This talk took place on Oct 3, 2023 at the University of Southern California. Below are supplementary resources in addition to what was included in the presenter talks.

This resource will be updated - check again later :)

Finalized presenter slides

• Tom Chiller

• Marientina Gotsis

Dr. Tom Chiller’s scholarly editorial & interviews about “The Last of Us”

Rodríguez Stewart, R. M., Gold, J. A. W., Chiller, T., Sexton, D. J., & Lockhart, S. R. (2023). Will invasive fungal infections be The Last of Us? The importance of surveillance, public-health interventions, and antifungal stewardship. Expert review of anti-infective therapy, 21(8), 787–790. https://doi.org/10.1080/14787210.2023.2227790

Chiller, T. (2023, February 20). The Last of Us: From a CDC fungal disease expert, here’s what you need to know | The Independent. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-last-of-us-episode-6-hbo-b2285847.html

Grover, N., & correspondent, N. G. S. (2021, July 1). Covid ‘perfect storm’ as more patients hit by fungal infections. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/01/covid-perfect-storm-as-more-patients-hit-by-fungal-infections

Parshall, A. (2023, February 10). Could the Zombie Fungus in TV’s The Last of Us Really Infect People? - Scientific American. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-the-zombie-fungus-in-tvs-the-last-of-us-really-infect-people/

“The Last of Us” (TLOU) - Scholarly Library

Colăcel, O. (2017). Speech acts in post-apocalyptic games: The Last of Us (2014). Messages, Sages, and Ages, 4(1), 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1515/msas-2017-0004

Farca, G., & Ladevèze, C. (2016). The journey to nature: The Last of Us as critical dystopia. DIGRA 2016. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/paper_246.pdf

Green, A. M. (2016). The Reconstruction of morality and the evolution of naturalism in The Last of Us. Games and Culture, 11(7–8), 745–763. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015579489

Hughes, S. (2015). Get real: Narrative and gameplay in The Last of Us. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 6(1). http://compaso.eu/wpd/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Compaso2015-61-Hughes.pdf

Jones, T., & Pachucki, K. (Eds.). (2022). The COVID Pandemic: Essays, Book Reviews, and Poems. Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19231-9

Leitch, T. (Ed.). (2023). The Scandal of Adaptation. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14153-9

Letizi, R., & Norman, C. (2023). “You Took That From Me”: Conspiracism and online harassment in the alt-fandom of The Last of Us Part II. Games and Culture, 155541202311687. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231168745

McGuire, K. (2021). COVID-19, Contagion, and Vaccine Optimism. Journal of Medical Humanities, 42(1), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-021-09677-3

McQuillan, C. (2023). The beautiful terrible. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 23(6), 669. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00283-9

Radchenko, S. (2020). Metamodern gaming: Literary analysis of The Last of Us. Interlitteraria, 25(1), 246–259. https://doi.org/10.12697/IL.2020.25.1.20

“The Last of Us” (TLOU) - Popular Press

Minor, M. (2022, April 19). The Last Of Us; Greek AF Greek Tragedy. Medium. Link

WP Company. (2023, January 9). Transcript: The path forward: Video entertainment with Neil Druckmann. The Washington Post. Link

Yahoo! (2023, January 12). “The Last of Us” Star Pedro Pascal Responds to Toxic Fan Complaints About the Show’s Diverse Cast: “You Can’t Make Everybody Happy.” Yahoo! Link

Burgess, J. (2023, January 16). Can The Last of Us TV series finally break the bad video game adaptation curse? The Conversation. Link

Martin, L. (2023, January 17). The real science behind ‘The Last Of Us’, according to a biologist. Esquire. Link

Cardy, S. (2023, January 22). The Last of Us Episode 1: TV show vs Game Comparison. IGN. Link

Jerrett, A., & Howell, P. (2023, January 27). The Last of Us: HBO’s adaptation elevates the video game’s themes of love and family. The Conversation. Link

Weiss, J. (2023, February 10). ‘The Last of Us’ Gets What Freaks Us All Out the Most About Government. Politico. Link

