The New York Times Criticizes The Last of Us for Having a Male Protagonist

[Zetona]

The New York Times reviewed The Last of Us today, and while reviewer Chris Suellentrop praises the game's storytelling, much of the review is a criticism of how the game has a male protagonist. While the title I gave this post is probably going to cause trouble, it's also accurate.

The New York Times is probably in a unique place to be able to make this sort of criticism, seeing as they are not a primary source of gaming coverage, and so less subject to a shitstorm like what Gamespot saw after giving TLoU an 8/10. Plus, seeing as TLoU is actually out now, people will actually be able to base their response to the NYTimes' review on their own experience with the game.

I would encourage you to read the full review before posting, but if pressed for time, I've posted the relevant parts below. Apologies for any formatting issues caused by the copy/pasting.

The Last of Us, a new post-apocalyptic zombie drama for the PlayStation 3, was hailed, with some justification, from the stage at a Sony event before this week?s E3 trade show in Los Angeles, as the most critically acclaimed video game of the past two years. It does some things better than any other game I?ve played. But I found it hard to get past what it embraces with a depressing sameness, particularly its handling of its female characters.

Yet the game never quite transcends its most disappointing and sadly familiar aspect.

The Last of Us aspires to be an interactive, mixed-company version of ?The Road,? in this case the story of the relationship between an older man and a 14-year-old girl as they try to survive in an oppressive and deadly wasteland. Almost throughout, however, it is actually the story of Joel, the older man. This is another video game by men, for men and about men.

The Last of Us, in its defense, is neither crude nor unsophisticated. Rather, its artfulness and its intelligence make its treatment of women all the more frustrating. In the game?s resistance to allowing the player, for much of the story, to control ? or, to use a more accurate word, to inhabit ? Ellie, The Last of Us casts her in a secondary, subordinate role.

Ellie is such an appealing and unusual video game character ? an Ellen Page look-alike voiced expertly by the 29-year-old Ashley Johnson ? that at one point I found myself rooting for Joel to die so that The Last of Us would become her game, a story about a lost young girl instead of another look inside the plight of her brooding, monosyllabic father figure. To my surprise, the game almost relented.

For a brief time, The Last of Us does become Ellie?s game, and the player is asked to direct her journey. As you would expect ? it is the magic of the medium ? I identified more with her character when I was playing as her. I became more interested in her. Her feelings became my feelings. And then she ? or at least my ability to inhabit her ? was gone. For a second time, the game surprised me, did something wonderful, and then took it away.

The Last of Us does at least present gamers with a likable, sometimes powerful female character, even if she is for the most part unplayable. And Joel grows over the course of the game into an admirably complicated protagonist. Perhaps it is unfair to visit the sins of the medium upon a work as well made as this one.

But not after an E3 during which Microsoft held a public relations event that featured 13 exclusive games and zero female protagonists for its forthcoming Xbox One; not after an E3 in which almost no women spoke during either Microsoft?s or Sony?s preconference spectacles; not after an E3 in which the two women who did appear onstage for Microsoft were alternately received with wolf whistles and told, while losing during a demonstration of a fighting game, ?Just let it happen; it?ll be over soon.? A sickness resides at the heart of this promising, potentially transformative medium.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Ellie is such an appealing and unusual video game character ? an Ellen Page look-alike voiced expertly by the 29-year-old Ashley Johnson ? that at one point I found myself rooting for Joel to die so that The Last of Us would become her game

Yeah, I don't think it's Naughty Dog that has a problem here.

Anyway...I don't really think it's a reasonable complaint. For one thing, Ellie is fourteen. The fact that she'll go around shanking dudes while making one liners is a bit pushing it as it is (Although somewhat justified due to the setting).

 

[Glongpre]

I concur with Kopikatsu, there is no problem with this game, only the reviewer. Anyway, I have read in IGNs review (I think) that Ellie is the focus even though you play as Joel.

Wow did he seriously bring up the supposed rape joke? It wasn't, get over it.

 

[Aircross]

Sadly, The Last of Us would probably never have seen the daylight if it did not have a Male Protagonist.

 

[irishdude]

Sadly, The Last of Us would probably never have seen the daylight if it did not have a Male Protagonist.

this, also didnt sony PR not want ellie on the cover of the game and ND said they wanted her to stay on the cover

 

[Frotality]

an ignorant self-styled critic raving about sexism in video games. havent seen enough of those. im not addressing the invalidity of his argument, and neither should you, because the only thing that gives it validity is people talking about it. just... move on.

 

[BrotherRool]

I think this is picking a fight in the wrong places. Individually the Last of Us has done no wrong, and in fact done a lot of good by giving a female character a lot of focus, which is rare enough in games. But collectively it would be nice to see more protagonists.


The thing which particularly makes this misplaced is the Last of Us is in such a small subset of games. You could probably count on one hand the number of games that try to do similar things. So the lack of female protagonnists here is much more likely to come down to probability than it is in other genre's where we've had hundreds of games and barely a lady in sight.

 

[J Tyran]

"The Last of Us, in its defense, is neither crude nor unsophisticated. Rather, its artfulness and its intelligence make its treatment of women all the more frustrating."

This bit stood out to me, is there anything particularly wrong in its portrayal of women? I get the "another male protagonist" point but that's not poor treatment is it? Not played it yet so no idea. Anyway if the game did have a female protagonist you would probably get people saying "its a sadistic game where the female character is subjected to horrific levels of violence" instead.

