Based on a video game, The Last of Us series by HBO was an eye-opener to non-gamers (like me) into the world of Ellie, Joel and many more interesting characters. Throughout the entire runtime of the series, all my thoughts were centered around ‘Is this how we humans are gonna respond and survive if we’re pushed to the brink of existence?’.
Among many instances of questionable choices, moral conundrums and doing things for survival and love, The Last of Us asks some beautiful and at times terrifying questions to us humans. It asks us whether we would be content living alone amidst an apocalypse or we would want someone to love, take care and fear for their safety. It asks us whether we will acknowledge the bad things we did to survive and take care of our loved ones. It asks us whether we will be ready to do some horrendous things just because some people believed you to lead them into a life of content and meaningful existence.
Characters like Bill, Frank and Tess show what it is to be a bright human in times of distress. To fear for your loved ones, sacrifice your lives for the greater cause or even grow strawberries secretly for your loved ones. Characters like David show us a picture of how much you would like to feed your internal monster, to muster the courage to do ‘unhumanly’ actions to feed the people who accepted you as their leader.
On the other hand, characters like Henry and Joel show what it is to go to any extent to save your loved ones even when a resistance movement or the whole of humanity is at stake. The decisions Henry and Joel made to save (or in the case of Henry to kill Sam) explain to us that we humans are never ready to face our fate. We make things happen, only according to our reasons and notions of love.
Ellie: So, time heals all wounds, I guess.
Joel: It wasn’t time that did it.
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