The Psychology of The Last of Us: Endure And Survive

by Anthony Bean

In "The Psychology of The Last of Us," dive deep into the hauntingly profound narrative and characters of the groundbreaking video game that captured the hearts and minds of players worldwide. This compelling book offers a unique exploration of the psychological themes woven into the fabric of The Last of Us, shedding light on the human condition in the face of a post-apocalyptic world.

Through expert analysis and insight, "The Psychology of The Last of Us" examines the complex emotional landscapes of Joel, Ellie, and the array of characters they encounter on their harrowing journey. It navigates the themes of trauma, survival, attachment, and the instinctual drive for connection amidst desolation. By interweaving psychological theory with narrative analysis, this book provides readers with a deeper understanding of the game's impact on its audience, exploring how and why the story resonates on such a profound emotional level.

From the depths of grief and loss to the flickers of hope and redemption, this book offers an unparalleled look into the psychological constructs that make The Last of Us a masterpiece of storytelling. Whether you're a gamer, a psychologist, or simply a fan of rich narrative, "The Psychology of The Last of Us" invites you to embark on a reflective journey through the ruins of a lost world, illuminating the power of human resilience and the indomitable spirit to find light in the darkest of places.

Perfect for fans of video game narratives, students of psychology, and anyone fascinated by the intersection of storytelling and the human psyche, this book is a must-read for those seeking to understand the depths of one of the most emotionally impactful games of our time. Join us on a journey of discovery, where the lines between player and character blur, revealing the universal truths that connect us all.

230 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2024

Reviews

[Emi Miya · Rating 3 out of 5]

felt repetitive at certain points, but I enjoyed the essays centered on post-traumatic growth and how they helped audiences understand the myriad of human emotions TLOU portrays, creating an emotional and memorable experience.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did enjoy reading this book, I felt it fell flat in actually adding more informative and fresh analyses to the discussion around The Last of Us. A lot of the essays were either repetitive or were written with the intent of explaining the game to the reader as if they hadn’t played it. Half of the analyses were very surface level and didn’t provide any extra insight that hasn't already been realized by an enthusiastic TLOU fan. I was hoping for more exploration of the themes of the story and additional theories that hadn’t been presented before, but I just felt like I could have found the majority of these essays on reddit. I also don’t know if they were meant to be written argumentatively, but I think analytical essays should be presented with an argument, and half of these essays didn’t really argue their point very effectively. They just wanted to state something and, frankly, that's just boring to read. Also I wish they had been more thorough in their proofreading. There were too many typos and grammatical errors to be allowed in a published work.


First essay by Anthony Bean: This first essay was analyzing emotional story telling, how it is presented in TLOU, and how the player can relate to what happens in the story. This wasn’t all that informative of an essay. All it did was use very broad and repetitive concepts to summarize the emotions explored in the story and pointed out obvious ways that the player is supposed to empathize with the characters. Nothing he presented was new and the analysis was not very deep.

Second essay by Henry St Leger: This was an actually really informative and thorough analysis about the duality of fungi in the game and how it’s symbolized. I enjoyed how St. Leger explores the psychology of how much we can tie TLOU to the real world and how the Fungus in the game serves as symbolism for good and bad in both the game and in the real world. Still, it’s written as though we’ve never played the game or watched the show. I wish he didn’t feel the need to dwell on what happens for the sake of the actual analysis he’s trying to make.

Third essay by Daniel Kaufman: This essay explores how trauma affects the characters in the story. It doesn’t really state any new information or provide any extra insight that the player wouldn’t have realized themselves. While it does explore psychological theories, they’re not ones that are new or different. Using the trolley problem and the model of the five stages of grief is not a new concept to a lot of psychological explorers.

Fourth essay about adoption by Amanda Duncan: would have wanted a more thorough analysis on actual psychology of adoption and how it played a role in Ellie’s story. Kinds of only scratches the surface.

Fifth Essay By Roy Wang: This essay has pretty good analysis about how TLOU functions as an action game and its role in how society is affected by violent gaming. It asserts that TLOU allows the gamer to explore the duality of violence and non-violence in an inherently violent world. While I agree that the game’s goal is to teach the gamer that violence shouldn’t always be the answer, given how violence leads the characters and the players into worse situations, I think Wang asserts too strongly that this lesson is actually learned by the players. Players of this game, especially the ones who hated Abby, don’t care about the effect of violence. At least not in that way. A lot of the video game's players don’t really appreciate the nuance of the violent world that the game is set in. They just see Joel as the good guy and Abby as the bad guy and that she deserves to be killed for what she did to him. I don’t think a lot of the players actually regard Naughty Dog’s narrative of violence like Wang states.

Sixth essay by Adam Bladowski: This was a very broad, very shallow analysis of how fandom works. While it did explore the positive impacts that fandom has on communities, it didn’t really go into depth of what the TLOU fandom is really like. He did give some examples of positive interactions between fans, but none that really shared how we all actually are with each other. I don’t think he did any research if he thinks the last of us fandom can ever “come together” on something. We have been having the same arguments since the game came out. While I do agree that fandom can have a positive impact, I think he should have also explored the negatives of fandom.

Seventh Essay by Michelle Leccese: This explores the narrative of trauma in the story. Again, boring, nothing we haven’t already analyzed for ourselves.

