MovieChat Forums > The Last of Us (2013) Discussion > No Females

No Females

posted 8 years ago by The-Immortal-Mr-Dorian-Gray
6 replies | jump to latest

So I was replaying through this game again recently and it hit me that there is definitely a lack of female enemies. Tess, Marlene, Ellie, Maria, and a few in the zone are the only females we see. (Aside from infected, where the females almost seem to outnumber the males.) The two woman I can remember outside the zone was gunned down in Pittsburgh and the doctor at the end. Did women just go back to a Victorian view of what a woman was supposed to do? No fighters or survivors? Sure they're there somewhere to have all the babies that grow into enemies. Did Naughty Dog just decide they didn't want Joel or Ellie (the player) killing females? Seems a little unrealistic in a otherwise well explained game.

[–] kieranmufc1999 8 years ago

Men are physically stronger than women so it would make sense that they are better at fighting infected than women are and therefore more likely to survive

[–] Darth_Qaidous 8 years ago

Perhaps. But I think that the game has a narrow focus. It is vast and small all at once.

In the reality of the world of TLOU I would agree that there would be plenty of women who can hold their own.

You will take your own view, but I personally don't think it was ND's intention nor do I think it is the case of the game to minimize the strength or importance of women.

[–] reggiecenteno-48001 8 years ago

There's a reason why thers no human female enemies look on the trivia or the last of us wiki

[–] Ohio9 8 years ago

I think the lack of female enemies could be a cop-out: Having a player constantly going around shooting, stabbing, and choking out women would be the ultimate Anita Sarkeesian fodder. Just bad press they didn't want to deal with. Really, considering all the other atrocities you do throughout the game, that shouldn't be an issue.

It also could be just an issue of programming convenience. It's easier to make a game when nearly all the enemies are one gender. Probably saves time and money on design costs.

You'll notice the Uncharted franchise is the same way. No females among the standard enemies for those games either.

[–] The-Immortal-Mr-Dorian-Gray 8 years ago

Well with the last of us I feel it's excused a lot more because the majority of enemies are nothing more than hired mercenaries. In reality there just aren't that many female mercs.
The Last of Us feature survivors though so I felt there should have been more of them.

[–] Ohio9 8 years ago

Yeah it really would make more sense if the last of Us had female enemies.