The “Greatest story ever told” in video games.
‘The Last of Us’ premiered on HBO this past Sunday and it’s already done well for itself. Drawing 4.7 million viewers, it’s clear that the adaptation of the popular video game was hotly anticipated. Some folks online are even claiming that it has finally broken the bad video game adaptation curse. (A bogus fucking thing to say, and that’s a story for another time.)
So what does any of that mean, and why should you care? Well the first thing you need to understand is ‘The Last of Us’ is a very pedestrian zombie story…
The world goes awry from a viral outbreak and the remaining bastions of society struggle to function properly because man is the real monster, blah blah blah. A zombie is still a zombie even if it’s controlled by mushrooms.
You could have just as easily given the plot of “Old man becomes overprotective and selfish to a young girl that could be key to stopping a viral infection”, to ‘The Walking Dead’ and it wouldn’t make a difference .
Showrunner Craig Mazin claiming it’s “the greatest story ever told”, rationalizes it by saying, “The were just people. And that, in and of itself, is remarkably rare in games. The fact that they kept it so grounded, and really made you feel - I had never experienced anything like it…”
I’m not going to pick apart what he’s saying, for it will feel mean spirited. But it does highlight a problem that the game has and why the hype around it feels more artificial than genuine.
For starters, the narrative of TLOU already gets it’s inspiration from film and television, so it’s already going for it. It’s the kind of thing that irks me when you see people shout from the rooftops of it being the most faithful adaptation, and then you become bombarded with posts comparing shots from the game, to the show.
Probably from the gamer™ perspective, they look at it and think being faithful to the source material means doing scenes shot for shot. When you want to separate yourself from the game and watch it as television, the presence of the game overshadows it. What the HBO show is really doing, is highlighting just how much the game is trying to be the very medium it’s become anyway. What they choose to do with the tv show is essentially nothing different. The game itself is serving as the storyboard, and this is why I feel like the hype is artificial.
A behind the scenes shot of the actors talking amongst themselves before they start the scene.
(hilarious console wars joke)
TLOU on HBO, is essentially the 4th release of TLOU in general. Originally on the PS3, Remastered on the PS4, Remastered again on the PS5, and Remastered AGAIN on HBO not even that long after the PS5 re-release. (I’m starting to become convinced that this is the only game that Naughty Dog has.)
It’s not unreasonable to like or even be excited about this show, the fandom exists because it does what it does well. The casting is perfect and the guy that did Chernobyl is a good fit for this show’s atmosphere. But just like all fandom, it’s looking at the show through rose tinted glasses. The very idea of it being played out in the exact same way of a game that they’ve known since 2013, people spending more time comparing shots and looking for easter eggs, Content Creators indulging in paid promotion rather than one and done discussion about it at their own volition. It’s designed to be porn for the gaming audience rather than be appreciated and explored as a new medium.
My worry is that this is going to signal laziness in game to tv/film adaptations. It’s getting people to point at shows like ‘Halo’ and ‘The Witcher’ with kids screaming this is how it’s done! Nevermind taking a property and seeing a fun way you can adapt it to screen! NO! Instead maximize the efficiency in how much nostalgia and eye candy you can wring out of your audience that already knows all of the story beats you’re going to hit!
It may be over-looked, but the first four minutes had so much freedom to explore what the show could be, before it painted by numbers for an hour and a half.
I have to re-iterate here, it’s not a bad show (it is the game) and I’m probably going to continue watching. It’s kinda like you’re taking an annual trip to the local theatre as they once again perform that play that you already know you enjoyed. But if I were to continue, I need to see it in a bubble. Fandom is an insufferable thing, and it’s already amplified the show to a surface level telling you moot things that you need to be excited about rather than focusing on the show at it’s core, a pedestrian zombie story.
4/5 stars.