The Last Of Us Was Created by an Illegal Settler
Sitting With Discomfort & its Palestinian - Israeli Themes
Note: the following contains spoilers
I admit I am having a harder time watching “The Last of Us,” but not for the reason you think.
The directors are working hard to help us navigate the absence of Joel’s consistent presence. In the context of the characters, alone, I have an appreciation for the cinematic movement.
And yet…..
One of the original creators, Neil Druckmann, grew up, in part in the Occupied West Bank, in Beit Aryeh, as an illegal settler. He has admitted much of his storyline within the game and therefore the series, is influenced by narratives between Israelis and Palestinians.
In particular, Druckmann watched a video of Israeli militants being killed by Palestinian resistance and for him, the violence of the resistance cheering radicalized his view, “I could just push a button and kill all these people that committed this horrible act,” he said, “I would make them feel the same pain that they inflicted.”
Vengeful.
And yet, he’s not wrong to feel....
And yet, he and his family were perpetrators by the very act of living on invaded and stolen land. His own father worked with development of weapons for the colonizing Israelis.
Round and rounds of violence. Oppression never held accountable. Resistance never calm. Fight never becomes rest.
He later admitted to being “disgusted over his own fury.” So what is his remorse?
He gave money to both Gaza and Israelis conducting medical relief ($2,500 each). The Israeli support, “Zaka,” is recognized by the Israeli government. The complexity of this, of course, is the elevation of Israeli medical personnel, while the militant faction of the nation-state actively destroys Hospitals, targets EMTs, Doctors and has burned alive unarmed, helpless patients.
Yet Druckmann seems to believe October 7th happened in a vaccum and still believes propaganda about Palestinians, rather than understanding a better picture on the day of the attack. Zionism seems to be still quite heavily threaded through many of his statements.
Mother, Forgive Me.
I urge you to watch the video below in full, to honor those who died. It will cut to black, keep listening.
So who are his characters? Which ones does he want us to sympathize with? Or is it none of them? Or all of them?
Mmm
The storyline is driven through post apocalyptic tribalism, self preservation and power, while they all risk infection from an outside growth among them.
Well, that’s interesting.
Druckmann focuses on “universal hate” as an alleged counter to “universal love.” I think he might be missing something with such an arguement.
Even Pedro Pascal, who has taken a back seat to his character, posted about the onslaught and starving kids.
Sure, the metaphors are brilliant. And yes, my fucking discomfort grows (I checked, no mushroom infection, am I immune? Doubt it).
I keep watching. But, Fuck, Why?
Shouldn’t I, who preaches resistance and liberation —reject the oppressor’s project? Punish a rich gamer-director by not watching? Rage and lament and decry the series because the he’s a settler?
Ooff, yeh, in theory, such an argument is wildly valid.
I reported on the Palestinian plight, the Israeli occupation; I was inside Gaza and I know the realities. I’ve seen them, first hand. I regularly make the case for resistance against Genocide. So I know, I carry a responsibility. In particular, as a western woman, I also want to be mindful, here.
And still, I…don’t know….if…this is so black and white.
If I take the series at face value, that is, through the scope of the human condition and morph the art through themes rather than its literal inspiration, there’s a unique conversation to be had about how violence begets violence which can be translated back to its source material.
I don’t know.
In a recent episode, we saw Jeffery Wright (an astounding actor) turn on Fedra (a military power), turn on his own, that is, then join a known violent militia, the WLF, and then torture a religious leader, from the Saraphites with a metal pan. Their arguement had me shifting in my seat,
Wright’s character, Isaac Dixon, tells the Seraphite priest (played by Ryan Masson) their religious goddess is a myth, degrading Masson’s faith, and calls him “scar,” as a slur, while he heats up metal to fire.
You put an arrow in a little boy’s head, Dixon says.
You kill our children, the priest retorts,
Never by choice, Dixon defends, you train them to shoot at us
Because you broke the truce,
Because YOU broke the truce!
You broke…
Because you broke it because we broke it! Dixon bellows, I’m not playing your little chicken and egg games today, scar!
Then Dixon demands intel on the Seraphite’s attack plans.
Deep Breath. Fucking hell. Intense is an under-statment
Round and round and yet, who is the perpetrator? Who do each of these men believe is the power vs who they think is resistance at an end of the world, when everyone is trying to survive?
Betrayal, revenge, preservation and desperation for a world without a growing disease.
Back to that.
A western white empire grows like the mushroom heads, sneaky, immune to fire as it uses its own firepower to destroy the modern world, dominating with bites, blood and death. (DC I’m lookin’ at you?)
Or, is the story line…
A fungus growing as a consequence by Mother Earth for the mistreatment of what what was once beautiful and we’re failing, by killing each other, so she overtakes the body to destroy other bodies.
Round and round, storylines dance.
And Ellie, our heroine, is growing darker and further into her pain.
On her quest for revenge, after watching her “father figure,” tortured to death in front of her, she takes a pipe to one of Joel’s captors (Nora), who lands in air filled infection. It becomes apparent she knows Joel killed the only person who could have saved humanity (or so it’s said) in exchange for her one life. That doctor was the father of the woman who killed Joel (Abby).
She is not immune to violence even if she is from airborne fungi. Are any of us immune from violence? The body’s fight mode is a force to be reckoned with.
There is something to be said for how Zionism warped and exploited the pain of one Holocaust to co-create another with its first victims.
Does Druckmann get that? It doesn’t seem so, yet.
I know from reading about the game (and a few gamers I’ve talked to) the expected outcome for Ellie and Abby. What the show series will do and which parts it will divert from, we have yet to see (at the time of this writing we’re mid-season-2).
Is Ellie’s pain less than anyone else’s? Why might we sympathize with her over Abby or the crunchy boozed and stoned therapist played by Catherine O’Hara? Or the village of settlers Ellie leaves behind?
Aren’t they all trying to survive with the stories they tell themselves?
Aren’t we?
I do believe fiercely in accountability, identifying dominant oppression and abusers. It matters. Those with more power have more responsibility to lay down arms or risk being overthrown.
Right now, The Last of Us seems to be struggling with where to put everyone. It’s the missing piece in the creator’s focus on “hate” vs. “love.” I do not believe we are born to hate, it is taught. I do not believe hate is the opposite of love, it’s indifference and neglect. I do believe “Justice is what Love looks like in public” (Brother Cornell West).
Justice and revenge are not the same thing. One restores balance and opportunity for humanity to find each other. The other perpetuates death based on extremities of superior thought.
I don’t have to like Druckmann (and trust me, he’s etched in my proverbial black book to a degree), but I can hold space, for now, for the art presented and perhaps transform it into a better conversation. Perhaps it’s the one he’s lost in and one I can help shape.
I do wonder, how it’d be different with women creators (vs. influences), or a Palestinian partner in the storytelling?
I haven’t decided to stop watching, yet.
Yes, I am severely uncomfortable. Perhaps I am meant to be.
We need to shape this conversation into a more active alignment with liberation rather than an unjust “peace.” We need to confront ourselves, our violence and change the story.
Or the Cordyceps, a true representation of death, hanging in the air will swallow and swarm us whole.
Ash Gallagher is a Veteran War Journalist, narrative educator, activist and author. To reach her for more, work with her or podcast with her, connect here.
