HBO’sThe Last of Usdiffers from the game infairly minor ways– while certain plotlines have been expanded and details changed, the show’s narrative has stayed fairly true to the source material, with certain scenes even replicated shot for shot with identical dialogue. I’ve written before about how it proves thatadaptations should be given the room to actually adapt the source materialfor its new medium, and so far, The Last of Us hasn’t made me eat my words. If anything, these changes have elevated the show, making it more relevant to contemporary anxieties and discourse than ever before.
For example, how the show envisions the beginning of the pandemic and how the infection starts to spread, and the terror that gripped experts as they realised what was beginning to happen and how they had no way to stop it. Of course, with our own world still in the grips of a pandemic that has killed millions of people, this had a far bigger emotional impact today than it ever could have hoped for back in 2013. We all remember what it was like to find out that somewhere in the world, people were falling ill with a mysterious illness, and that illness had somehow made it onto our shores, into our neighbourhoods, and our homes. Imagining that, but incurable and hostile, is terrifying, and hits far too close to home.
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The outbreak also kicks off in 2003, in the aftermath of 9/11. The showrunners made the choice to focus on a Bush portrait in Sarah’s classroom in and bumper stickers on Joel’s truck alluding to Desert Storm – the world seemed warier of foreign influence, with Sarah even asking if the virus was spread by terrorists. This initial framing of the show makes the rest of the show far more political as a consequence.
There’s explicit discussions surrounding the cruel things governments did to attempt to curb the infection, and the horrible acts FEDRA continues to perform in the many Quarantine Zones – Riley even calls them “fascist dickbags”. Many of these events are shown as well as alluded to in the games through notes left behind by survivors long past, but rarely do we see characters so explicitly naming FEDRA for what they are. It wasn’t until the sequel that organisations like this actually became a comprehensive part of the narrative, otherwise acting as window dressing for a world that was far more enamored with the intimate humanity of its two protagonists than the wider landscape in which it took place.
Episode six is also worth highlighting, in which Ellie and Joel tour Jackson after reuniting with Tommy. Maria explains that everybody shares resources and contributes equally, and Joel quips, “So, communism.” His brother, Tommy, is quick to say, “It ain’t like that,” but Maria steps in and says, “This is a commune. We’re communists.” In a world increasingly divided by the political left and right, it’s rare to see a high-profile show say something like this so explicitly, andeven rarer to see debates about it online be so nuanced– this led to a surprisingly reasonable discussion in the The Last of Us subreddit, where people discussed the merits of communism in a post-apocalyptic society. This isn’t the only time where politics is mentioned either.
The showplaces queer relationships front and centre, which in this day and age is fodder for review-bombers – and review-bomb they did. Riley was originally deemed non-essential and locked behind DLC, while Bill and Frank’s relationship was only ever alluded to. Ellie’s sexuality wasn’t even a cemented part of the narrative until after the first game was released and well-received. Queerness was far less discussed,though it was still canon. Bill and Frank having an entire episode dedicated to their love when they were a relatively small part of the original story was a brave choice, considering there’s always homophobic backlash when a show this popular acknowledges that gay people exist, even after the apocalypse. The episode’s tenderness was a foil for the show’s otherwise relentless brutality, and despite not being explicitly political, making this episode at all was a political statement.
The game was fairly political already, and the show developed these themes from the source material no matter how much naysayers would like to argue otherwise. But time and time again, the showrunners have played up political aspects of the television adaptation to make it more relevant to 2023, in a post-pandemic era, in a time where right-wing leaders are being elected all over the world, and it’s worked. Despite being originally released a whole decade ago, The Last of Us is more politically relevant than ever.