 

[Vrex360]

Honestly I suspect there is going to be an angry shit storm on the horizon about this but from where I stand I sort of see his point. I mean if nothing else it would be very unique to be playing a survival pop apocalypse game as a little girl rather than a big tough manly man, I mean the popularity of Arya Stark's got to be an indication that there is a market for 'badass little girls' out there.

Having not played the game I can't really comment on the gender politics within but I will say right now Naughty Dog still earn all the brownie points in the world for sticking their ground by keeping Ellie on the front cover and for demanding they be allowed to have female focus testers. I mean bloody hell with all the muck of sexist shite in the games industry being accepted as the status quo we really do need to celebrate the people who actually put their foot down and say 'no'.

Also having read the spoiler tag maybe the guy is just overreacting for the sake of more comments and posts by angry gamers quick to provide the site with media attention with floods of angry dismissal, denial and derailment. If that's the case then the guy should be condemned for doing so and gamers should be especially condemned for being so bloody tiresomely predictable.

 

[Full]

Or you could have given it a 6 or something, that probably would have generated just as many ad clicks.

This isn't even entertaining in the Stephen_Colbert_popcorn.gif sense anymore.

 

[Innegativeion]

Anyway, I have read in IGNs review (I think) that Ellie is the focus even though you play as Joel.

Haven't played the game, but if this is true, I see no issue.

Too often to people make the mistake that who you're playing as is automatically more important than every other character. Not always the case.

Remember that the player character is YOU. There are excellent ways to educate about strong women through making them playable characters, of course, and we need more of them. And yet, taking the role of someone who reacts to a girl instead, can be just as effective. Take the Walking Dead, for example.

 

[Xman490]

Now I'm worried about there being a Jimquisition about this. Usually, when feminists whine about something not being appreciative of females enough, Jim goes on about how they're somewhat right and sides against the industry.

That's from what I recall off the top of my head, from Jim's half-dozen or so episodes about feminism.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

I have more of a problem with the Last of Us's basic premise. It's a father fantasy, the same sort of story we've seen in movies so many times: A failing father who is emotionally distant from his family has the chance to bond with his kid not by communicating with them or working at his job or fixing conflicts in the family, but instead by physically protecting them against some random outside force that conveniently shows up. Instead of handling his problems through self-introspection, the father just can shoot the bad things and make them go away. The Last of Us thankfully at least removes the "father emotionally distant from his family" bit of the fantasy by having him meet Ellie as a stranger, but it's still the same self-glorifying structure we've seen hollywood screenwriters shovel out because they want to pretend to be good fathers but actually aren't.

Look at Bioshock Infinite and the Walking Dead. How many times are we going to see this same basic relationship between the two protagonists?

The Last of Us is an example of video game writers and designers growing up and having kids. When you have kids, your fantasies change; it's no longer about scoring hot women or contemplating your destiny; instead, it's about protecting and bonding with children. The end part of The Last of Us is one of the best examinations of a personal family bond I've seen in fiction, but the rest of the game really feels like Naughty Dog was very much attached to the protection fantasy.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

Oh imagine if Joel was a woman, that'd be fun!

I think big sister-little sister relationships haven't been exploited much by Western video games yet. I can only think of Heavenly sword.

 

[RoBi3.0]

Oh imagine if Joel was a woman, that'd be fun!

I think big sister-little sister relationships haven't been exploited much by Western video games yet. I can only think of Heavenly sword.

To be fair Heavenly Sword was more of a Big sister-retarded younger cousin relationship................ Unless I totally misread that one.

On Topic: "reviewers" need to play and then review a game based on what it is. Instead of playing and reviewing a game against what you want it to be. This makes about a much since as reviewing Elmo in Grouch land then complaining cause their wasn't as much FPS action in it as you wanted.

Don't get me wrong I want more female protagonist then probably anyone, but this really isn't helping. How about writing an article about why Remember Me is good or not good.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well the man is obviously pushing an agenda making half the article irrelevant, instead of actually talking about the characters he goes the "OMG women rulz supreme" route.

 

[V8 Ninja]

I can kind-of see the ultimate goal the reviewer had (that The Last Of Us still follows tropes despite being hailed as revolutionary), but the reviewer focused on the wrong aspects of the game to make that claim. And I would argue that TLOU handles female characters absolutely fine, at least from the 90 minutes of the game I saw. Female characters can handle themselves in combat, wear a reasonable amount of clothes, and have more than one dimension of character.

 

[Garen Truscott]

There is a time and place and vehicle to make a stand for female protagonists... The Last of Us is not the right vehicle for these criticisms. To take something like The Last of Us and accuse it of being masculine focussed (apart from being just incorrect in places) is a weird criticism when there are so many other better examples. In fact singling The Last Of Us out weakens their argument because it makes it look like whatever came along at this point they were going to criticise for excluding women from the focus without taking a deep look at the game. I have to say: is the Last of Us an example of male centric games? Really? Because if that is the worst example your argument looks pretty weak... and it shouldn't be.

 

[Mauler]

Yeah... another thing for our "Favourite" Anita to rant about...
But seariousley That game is(or will be) awesome... Hope they won't screw it up whith some dum details like the ending(original one) of Mass Effect 3... All hail Marauder Shields!