What Makes A Man? A Study of Joel in The Last of Us Part 2 [cinematic discussion]

Over the last month this video has gotten a lot of attention. i just want to say thank you so much to everyone for the kind words, and i'm very thankful for the impact it's had. i'll have more coming soon 🙏

Also, I finally went and found the names of all the music I used -

Union - Tolo
First Flight - The Field Tapes
To Wake Up - Benjamin Gustafsson
Butterfiles Piano Sonata - Tony Anderson

Joel was a good man that had to adapt to a bad world. If you look at him at the begining, hes a loving father trying to provide for his daughter. The world changed, and when world changes, you have no choice but to change too

Did not know you could climb up the t-Rex

At the start of the game, I really wanted Abby dead. She did in fact killed Joel so a was really pised but after the game ended I got the opportunity to think about the whole story and learn about the personality of each character. After all that I am willing to say... nah fck that btch. The fact that El did a mfing genocide to find her and then at the very end let her go is really fcking frustrating! Other than that it is a good game!💪🏿🗿👍🏿

The flowers left outside his house after his death showed how much he was liked he must have been like a hero for a lot of ppl a mentor for the younger groups like Jesse

I want another analysis on another character of what makes he a man

>drops this video
>doesnt make another one
>still comes back to this video to elaborate
nice switcheroo to the meme

I love this video

Where do you go bro you have to do more videos you have a perfect way of story telling

Please make a similar video about Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2

Beautiful character study man, a changed man. For better or for worse

What is the beginning background music 🥲

Omg its an amazing analysis! I liked it so so much

i wish this channel had not died 3 years ago

John W. H. Was my Joel. I don't know if I'm strong enough without the trip we went on. But I'd like to try to be fearless. I used what he taught me. Eternity.

It never made sense to me that Ellie would be angry at Joel for saving her... I mean, duh!

Me encanta este video, lo veo constantemente. Joel es un personaje admirable desde el punto de vista que ofrece este video.

Got all excited after this video to go through your whole channel and then realized you wanted to go out on a high. Brilliant work here

Phil dropped this absolute emotional rollercoaster of a masterpiece then disappeared into the ethos 😭

I'm on top a muh fkg DINOSAUR .... RAAAH lol

I honestly believe I would do the same thing Joel did. I don't think they would have been able to create a cure. At least not by the Fireflies. Ellie would have died for nothing and I can only imagine how broken Joel would be after losing another daughter. As everyone else has said before me, Joel is not perfect but no one is especially in a world like TLOU. I believe the Joel we see in the flashback at the Musem was the Joel Sarah knew. The Joel who loved his baby girl more than anything. The Joel who wasn't a survivor but a dad. I think saving Ellie was the only choice Joel had in order to not feel painful loss again. Joel knew he wouldn't be able to do it again. Like a parent, he made the hard choice, even if his child wouldn't agree.

Speaking to the aspect of gentileness you mentioned i would bring up a quote. "Be stronge enough to be gentile"- Peter Cullin (voice of Optimus Prime).

Miss you Philn0va
Incredible work 🫶🏻

Teşekkürler. Loved the video and for the first time in my life i felt that i need to show my thanks in a diffrent way. In other words I idk just loved the video and felt that i need to do something more than liking the video.

had me thinking this vid was a part two IoI

I randomly stumbled upon this video again. Wondering how you’ve been I was a kid daily watching your Minecraft streams as cordoryboy (I think that was your name) my favorite streamer ever and hope to see you upload content again Phil! Thanks for the memories

The Last of Us was one of those things, I saw it in a GameInformer one day some long ass time before it released. I wandered up to my dad and said "hey look, a new zombie game!"

Now, however many years later that I don't care to count, it's one of the only games that can bring a tear to my eye just by thinking about it. Including Part II, all the bad things considered. It's art, it has to be art.

I’d love to see one about Tommy and how he is always there to save people and his selflessness, when he in the beginning of the game he risks his life to save Joel and Sarah and how he goes out on his own to get revenge for Joel

Such a good video! Hope you’re doing well Phil 😊

I adored joel' character so much

This video is fantastic

Brother where did you go?

Hey, can someone tell me the names of the music used in this video?

What I think is that if Joel was allowed to say goodbye to Ellie, if it was her choice to give up her life for others, he wouldn’t kill everyone, if anything it would be like saying goodbye to his daughter, I think just that would’ve been Joel getting the closest to closure. However even then he would be very sad on essentially losing his daughter once again

honestly if Arthur and Joel met theyd be the bestest of friends

I'm crying, it's a great video

My guy I’ve been rewatching this for years it changed my entire mindset of what it is to be a man how dare you create this masterpiece and never return

I loved how they portrayed joel in this game. Not only do they give you a different perspective of his actions but, does not make joel waver behind them. he never apologizes to ellie for saving her because in his mind, he did the right thing. Joel also gets such a lovely sendoff from ellie. Ellie spent her entire journey not seeking abby to honor joel but, to alleviate the guilt. she never once thought about just forgiving him even though he is dead. Thats what made the ending more impactful to me, she allows herself to move on from her anger/guilt towards joel and forgives him. This is all that really mattered to joel… ellie was all he really cared for. So seeing her give joel that love and forgiveness gave him the best sendoff.

Ellie is ungrateful

My fav detail is when he says “I saved her” and the feeling behind that statement. He said he saved her as if he was finally able to say I fixed it I saved my daughter as if saving Ellie was symbolic of what he believed was his short coming as a father. He never got to save sara but he did get to save Ellie and in his mind in a way he was finally able to “make it right” and not feel like a failure as a father which he very much did in the first game

i always come back to this video, i love it so much and i wanna be a good man similar to joel <3

One thing I've always said about Joel's actions in saving Ellie at the end of the first game is that I understand. Was it right? Arguably no. Was murdering dozens of people to save one life a good call? No. However, this ENTIRE thing could have been so easily avoided if the Fireflies, instead of assaulting Joel and prepping Ellie for surgery possibly without her consent, had just sat down with Joel and Ellie and discussed with them what they wanted to do. If they had simply brought the two into the hospital, helped Ellie recover from nearly drowning, and then when she was awake and alert enough, sat them down for a conversation...all of that ugliness could have been avoided. I have no doubt Joel would still likely be angry and filled with grief if Ellie decided to go through with the procedure, but I'm sure he would have been more understanding. If it would have been HER decision, I'm sure he would have respected it. It would have broken him, as he would have lost his daughter for the second time.

Were Joel's actions right? No. Were they justified?

Yes. Yes, they were. And I can't honestly say that I wouldn't have done the exact same thing were I in his position.

Awesome video. Joel is one of my favorite characters across all genres. I played LOU1 for the first time shortly after my daughter was born and I think that that is why it resonated so strongly with me. Naughty Dog did Joel dirty in LOU2. He deserved better than that. Just my opinion. Thanks for putting this video together!

Her life mattered. To him more than anything 💜