Gach, E. (2023, February 14). Bella Ramsey Responds to The Last of Us Gay Backlash: “Get Used To It.” Kotaku. Link

Steinberg, D. (2023, February 26). See The Real-Life Mushrooms That Inspired The Zombies in “The Last of Us.” The Wall Street Journal. Link

White, A. (2023, March 8). The Last of Us Brings On Armageddon Time. National Review. Link

Zornosa, L. (2023, March 15). Medical Residents Are in an Uproar Over the 'Ethics' of The Last of Us Finale. Time. Link

Nichols, T. (2023, March 17). Who Would You Be If the World Ended? The Atlantic. Link

Jarow, O. (2023, March 17). A Bioethics Professor Weighs in on The Last of Us Finale. Vox. Link

Lamy, J. (2023, March 19). How did the zombie become so white? Salon. Link

Recommended framing resources

• Combating Misinformation: How to Talk about Science (FrameWorks Institute)

• Six ways to change hearts and minds about climate change (FrameWorks Institute)

• Markowitz, E., & Sweetland, J. (2018). Entering Climate Change Communications Through the Side Door. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://doi.org/10.48558/564F-DR75

• Kelly, M. P., & Barker, M. (2016). Why is Changing Health-Related Behaviour so Difficult? Public Health, 136, 109–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.03.030

Related projects and communities

The Tamale Lesson (12 minute video)

The Tamale lesson is an educational video on cancer screening and HPV vaccination developed by a multidisciplinary team from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the Department of Preventive Medicine, and the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. It utilizes storytelling to convey important life-saving messages on cervical cancer screening. Developed with funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). 

Citation:

Baezconde-Garbanati, L. A., Chatterjee, J. S., Frank, L. B., Murphy, S. T., Moran, M. B., Werth, L. N., Zhao, N., Amezola de Herrera, P., Mayer, D., Kagan, J., & O’Brien, D. (2014). Tamale Lesson: A case study of a narrative health communication intervention. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 7(2), 82–92. https://doi.org/10.1179/1753807614Y.0000000055

The Brain Architecture Game (tabletop game)

The Brain Architecture Game is an educational game about the science of early childhood developed by a multidisciplinary team at the Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center (University of Southern California), the Center on the Developing Child (Harvard University), the Clinical & Translational Science Institute (University of Pittsburgh) and the FrameWorks Institute. Developed with funding from the Palix Foundation.

Citations:

Zuckerman, S. J., Garrett, A. L., Sarver, S., & Huddleston-Casas, C. (2020). Playing well with others: A case study of collective impact in the early care and education policy arena. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-020-00072-4

DeVlieger, S., Dolcini-Catania, L., Willford, J., & Gallen, R. (2023). “Empowered and driven to help”: Learning about childhood trauma during preservice training. Journal of Trauma Studies in Education, 2(1), 79–107. https://doi.org/10.32674/jtse.v2i1.4735

Enthralled (card game)

Enthralled is an educational game based on Euripides’ Bacchae created via a transdisciplinary collaboration between Katerina Zacharia, Professor of Classics and Chair of Classics & Archaeology at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and Marientina Gotsis, Professor of the Practice of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. Enthralled aims to enhance group reflection and collaboration, reward consideration of others’ viewpoints, and explore the fine line between fact and belief. Enthralled received intramural funding from LMU and from Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities of the Society for Classical Studies.

Citations:

Zacharia, K., & Gotsis, M. (2022). Ancient drama applications in education and interactive entertainment. In Proceedings of International Theater Conference Values of Ancient Greek Theater Across Space & Time: Cultural Heritage and Memory. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. https://www.uoa.gr/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF-files/anakoinwseis/ekdoseis/2110_Final_European_program_HORIZON_2020_30-9-2022.pdf

Hollywood Health & Society

A program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center that provides the entertainment industry with accurate and up-to-date information for storylines on health, safety and security. With generous support from funders that include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The SCAN Foundation, N Square Collaborative, the California Health Care Foundation, the Lupus Foundation of America, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the John Pritzker Family Fund, HH&S recognizes the profound impact that entertainment has on audience knowledge and behavior.