In 'The Last of Us,' a World With Homophobia But Without Pride

What's a gay girl to do? 🍄

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The following contains spoilers for season two of The Last of Us.

Dina and Ellie ride through Capitol Hill in The Last of Us. Credit: HBO

Season two of The Last of Us – the HBO series based on a videogame about a mushroom-based zombie apocalypse – has given fans plenty of queer material to chew on. Best friends Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) had their first kiss but were interrupted by a drunken bigot. The pair traveled to Seattle, and Ellie serenaded Dina on guitar. Dina revealed she is pregnant, and Ellie wants to raise the baby with her. They had sex for the first time. Dina explored her feelings about bisexuality.

The second season of the show proposes an interesting dichotomy about queerness during the apocalypse. Over the course of a few episodes, we learn two things: homophobia still exists, but gay pride doesn’t.

During the first episode of season two, Ellie and Dina share their first kiss during the town dance. One of the other townspeople, Seth (Robert John Burke), interrupts their sweet moment by telling them it's a family event and calling them dykes. This leads to a confrontation between Seth and Joel (Pedro Pascal), creating another rift between Ellie and her adoptive father. Seth later apologizes to Ellie (which happens in the game) and gives Ellie and Dina supplies for their revenge-fueled trip to Seattle (which doesn’t happen in the game). Frankly, it’s all rather glib.

In episode four, Ellie and Dina finally arrive in Seattle, where Ellie intends to carry out her revenge plot. Their first stop is Capitol Hill, also known as Seattle’s “gayborhood.” They ride around on horseback observing all the pride flags, but they don’t know their meaning. "What's up with all the rainbows?” Dina asks. “I dunno. Maybe they were all optimists,” Ellie responds. Later, Ellie serenades Dina in a record store (mirroring a beloved scene from the game), and their relationship progresses from there.

Dina and Ellie at the dance. Credit: HBO

Reactions to Seth’s arc in the show have varied. In Polygon, Susana Polo questions the series’ assertion that homophobia is the only prejudice that seems to have survived the apocalypse. Despite their varying levels of brutality and/or cultishness, all of the other groups we’ve encountered thus far seem to treat women and people of color as equal citizens, at least where their ability to fight, strategize, and lead is concerned. Polo suggests that this uneven depiction of an apocalyptic world stems in part from the recent push to write more diverse characters without attending to what that diversity means in each universe.

When it comes to Seth’s presence in season two, Polo is most concerned with how The Last of Us depicts tribalism, essentially the central organizing principle of the whole game/show. Have the prejudices of the old world fallen away as survival becomes paramount, or do they still weave their way into these new communities? Polo questions the world-building efforts of the creators, who “presume the persistence of anti-queer prejudice so easily as to put it front and center, while hand-waving the role of identity prejudice in the formation of in-group-out-group dynamics… in their story that’s entirely about in-group-out-group dynamics.”

Series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann spoke to Wired about their decision to include (or not include) real-world issues in the show. Mazin suggested that the world is partially stuck in the past, the year that the world ended. “If there is a moment that is upsetting, it is in and of itself a reminder of the way things were,” Mazin explained. “We didn’t just want to sweep that under the rug.” Notably, while the Outbreak began in 2013 in the game, it begins in 2003 in the show, so the contemporary storyline takes place in 2023 rather than 2033. While this could help explain why homophobia persists in the post-apocalyptic era, it doesn’t explain why other prejudices, like racism and sexism, don’t (at least that we’ve seen).

Seth giving Ellie and Dina supplies. Credit: HBO

On the other hand, Druckmann, co-creator of the game, told Wired that contemporary politics and social issues don’t factor into the show’s creation whatsoever. “We try to just shut out all outside pressure and voices as much as we can and really focus on the story,” he noted. (Interestingly enough, Druckmann has admitted the idea for the game stemmed from his perspective on Israel’s war on Palestine, a parallel he has brought up more than once.)

Ellie and Dina’s experiences in Seattle complicate these ideas about identity and prejudice. Episode four depicts the blossoming of a queer relationship within the context of an enxtreely harsh world – one in which the concept of pride no longer exists. While Ellie and Dina don’t know what the pride flag means, audiences do, and the fact that this pivotal episode takes place in Capitol Hill is significant. Reactions to this episode highlighted this dissonance. Fans across social media noted how sad it was that Ellie and Dina recognized a homophobic slur but not a rainbow flag.

This stark contrast is an affective piece of storytelling, but it's also somewhat perplexing. We can return to the presumption made in many post-apocalyptic stories – that prejudice and identity politics (at least the ones we’re familiar with) have fallen away. If pre-existing identity categories have become less important, it follows that pride would fall to the wayside as well. This configuration is at least partially invalidated by Seth’s behavior at the dance, in addition to Ellie and Dina’s awareness of his hurtful words.

To give the series the benefit of the doubt, perhaps we are to assume a distinction between those who remember the old times and those who don’t. Maybe those who grew up after the world ended weren’t steeped in homophobia or pride. It’s also possible that both homophobia and queer history are better preserved in some communities than in others.

Ellie playing “Take On Me” for Dina. Credit: HBO

The episode offers up another kernel of context for us to consider. After finally admitting her feelings for Ellie, Dina explains why it’s been so hard for her to reckon with them. She knew she liked boys and girls from a young age, but her mother made it clear boys were the only option. We can presume that Dina was never introduced to the concept of bisexuality – especially when we discover she grew up without any community apart from her family – and has internalized her mother’s words. Ellie, on the other hand, seems more comfortable with her sexuality, though she rarely discusses it in detail.

Many fans noted that they felt seen by Dina’s story, which parallels many experiences in the real world. Ellie’s response to Dina’s pregnancy, “I’m gonna be dad,” similarly moved fans, who appreciated that the couple were able to experience this moment of queer joy (and a bit of gender-bending). Still, while Dina’s familiar coming-out narrative invites audience identification, this conventional story feels slightly odd considering the context. What could Ellie and Dina’s story look like without conventions? The world has been almost entirely reshaped, after all.

To be sure, it’s not like the show will fall apart if these questions remain unanswered. But it’s worth considering how the show depicts identity and difference. Did this apocalypse produce a world that’s post-race and post-gender, but not post-sexuality? Is the show’s tribalism totally divorced from pre-apocalyptic identity formation? From Seth’s arc, we learn that if homophobia does exist, it can be superseded by the in-group and out-group dynamics forged in this new world. Whether or not this means prejudice has or can be eradicated in this world remains unclear.

As for gay pride, it appears this relic of the before-times hasn’t crossed over. As violently enforced tribalism further fragmented an already dispersed population, perhaps other avenues of connection and alliance disappeared as a result. If most of society were occupied by survival, it tracks that personal journeys and individuation would become less important. At the same time, The Last of Us’ focus on Ellie and Dina’s relationship and coming-of-age reveals the show’s investment in mapping out its narratives onto contemporary social issues. Who killed the world?

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show or game – if you have any, leave them in the comments below!

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