Newly released, “Purge: Election Year” is a movie where a presidential candidate is targeted for death due to her vow to eliminate the purge. In the movie, the purge is an annual event held by the United States government where any crime, including murder, is legal for 12 hours. The government started this event to control population with the idea that a purge would eliminate citizens, mainly those of lower incomes. With a smaller population, the government could lower government spending. This is the third Purge movie to be released, and although it seems unlikely that the government would ever allow 12 hours of legal crime, it seems ironic that this movie almost represents what has been recently taken place in the United States.
1. The Violence
Throughout the Purge movies, many people die because murder is legal. Victims in the movies are shot, stabbed, tortured, and burned. Violence is nothing new in movies and nothing new in the media either. Over the past few weeks it appears if violence is the new social norm. We have ISIS and other terrorist attacks, but we also have Americans killing other Americans. Deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Dallas Police are just a few of the recent stories that have been making headlines. In the Purge, America is capitalized off violence, and today the media does the same thing. News broadcasts feed off violent incidents and publish these horrific stories everywhere for view. The media is advertising the violence and doing nothing to stop it.
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2. The Election
Elections take place every four years and it is no coincidence that this movie was released during the year of a presidential election. The movie portrays an election between Charlie Roan and Minister Edwidge Owens, who undoubtedly resemble our real presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Owns slogan is “Keep American Great”, which is very similar to Trump’s “Make American Great Again”.
3. The Inhumanity
Those who purge in the movie do so because they believe it purifies and cleanses their soul. In reality, these Americans are sick and commit inhumane crimes. However, this description is not just for movie characters, it can also be used to describe the cruel acts of real Americans. With all the recent violence in America, it seems like Americans no longer have a heart. Our country should no longer be divided based on race or sexuality. Unfortunately, it seems like the race and sexuality wars are nowhere near an end.
I highly doubt a purge would happen in our society and I pray our country never sees a day where we engage in a purge. Sociologists claim that a purge cannot happen because people’s rage and frustration wouldn’t work that way. The logic makes sense; one night of legal murders would only cause more killings. While a legal purge may never happen, it’s scary to realize that the violence and inhumanity within the Purge movies are real life. I pray that we will learn to see past race and sexuality differences and put an end unnecessary violence.
