The Philosophy of The Purge

                                   The Philosophy of "The Purge"(& Neoliberalism) 

If you haven't seen any of the three Purge movies, you are missing out. While the acting is poor, the ideology behind "purging" is interesting. For those of you that haven't seen the Purge, I have attached a trailer to this post that gives you a general idea. The Purge franchise is a series of three films (with a forth one releasing summer 2018), all focused on a dystopian society. After the collapse of our economy, a totalitarian government comes into control of the United States. The new Government passed the 28th Amendment which sanctions an annual national civic tradition called "The Purge", the first of which takes place in 2017. The purge occurs for 12 hours, during which all crime is legal and all police, fire, and medical emergency services remain unavailable. Restrictions prohibit government officials "ranking 10" from being disturbed, as well as the use of all weapons above class 4 (explosive devices such as grenades, rocket launchers, and bazookas). Violation of purge rules results in a summary execution by hanging. The purge has resulted in unemployment rates plummeting to 1%, low crime, and a strong economy. America is no stranger to annual traditions and ceremonies. In the movies purging is illustrated as just another part of life. Participating in the purge is actually encouraged to free yourself of sins and purify yourself.  

Now let me define Neoliberalism since I will be using the term a lot. Neoliberalism is a policy model of social studies and economics that transfers control of economic factors to the private sector from the public sector. It takes from the basic principles of neoclassical economics, suggesting that governments must limit subsidies, make reforms to tax law in order to expand the tax base, reduce deficit spending, limit protectionism, and open markets up to trade. It also seeks to abolish fixed exchange rates, back deregulation, permit private property, and privatize businesses run by the state. 

 Read more: Neoliberalism https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/neoliberalism.asp#ixzz50XpILZed  

 In the first film, the franchise focuses on the affect the Purge has on the upper middle class white suburbia family. The Neoliberalism economy does not affect the middle class so much as it does the working class (which will be discussed in my next post). The family we see in the first film lives in a protected home in a nice gated neighborhood. The Purge normally would not affect this family due to their extreme security system. The only reason this family gets involved in the Purge is because they let a stranger into their home and they have some salty neighbors. The family treats the stranger who is a black man as disposable because he shouldn't have entered into their neighborhood in the first place and his life is less valuable than theirs just because he can't afford to protect himself on purge night.  

In my next installment I will discuss the other two films and more about Neoliberalism. 

The Purge Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0LLaybEuzA