The Gays of The Last of Us
#159
Welcome to Third Cultured, a newsletter about Queer people in diplomacy, politics, and war from the perspective of Kyle Borland (he/they). My goal is to highlight all the ways today is different (and not so) from yesterday.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate, Laws & Violence Around the World
Opinion Essay
If you haven’t started watching The Last of Us on HBO, stop what you’re doing right now and press play on episode one. Come back to this when you’re caught up.
For the rest, my fellow culture-hungry hippos, we need to talk about that episode.
Yes, I’m over a week late in discussing the third installment of HBO’s latest monster hit, but “Long, Long Time” deserves all the buzz it’s generated. It was legitimately one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever seen and the overwhelming amount of people who watched it agree.
What makes this episode of prestige TV relevant to Third Cultured is that, unfortunately, the most joyless people on the internet – those that cry about “wokeness” whenever they see a person of color or a Queer person in any medium (as if we didn’t exist in real life…) – have made it their latest mob vendetta. Why? Because “Long, Long Time” centers on a gay couple in an almost hour-and-a-half-long episode showcasing the way humanity clings to life, love, and longing even in the midst of a fungi-induced apocalypse.
The same sad, pathetic little boys who whine about their lack of job prospects, who attack and demean women for wanting nothing to do with them, that sit alone in their rooms without a friend in their life – those lonely boys lashed out. The homophobes review bombed it on IMDB over 30,000 times with one-star reviews, hiding behind claims that the adaptation isn’t “true to the game” (despite Bill and Frank being gay in the original game, not to mention the main character being a lesbian). Not because it was bad in any way, but because it displayed an intimacy that they’ve never known in their lives – nor ever will.
The closest connection any of them have is the porn video they’ve had bookmarked since they were fifteen.
It took watching their reaction to this episode for it to dawn on me. They don’t lash out because they think they’re better. They attack and demean because they’re jealous. They are sick with envy of anyone and everyone with a community or relationship(s) to cling to in those darkest moments. If the world were to end, they wouldn’t be Bill or Frank or Joel or Tess – they’d be the raiders, the scavengers, the worst of us. They’d be the ones who get off on inflicting pain on the rest of us who are still able to find a semblance of light, of hope, in times when all else seems lost. They’d be alone.
It’s who they are now, so why would an apocalypse be any different?
Nick Offerman, of Parks and Rec fame, plays Bill a “survivalist” (aka a doomsday prepper) who escapes the federal government’s sweep of his small town outside Boston and proceeds to transform it into a mini-fortress where he lives undisturbed by the infected, the government, and the other people that have survived. Four years go by before Frank (Murray Bartlett of White Lotus) falls into one of Bill’s traps on the outskirts of his town. Instead of killing him or sending him away as he normally would, Bill lets Frank shower at his home and cooks him a warm meal. Frank chips away at Bill’s armor – noting his wine pairings with dinner and the music sheets available with the piano – until he asks, “Who’s the girl?”
Bill reluctantly says, “There is no girl.”
Frank softly replies, “I know.”
It’s an interaction Queer men know all too well, portrayed beautifully by both actors.
The episode that follows time jumps through Bill and Frank’s life together from that day forward. Three years after Frank arrived it shows them fighting about him wanting friends and bringing beauty to the town. Four years after that it shows them eating with Joel and Tess from the QZ discussing communications and resources over a nice dinner in their front yard. Another four years go by, and we see Frank has grown strawberries for Bill with seeds he traded from Tess for a small gun. We’re led to believe in this scene that Bill is ailing, or at least aging faster than Frank, and he reveals that he was never scared of death until he met Frank. In the next time jump, their town is getting attacked at night by some raiders and Bill is shot after Frank distracts him with his worries.
The episode climaxes in the next time jump when we see them on the front porch, aged, and one of them is in a wheelchair. But, it’s not Bill – it’s Frank.
He is suffering from Parkinson’s and, by the looks of him, it’s been raging through his body for a while now. They have drugs from the QZ that Joel was able to smuggle to them, but there’s little they can do to help him. Frank asks Bill to show him the kindest mercy and end his suffering for him. Bill agrees.
The final scene with them is one of the most devastating I’ve ever watched and I was clinging to my own partner, squeezing his hand tighter and tighter as each second passed, knowing what was coming next. They go to the boutique in town and pick out outfits for their last meal together. Bill cooks Frank his last meal, an identical one to the one he made the first day they met. Every detail parallels, from the wine choice to the food to the adjustment Bill makes on Frank’s plate as he sets it down.
When the moment comes after they eat to put the medicine in Frank’s wine, Bill does as he was asked. Except, he adds the medicine to his own glass, too. His only explanation is to say this isn’t a tragic suicide at the end of the story. Instead, he says:
“I’m old, I’m satisfied, and you were my purpose.”
And so, they go to bed together one last time.
It is tragically beautiful. It’s the old couple from Up, except it’s two gay men during an apocalypse. It’s a tale as old as time because it’s humanity in its purest form. The vast majority of people who watched it felt the raw emotions so well presented and knew we had watched one of those episodes that encapsulate everything we love about television. What the medium is able to accomplish when no one holds back and everyone from the actors to the director to the showrunner to the crew is giving the performance of their lives. It was a gift to experience, to see gay men presented in a way that didn’t settle for a tired “bury the gays” trope, but allowed Queer men to be complex, full human beings capable of conveying the depths of human emotion.
