Petertwo assumptions in the speculative world of "The Last of Us" that bother me: 1) society will immediately collapse and turn to ultra-violence in the absence of a top-down capitalist structure telling everyone what to do, but also 2) capitalist products like bullets, fossil fuels, roads, and men standing around with guns are a natural part of the world that can be expected to exist in the absence of capitalism.
this stuff is important because speculative fiction is the stories we tell ourselves about what is possible. we are sitting around a virtual campfire discussing who we are and what we can do as a society, and the ideological assumptions in the background of a show like "The Last of Us" will either open up new possibilities or trap us in existing modes of thought.
when you really interrogate the show's (and the video game's) assumptions, it's actually very limited and dark in its view of who we are and who we can be. it assumes the capitalist products that control our lives are simply human realities that have always existed, and that we humans are not capable of organizing ourselves into productive, loving, supportive groups and are safer and better off in isolation, in ones and twos, nuclear groups, hording rather than sharing.
Mike Haight
Supership 79@peter like this is a complete misreading of the show and game on such a level that suggests you maybe read a brief summary at most
Ash_Crow@Supership79 @peter Yup, I don't understand how this can be concluded from the show. If anything, that seems like a critique more suited to The Walking Dead.