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

[generals3]

This critic has been diagnosed with a severe case of White Knight and Idiocy. The best remedy is to throw away his PC, why? This way he can't intoxicate our world with his White Knightness and Idiocy.

There is really nothing more to say. He clearly isn't a gamer and just a sensationalist who thinks making an issue of a non-issue will make him relevant.

 

[Garen Truscott]

Also makes me wonder what they would have written if the Last of Us was composed entirely of female characters:
"The Last of Us de-feminizes women by making the female gender the default male gender; by removing the binary genders it makes all females part of the default male..."

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

If there is one scenario I'm quite happy for a male (not to mention adult, and well-built) protagonist to take the lead in, it's a post-apocalytic world where everyone is trying to kill you. It's fucking ridiculous to expect that in a setting that is deliberately focussed towards violence, men should take the back seat just because it'd be nice to have a female protagonist. Modern society = rarely challenges physical strength, aimed more at intellect and social skills = equal opportunity. Primitive setting = challenges physical prowess = men generally better suited.

That addresses why the male character is the predominant action character, but not why he is the player character. The reason for the second part is, I suspect, it's more fun to be the gun-toting adult and have a neat little side-kick system than be the escort who isn't the centre of the action and have to try to control the main powerhouse through some sort of commands system as your main form of attack/defence. Remember Enslaved: Odyssey to the West? Probably had the same idea there.

Aaaand the E3 quote seals it, this guy's up in the clouds (wolf whistles for fuck's sake, it was mainly awkward laughter at best, same with the rest of that horribly scripted sequence).

 

[daveman247]

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.

No kidding, many already said that about the latest tomb raider. I guess Lara DID get bashed around a fair bit, but not in a sadistic way. And lets not forget that two-second scene everyone blew up about.

Man, the internets too explosive these days...

 

[TomPreston]

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

I think that's more or less what the reviewer is having a problem with. The fact that it's so difficult to have female characters as a lead in a video game these days, let alone a GOOD video game with compelling characters. I think they feel that the "need" to have a male protagonist makes the gameplay and character development slightly hindered by the forced requirement of cultural expectations.

The fact that Naughty Dog had to go through so much turmoil just to get her on the cover of the box is a serious issue we need to address and change.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

That reviewer is just an attention seeking hipster if you ask me.

 

[awesomeClaw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ViF6JRNjTk

You know what? I predicted this. When I played The Last of Us, one of my first thoughts was "There is going to be some genius complaining how the protagonist is male." And lo and fucking behold, I didn´t even have to wait a goddamn week.

This is the epitome of feminism gone wrong. Complaining about how women are little more than glorified breasts? Yeah, sure, of course we should fix that. But this is an entirely different matter. Women in the last of us are decently capable, never oversexualised and always Three-dimensional. But still that is not enough for them. Now, females have to be the protagonist, otherwise it doesn´t count.

Females don´t have to be the protagonist. Of course it´s fun with a female protagonist now and then, but to claim that a game that doesn´t have it is in any way wrong or objectionable is absolutely contemptible.

We have given them inches, and now they insist we give them miles!

 

[generals3]

The fact that Naughty Dog had to go through so much turmoil just to get her on the cover of the box is a serious issue we need to address and change.

No. It is not an issue. Do you think "the fact coca cola had to use a black color on the coke zero cans is a serious issue we need to address and change"? If not than this isn't an issue either.

The packaging is still to this day an extremely important aspect of marketing. There is no issue whatsoever with someone/a company thinking putting certain characters on the package would lower its marketability.

 

[wooty]

But thats the point of the game, a man with

Spoiler

a tragic past involving the loss of his teenage daughter

having to unwillingly take up that mantle again.

Ellies not exactly a girlly girl screaming for protection and help all the time. Her persona and dialogue show a girl whos seen some horrific things, is capable of defending and standing up for herself, but never forgetting that she is still a fourteen year old girl and still has those limitations.

If this fool wants a game where a young female has to survive against all odds, while turning into an unstoppable death dealing terminator, then he should go and play Tomb Raider. This is The Last Of Us and its pretty fucking awesome the way it is.

 

[Garen Truscott]

Criticizing The Last of Us for not having a female main character is like criticising Lord of the Rings for not having enough kick-ass women in it. Technically correct, but Jesus, how many more "I am no man" scenes do you really need?!

Ellie is the most kick ass 14 year old in gaming (male or female).

 

[Wyvern65]

That's not a review of The Last of Us, it's a feminist polemic about the gaming industry and its problems which uses The Last of Us to illustrate its points. You can tell because the author doesn't conclude anything about the game, or even mention the it in the final paragraph.

