The Last of Us (HBO)
Spoiler-free. The Last of Us has two audiences: those who’ve played the game and those who haven’t. Rarely has this mattered as much as here; video game adaptations are usually flops, but HBO's TLOU broke that streak by being a phenomenal show.
Still, watching its big moments as a gamer, I feel... ambivalent? Not just because I know the plot, but viewing its scenes doesn't compare to playing them, whether it’s zombie chases or beloved character deaths. It took me two years to finish the game. My heart rate spiked so high, I could only play 30 minutes at a time. I've never been so terrified or queasy in any media.
It was even more personal and intense because of how Queer the game is, an anomaly in a historically anti-LGBTQ medium. We’re used to seeing Queer characters on TV now, but playing as a lesbian or gender-nonconforming character in a video game of that magnitude still feels important. It’s also one of the most technically beautiful and sophisticated games ever made, which makes its message about trauma and violence resonate even more in a platform that is so inherently violent.
But it’s so cool to relive this story with a wide audience, and it’s set the stage for a showdown on the impact of passive versus interactive media. Great art can push its medium and force us to reexamine its limitations.
Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing (Netflix)
Takes a lot to shock me, but this did it…
The documentary Bad Influence follows Piper Rockelle, a hugely popular kid influencer who started producing content when she was a toddler. Her mother, Tiffany, eventually recruits a "squad" of kid creators into their house to produce content with her around the clock. Their parents eventually sue Tiffany for money owed from the very lucrative YouTube channels, as well as sabotaging them when they chose to take their kids out. Then allegations of sexual assault surface.
The harsh reality seems to be that the parents were so blinded by fame and money, they ignored huge red flags, like Tiffany selling panties and photographs of her daughter to older men and creating what was essentially an influencer cult. The lawsuit was very publicly settled and the documentary offers no resolution.
Most disturbing, Piper is now a teen on TikTok, posting workout videos and “crush content” (which involves young couples) to her 15 million followers. She’s also on a site where kids sell members-only content to adults, like Piper in the bathtub or in a wedding veil and a bra.
As of April 2025, 17-year-old Piper is now posting videos with OnlyFans models who are literally counting down to her 18th birthday. This was the topic of great controversy last February, when Piper posted videos with the Bop House, an influencer house of OnlyFans content creators. I couldn’t even use ChatGPT to proofread this paragraph because it went against “community guidelines,” but platforms like TikTok and Meta continue to allow this type of content to be created and consumed.
This young influencer-to-porn pipeline is disturbing but not new; child images, underwear sales, and virginity auctions were part of the earliest internet, as soon as eBay got up and running. What shocks me is that people have the nerve to widely accuse Trans folks and Gay people of being "groomers" when this is going on in broad daylight.
Accusations of Queer people being predators continue to be a projection from a society that refuses to admit what they're doing to their own children.
How media shapes the way we see the world and ourselves, POST & Analog Cruising.
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