The Last Of Us Was Created by an Illegal Settler

Sitting With Discomfort & its Palestinian — Israeli Themes

Note: the original version is , & the following contains spoilers

I am having a harder time watching “The Last of Us,” but not for the reason you think.

The directors are working hard to help us navigate the absence of Joel’s consistent presence. In the context of the characters, alone, I have an appreciation for the cinematic movement.

And yet, I recently learned,

One of the original creators, Neil Druckmann, grew up, in part in the Occupied West Bank, in Beit Aryeh, as an illegal settler. He admitted much of his storyline within the game, and therefore the series, is influenced by narratives between Israelis and Palestinians.

In particular, Druckmann watched a video of Israeli militants being killed by Palestinian resistance and for him, the violence of the resistance cheering radicalized his view, “I could just push a button and kill all these people that committed this horrible act,” , “I would make them feel the same pain that they inflicted.”

Vengeful.

And yet, he’s not wrong to feel….