Doing Gender : Language, Performance, and Power in the Last of Us

Koh, Carissa Yong En (2025) Doing Gender : Language, Performance, and Power in the Last of Us. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

This study explores the construction and negotiation of gender language and power dynamics through language in The Last of Us (2013) and The Last of Us: Part II (2020). Using Critical Discourse Analysis on 50 excerpts, interpreted through Butler's Gender Performativity (1990) and West & Zimmerman's Doing Gender (1987) frameworks, this research investigates how characters negotiate gender identity linguistically and how gendered language shapes power dynamics. Findings reveal that the first game favours masculine language across genders without diminishing expressions of femininity. The second game shows male characters maintaining masculine codes while female characters demonstrate varied linguistic occurrences, with female characters holding more dominance through protagonists’ focalisation. Overall, this study demonstrates that gender is actively negotiated through language rather than being inherently assigned to individuals, with the franchise both subverting and complying with typical gendered language use in its character portrayals.