Eighth Essay by Kenneth Sheppard: This essay explores queer culture in an apocalyptic setting and how it affects the queer people living in it. I don’t know what it is, but Sheppard kind of writes pretentiously. It’s giving “white man teaches about queer culture by only highlighting the failures of other cultures.” He highlights, without providing any evidence or examples, how "underdeveloped" cultures don't allow for the growth of the explorations of one's identity because they're too busy worrying about survival. I don't know which cultures he considers "underdeveloped," but I think any culture is capable of contextualizing identity, especially one not influenced by western (Christian) values. There are several examples throughout history of cultures that provide labels and meaning for people who identify outside the binary. Several indigenous groups today have names for transgender or genderfluid people and don't ostracize or demean members of their culture who identify that way. While I agree that there is still a set up even in the post apocalyptic world for bigotry to exist towards queerness, I don't think it's completely fair to say this would be the only way it could have been represented in the story.

Ninth essay by Charalambos Loizides: This was one of the best essays in the book. This essay actually analyzed the effects of the growth of LGBTQ+ representation in media and how it changed Bill and Frank's story from how it was in the game vs how it was in the show. Thank you for including research and data dammit.

Tenth Essay by Angelo Mirra: YES finally someone who contextualizes the cycle of violence between Ellie and Abby in a psychoanalytical way! I want to shove this essay in every Abby Hater's face. They won’t read it or accept it but still.

Eleventh essay by Tyler Secor: had me in the first half, but then just basically did a synopsis of the whole game. He says he’s exploring the metamorphosis in the character's pursuit of happiness, but all he’s doing is highlighting what’s happening in the game. He is telling instead of showing how these changes are significant.

Twelfth essay by Melinda Korte: 10/10. Stunning. No notes. This essay is about (as she puts in the conclusion that no author thinks to include in their essay) “resiliency in the face of adversity.” Thank you so much for actually applying a psychological theory into your reflection. Thank you for explaining trauma in the story in a nuanced and informative way instead of just pointing out the obvious.

Thirteenth essay by Kat and Tony Jaeger: this one was also about resiliency and the five stages of grief, so by this point this essay is kind of redundant.


Take these reviews for what you will. If you want to read all of the essays and get your own opinion then all the more power to you, but if this helps you decide which essays you want to read and which ones you’d like to skip, I’m happy to be of service.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since TLOU is one of my favorite video game IPs of all time, I was very excited to dive into a book put together by a bunch of people working in the psych field (professors, clinicians, etc). Unfortunately I have to say the chapters were kind of hit or miss. There were a few definite bright spots - Roy Wang offers an excellent discussion of violent action and consequences in the game, and Kenneth Shepard articulates a great analysis of queer youth in TLOU. However, many of the points made in other chapters felt repetitive, even to the extent that far too many of the chapters relied on the same single quote from Joel for support of their analysis. As someone who has spent a lot of time and energy talking about this series at great depth, I found that many of the ideas presented were nothing new to me. This may be a better book for someone who is a fan of the series and wants to take the next step into thinking about the content more critically.

Also, and this is totally a pet peeve of mine, the line editing was awful. Every single chapter has multiple glaring punctuation mistakes/inconsistencies as well as other line errors such as missing or extra words. I'm not normally such a stickler for proofreading in books but I do expect a higher standard of quality from an academic publisher.

[Tex · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Psychology Of The Last Of Us” (TPOTLOU) is a non-fiction book edited by psychologist and PHD Anthony M Bean.

This is a collection of expert analysis and insight into the psychological impacts that the world of The Last Of Us has on its main characters, Joel and Ellie.

The individual contributions, from university professors, clinical psychologists, trauma, grief and mental health counsellors TPOTLOU each provide a unique and deeper look at the characters and story of The Last Of Us. Via the examination of themes such as loss, grief, violence, trauma, survival, love, and resilience TPOTLOU readers will gain deeper insights into and why TLOU is considered a masterpiece.

If you’re a fan of the game, have an interest in psychology, or just the links between storytelling and the human psyche the TPOTLOU will not disappoint.

TPOTLOU gets 5 peeks behind the psychological curtain out of 5

[Trey Lacewell · Rating 1 out of 5]

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘴: 𝘌𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦

I'll try to keep this review as brief as possible. Unlike the philosophy book, this book was very, very difficult to keep track of. By this, I mean the book is filled with grammar errors and mistakes, sentences that don't make sense with added words, and other weird sentence structures.

What I will say is that several chapters were actually interesting when they made sense, but sadly, those were few and far between. The book covers love and loss, surviving the zombie apocalypse, fungi, and other topics. It poorly covered topics and tried to relate them back to The Last of Us. This book was a chore to sit through. I would not recommend this book to others.

3/10

[Emily Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a psychology major and fan of The Last of Us franchise, I really enjoyed this book! There was tons of interesting insight on certain concepts, such as the stages of grief pertaining to the game’s main characters. Two issues that did take me out while reading were the amount of typos and that the same plot point was mentioned repetitively and/or frequently.

[Jaya Bard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but many of the themes didn’t feel fleshed out or were simple regurgitation of already discussed points. The punctuation errors also made the book feel thrown together at the last minute.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great primer to pop psychology.