The Last of Us and The Failing Government

The government seeks absolute power in times of a health crisis. I chose this topic because I thought it would be complex, and it also is relevant because not too many years ago we had a pandemic so I thought it would be really interesting and relating a fictional pandemic and how the government tried to maintain control to Covid 19 and how governments controlled the health issue would be an interesting comparison. In my blog I will be reviewing to what extent does the use of FEDRA’s quarantine zones, bombing campaigns, and their ineffective public health measures in response to the Cordyceps pandemic display the limitations and abuses of government intervention during a health emergency? My argument that I am taking is that the government is weak at controlling outbreaks, and their campaigns to put them to an end are ineffective. In the body of my blog series, I am going to explore how FEDRA’’s quarantine zones and bombing campaigns were more focused on the government taking power instead of protecting civilians' health. I will also use scenes from the series and articles that explain biopolitics and public health to argue the issues the government creates while trying to stop the spread of the pandemic. In HBO's The Last of Us, the setting of the pandemic serves as a critique of government intervention in the case of public health emergencies, representing the government responding with military observed quarantine zones, and "defensive biopolitics" which prioritize border control over the betterment of the public, through the totalitarian and ineffective FEDRA, this show displays how weak, the government is to contain disease which suggests that the intervention destroys the public's trust and worsens outbreak.

By tearing down the cities and towns, FEDRA treats the land as discardable as they are destroying it, this shows how maintaining order and command matter more than preserving communities. With the mass executions and skeletons found outside of the quarantine zones show how the government's policies to put an end to the outbreak are desperate and turning the emergency into slaughter of innocent people. Instead of bettering the public with evacuation, treatment to the pandemic, and research, officials use brutal strategies that they think “control the spread” which is just killing civilians that are infected rather than helping them get cured. This exposes how officials manage under a crisis and decide whose lives are more important which ultimately shows how the government produces more death than safety for the people they claim they want to protect. 

The totalitarian like FEDRA in The Last of Us breaks the trust of the public and makes communities vulnerable during outbreaks. This point is relevant to my topic because it shows people’s perspectives to show how harsh policies make people resist, hide information and not follow officials.  “what’s left of the US government has become a series of “quarantine zones” ruled by FEDRA, an oppressive, quasi-totalitarian military bureaucracy.” (Somin, 2023).  This evidence supports my claim as it describes FEDRA to be “quasi-totalitarian” meaning somewhat totalitarian seeking for absolute control with the example of the quarantine zones. The break of trust between civilians and FEDRA illustrates how their totalitarian responses to the health crisis amplifies the chaos that the government is doing to claim control over the public. With FEDRA controlling rations, instating curfews and with the use of violence against civilians, people come to learn that cooperating with the officials doesn’t lead to protection but actually leads to exploitation. For people to survive in the time of this crisis they have to depend on being secretive to government officials, this could be by hiding food, not being transparent with officials and smuggling things. The break of trust that was created makes it hard for the public to be truthful to the government because if they feel certain symptoms of the disease they wouldn’t report it to officials because they feared that they could get killed instead of being helped. This only makes the health crisis worse as the outbreak could spread because people weren’t being properly treated. The way that Somin describes the totalitarian military explains how that trust is broken, with FEDRA’s authoritarian approach only amplifies the danger and fear that civilians feel. Their harsh strategies create resistance and revolts which only lead to more and more violence. With this The Last of Us suggests that the totalitarian government undermines the values of the public and sabotages the main goal of resolving the pandemic.