It showed how far we’ve come, despite the trolls and lonely boys who wish the make everyone feel as hollow and isolated as they do.
Maybe most importantly, it was damn good TV.
Stay vigilant and healthy, beautiful people.
As always, thanks for reading. (And, don’t forget to “like” this post!)
Kyle (@kgborland)
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
Arkansas Drag Ban Gutted! All Instances Of "Drag" Removed In Big Victory, Activists Vow To Keep Fighting (Erin in the Morning)
An Israeli city nixed an LGBTQ Holocaust docu showing; residents screened it instead (Times of Israel)
Anti-LGBTQ+ baker loses appeal when court rules he discriminated against trans woman (LGBTQ Nation)
FDA eases blood donation ban on gay and bisexual men after years of protest (WashPost)
Finland now allows people to legally change gender by simply declaring it (LGBTQ Nation)
Germany recalls overlooked LGBT victims of Nazi persecution (CNN)
Indian gay couples begin legal battle for same-sex marriage (AP)
Japanese Prime Minister sacks aide over anti-LGBTQ remarks (Japan Times, LA Blade)
Less than 10%, or 29, of 2022’s 300+ anti-LGBTQ state bills became law (NBC News)
LGBTQ Pride in the South has been marked by resistance and resilience (WashPost)
Minnesota's LGBTQ lawmakers form Queer Caucus in show of growing political power (StarTribune)
Montana Senator Did Not Even Read His Own Anti-trans Bill - Trans Supporters Outnumber Anti-Trans Testimony 4 to 1 (Erin in the Morning)
SFGH's Ward 86 celebrates 40 years (Bay Area Reporter)
The National LGBTQ Task Force Marks 50 Years of Progress (OutSmart Magazine)
Ukraine to Host its First Ever Queer Film Festival: ‘We Are Here, We Are Queer, and We Are Defending This Country’ (Variety)
Victor Navasky, the New York Times and a key moment in gay history (The Guardian)
Virginia Legislature Kills Six Proposed Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills (them)
Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate, Laws & Violence Around the World
3 ways the pope calling homosexuality a ‘sin’ creates real harm to LGBTQ people (reckon)
271 Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills in 2023 So Far (Alejandra Caraballo)
A Louisiana Man Who Used Grindr As A “Hunting Ground” To Target Gay Men “As Dahmer Had Done” Was Sentenced To 45 Years In Prison (Dept of Justice, Law & Crime)
Anti-Trans State Of The States (Erin in the Morning)
Armed Proud Boys harass children outside of Utah drag show (LGBTQ Nation)
FBI now searching for who is responsible for threats against LGBTQ businesses in St. Louis (KMOV4)
Feminine-presenting gay men may be passed over for leadership roles (HR Dive, Pink News, them)
Gay And Trans People Who Have Been To Conversion Therapy Are Sharing Their Traumatic Stories, And It's A Reminder Why It Needs To Be Abolished (BuzzFeed News)
Gay man’s murder in Argentina underscores growing concerns over hate crimes (Washington Blade)
Gay Man Sues Canada Over Sperm Donation Restrictions (The Advocate)
Gay soldier flees Russian missile strike during speech honoring Ukrainian LGBTQ+ servicemembers (LGBTQ Nation)
HIV at center of latest culture war after Tennessee rejects federal funds (WashPost)
Houston might lose LGBTQ+ representation in City Hall (Axios)
How Egyptian police hunt LGBT people on dating apps (BBC)
In suburban Philadelphia, a school district is accused of stigmatizing LGBTQ students (NPR)
Inside the audacious new scheme to erase LGBTQ people from Michigan schools (Popular Information)
Lesbian shop owners in Florida allegedly forced out of town by anti-LGBTQ+ harassment (LGBTQ Nation)
Megachurch forces all members to sign a statement opposing LGBTQ+ rights (LGBTQ Nation)
Moldovan Church Urges Govt to Reject LGBT Couples’ Rights (Balkan Insight)
National Trans Bans? Both Trump And DeSantis Advocate Anti-Trans Policies On Same Day (Erin in the Morning)
New York Forces Gay Man with HIV to Register as Sex Offender (Metro Weekly)
North Carolina Senate again seeking LGBTQ limits in schools (AP)
Police Identify 6th Victim in Gay Serial Killings, Raise Reward to $250k (The Advocate)
Queer Prom Targeted by Far-Right Influencers and Lawmakers (The Advocate)
Rangers’ retreat on Pride Night sends somber message to younger, closeted players (The Athletic)
Russia bans LGBTQ-friendly content under new law (DW)
Some Florida Teachers Are Removing Books from Classrooms Due to New State Law (them)
The Unpersuasive Gloom of Peter Thiel (Backbencher)
Two new West Virginia bills are trying to make it a crime to be ‘exposed’ to trans people (reckon)
Uganda demands probe into 'LGBTQ activities' in schools (DW)