Game:

The Last of Us (2013)

Duration: 41:26

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This is the sixth segment of "The Rootwork Building: Interactive and Thematic Structure in The Last of Us."

PROJECT OVERVIEW: This video essay explores how The Last of Us uses game design to tell a fixed story. The game uses interactive structure to set a pattern that appears throughout the game's presentation. Understanding this pattern is important for understanding how the game tells its story. Understanding this pattern is also important for understanding the story itself.

THEMATIC STRUCTURE III: GOVERNMENT, PART I

In our sixth segment, we direct attention to other patterns that explore the theme of human ecology in The Last of Us.

We begin with an overview of the governments of Boston's dominant military and its underclass smugglers. From there, we examine Bill's Town, using the thematic structure of image presentation and recall to show how the game differentiates Bill's Town from Boston.

We devote the final half of this video to Pittsburgh. The Hunters' history is often neglected since it is presented subtly, so we detail that story, using documents that Joel finds along the way as well as environmental cues as evidence.

We then look at how Pittsburgh's story, fully assembled, fits into the thematic concerns of The Last of Us. We conclude by examining the structural element of remixing and how the game communicates when it overlaps interactive and thematic structure.

In order to keep these video lengths watchable, we'll return to the topic of government in The Last of Us in the next video.

NEXT SEGMENT: THEMATIC STRUCTURE III-2

MEDIA NOTES:

* The title cards ongs are "Forgotten Memories" and "The Smugglers" (Gustavo Santaolalla) from the official soundtrack of The Last of Us. The OST tracks used in "The Rootwork Building" were all legitimately purchased and have not been licensed for the purpose of this video.

* Visual and audio media in this video were recorded from The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony 2013).

* This video uses the public demo of "Headliner No. 45" by KC Fonts. This font is used here for personal purposes and does not violate the terms on which it was made available for download.

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