains a lot and is always telling us to be prepared and just hope for the best and prepare for the worst i think every american household should have a gun never have enough guns never enough ammo a few moments later what happened what happened damn thing uh just misfired on it get the truck up and ready he's got a good last ball yeah okay see him all right damn tim look at me

Channel: Boss Attack

Views: 1,181

Keywords: the last of us, the last of us 2, the last of us part 2, tlou, games, video games, tlou2

Id: RerRI-H_Uj0

Length: 84min 25sec (5065 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020