When a video game changes to fit another visual medium, the art of making cuts can be imprecise and strange. So many great games have been made into bad films by creators who weren’t sure what to keep and what to lose. The ongoing adaptation ofThe Last of Ushas dropped a lot of the violence from its source material, and though it works, it’s worth asking why.
The Last of Usandits sequel were M-Rated games that added heavy action elements to survival horror. Conflicts with human enemies frequently played out likeMortal Kombatfatalities. If it were rated by the ESRB, it’s tough to imagine HBO’s take on the property earning the same designation.
RELATED:The Last of Us: Should You Play the Game Before Watching the Show?
Four episodes intoThe Last of Us, the body count is technically most of the population, but the actual on-screen deaths have been relatively few and far between. The game sees Joel gunning down dozens of fellow survivors within the first hour. The stealth kill and cover-based shooting tutorials probably claimed more human lives than the first half of this season. Episode four depicts Joel’s first real exchange of gunfire. The previous action scenes have been brief and primarily dominated by infected foes. The show has entered a phase that’s comparable toThe Road, but even in its more gruesome moments, it still falls well short of the game’s brutality. HBO is known for some of the mostviolent shows on TV, but even they won’t push the boundaries of video games.
The easy explanation is that video games are just inherently more violent. Though that sounds likepropaganda from the 90s, there is some truth to that assertion. There’s nothing about the art form that forces it to be that way, but video games do demand more frequent conflict than other art mediums. Most game designers stick to actual physical combat as a way of creating easy stakes and communicating a struggle. There are plenty of non-violent games, but other forms of competition with added violence have been a time-honored tradition in the medium. In addition, video games typically require that violence be more consistent and frequent.InThe Last of Us, sneaking, shooting, and killing are the primary gameplay loop. Without gameplay, the need for constant fighting is reduced. The change in medium necessitates a change in focus, which isn’t a bad thing.
An HBO series with as many back-to-back action scenes asThe Last of Uswould become deeply boring. The show’s focus is almost entirely on the characters and the long tour of post-apocalyptic America. The elements that took up cutscenes and mid-fight dialogue exchanges are now the main draw of the experience.The Last of Uswasalways a story-focused game, but it still packed in plenty of gameplay. It wasn’t some FMV movie with controls, it was a survival horror action game. The HBO show is a horror drama with a few occasional action beats. What the series loses in fast-paced action, it gains in suspense and depth.
The Last of Uscan’t rely on the inherent internalstress of a Game Overto keep the audience engaged. When a tense moment happens, and the characters are up against impossible odds, people will only care if they want those characters to succeed. By removing gameplay, they’ve removed the quickest root to identifying with a character. Not only does a video game tie the success of the character to the success of the player, but it also ties that success to the continued plot. If a player doesn’t perform acts of violence well enough, they won’t be able to experience the rest of the narrative. On the other side, a character’s ability to seemingly survive any encounter can make them feel invulnerable in a TV narrative. The differences are massive, and the change in impact makes the experience feel completely new. Even as the show goes over the same story beats, the two works feel impressively separate.
From the minor details to the larger rewrites,The Last of Ushas adapted well to its new home. Some will consider the new version of the story to be pacified through adaptation, but there are several good reasons to reduce the blood and gore when it hit the small screen. A show likeThe Last of Uspicks and chooses when to deviate from the source material and when to stay faithful. Violence is a tool like any other, it can be used well or used poorly. ThoughThe Last of Usmighttake a lighter hand with the murder of its human characters than its source material, it still commands the same level of engagement. By shifting focus, the franchise can better fit the medium and deliver a scarier experience than it has in the past. Game characters have to fight back, but TV characters can experience their story from the comfort of the open road.
MORE:The Last Of Us Is One Of The Most Cinematic Shows On TV