It's both intellectually dishonest and a grave disservice to the game.

Next time you want to write an opinion piece, write one.

 

[Rellik San]

I'll comment further when I've read the whole thing, but so far it sounds like bemoaning a point without offering any actual criticism or comment on how they could have improved things by making Ellie more playable. It's just simply; "I wanna play as Ellie more," not "I think playing as Ellie more would have improved the game and story, here is why..." first rule of reviewing; if you think something should be different or doesn't work, explain why and simply "because it subverts industry standards" isn't a reason.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Of what I've played of this game, you hardly ever have to protect Ellie except in a few rare occassions. There isn't even a hint of "me tough man, you weak girl" throughout the game at all. For the most part they're just two individuals traveling together, not one being the guardian and the other the damsel.


Joel takes the lead not because he's a guy, but because he's the older and more experienced individual and Ellie's never been "outside" before.

Seriously, a fuss over nothing.

 

[Rariow]

Fuck's sake, I'm sick of this kind of stuff. I'd consider myself a feminist: I'm all for equality between genders and all. But c'mon, buddy, that's just freakin' ridiculous. The story works perfectly well being seen through Joel's eyes. It's NOT primarily a story about Ellie. It's primarily about Joel trying to deal with the responsibility of caring for Ellie. The main theme of the game, that of parenthood, would be completely stinted by playing as Ellie. Complaining you don't get to play as Ellie is the same as complaining you don't get to play as Clementine in The Walking Dead. If Naughty Dog had wanted to tell that story, they would have.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

That reviewer is just an attention seeking hipster if you ask me.

I do ask you, Adam Jensen. I do ask you.

"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"

They're both apparently very good characters but somehow it's still all wrong. I like how he momentarily calls himself on his own bullshit, but then self-vindicates his idiocy with a completely unrelated and unfair point.

I smell a bandwagoner.

"This is another video game by men, for men and about men."

If you say so. I could believe the first and second parts of that sentence are true in a majority sense, and it sounds like the third part is half-true... But, so what? That seems to be the proven market for hyper-violent kill-fests like this.

 

[Vareoth]

I can't be nice about his bullshit so I'll just call him a whiny ***** and be done with it.

I mean: I respectfully disagree with his position and press him in a friendly manner to reassert his priorities.

 

[maninahat]

"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.

The point is that the excellence of writing, by contrast, highlights the very basic writing problem of constantly reusing the same male characters as leads. The criticism is more aimed at games in general, but the issue is probably more egregious in a game that has a perfectly compelling, interesting female character who could have easily been written in as a protagonist. Rather than go with that character, the writers took the safest option and had yet another story with yet another white male with a female sidekick (apparently even that was a gamble; there was a whole issue about whether they should have even included her in the game/box art, which should be astonishing). Writers can produce very compelling sidekicks these days, but that isn't the point. If this wasn't such a common occurrence, no one would have complained about having a female sidekick in a game.

 

[maninahat]

Fuck's sake, I'm sick of this kind of stuff. I'd consider myself a feminist: I'm all for equality between genders and all. But c'mon, buddy, that's just freakin' ridiculous. The story works perfectly well being seen through Joel's eyes. It's NOT primarily a story about Ellie. It's primarily about Joel trying to deal with the responsibility of caring for Ellie. The main theme of the game, that of parenthood, would be completely stinted by playing as Ellie. Complaining you don't get to play as Ellie is the same as complaining you don't get to play as Clementine in The Walking Dead. If Naughty Dog had wanted to tell that story, they would have.

You've missed the point. The point is that no game wants to tell the story of a Clementine, or an Ellie, or any female protagonist, when they can instead go with yet another male character father figure as the protagonist. If you wanted, you can still tell a story about parenthood, with a grown woman caring for an Ellie or Clementine, but that is unthinkable to game writers. It has to be a man's story, it has to be a male protagonist, and we have to think twice about even putting a female character on the box art, let alone letting them lead in a game. Think I'm wrong? Please point me in the direction of all the game stories featuring female protagonists who look over the age of 30.

 

[deserteagleeye]

If Joel was a woman instead, people would probably make the comparison to that awful Downloadable game "Amy". Even if that game hadn't existed I still would have found a male protagonist more interesting in the guardian role setup. If I saw a female guardian character as the protagonist, I'd be too worried that the writers would try too hard to make her a "strong woman" without an inkling of societal norms and the actual story would feel less believable.