Manalastas 1

John Nikko Manalastas

Professor Granillo

English 103H

17 November 2018

The Purge: The Patriarchy

The author Edgar Allan Poe once said, “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that

you see”. This quote implies that audiences need to judge movies by their instincts and opinions

instead of relying solely on movie critics. Genres like horror have motifs that are frightening,

startling, and tend to move their audience to the edge of their seats. In particular, this is

emphasized in the horror film, The Purge: Anarchy. Throughout the film, the audience

encounters the use of weapons which symbolizes violence and killings. This type of visualization

shows an act of realism by reinforcing CCTV footage which captures the disturbing massacre

that occurred into the streets of Los Angeles. A particular frightening image of the film is when

the protagonist, Liz is being hunted by a group of gang members. As Liz attempts to survive the

night, she does so with her friend, Eva, eventually sacrificing herself for her towards the end of

the film. Liz’s character separates The Purge from many other horror films as she illustrates the

reality of a classless society. Many critics believe that The Purge is a typical horror, slasher

movie, but instead the movie demonstrates how a classless society and gender representation

would be detrimental to the already patriarchal American civilization through classism while also

depicting women’s liberation through gender and queer studies. Utilizing the Marxist concepts of

the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat as well as class revolution along with gender theories of

lesbian continuum, The Purge demonstrates the chaotic performance of a classless society in
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America; thus, The Purge: Anarchy should be viewed in a more serious light especially because

of the possibility of the movie becoming a reality.

The Purge: Anarchy is an anti-American government film, which images what life would

be like without the rule of law. It is a sequel from the first Purge film, which takes place in Los

Angeles, California in the year of 2023. The genre of the movie is a mix of horror and thriller

which aligns with the theme of supremacy, economic class, and recession. In order to fix that

problem, the government agreed to authorize “The Purge” as a national holiday. This holiday

consist of 12 hours that legalizes all crimes, including murder. The New Founding Fathers of

America, also known as the NFFA is in charge of this commencement. One of the movie’s

protagonist is a woman named Liz, who visits a grocery store only to be ambushed by gang

members, who play the role of the antagonists. At the end, Liz finds a way to revolt against those

who assaulted her and sacrifices her life for her friend, Eva.

Most critics believe that The Purge is a typical horror, slasher movie. The popular

opinion of critics is that The Purge is solely based on entertainment. Sara Marrs from Cinesnark

stated in her article that “movies like this don’t need to be smart, they just need to be

entertaining, and The Purge: Anarchy is entertaining”. Marrs compels the idea of The Purge:

Anarchy not needing to be smart as movies are intended for entertainment. However, the movie

consist more than just entertainment, it involves deeper meaning such as life in a classless

American society. The movie portrays the hypothetical outcome of America going through a

destructive anarchy. The hypothetical position of the movie gives the viewer a sense of possible

solutions to prevent chaos from happening. Audiences need to be open minded when watching

The Purge: Anarchy because the movie is consisted of messages such as marxist proletariat vs
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bourgeoisie, class revolt, and the gender queer theory of lesbian continuum which are relevant in

today’s life.

The proletariat class being undermined is detrimental for the American civilization. The

whole idea of the purge is to reduce the population and decrease the unemployment rate by

ridding society of the lower class. This is an idea of the survival of the fittest where the

government only wants strong, smart, and rich people in their economy. Before the purge is

happening, the gang members are considered as the proletariats because of where they stand in

the lower class. However, the gang members who ambushed Liz in the beginning of the movie

are viewed as the bourgeoisie when the purge begins. In this scenario, when the purge is

happening, Liz is considered the proletariat. According to Lois Tyson, a professor at Grand

Valley State University and the author of Critical Theory Today, she explains that proletariats

are those who “live in substandard conditions and who have always performed the manual labor”

(52). People who are viewed as proletariats are described to be poor and rely on their skilled

labor in order to survive. In this case, Liz is seen as proletariats because she has to rely on her

skills in order to survive during the purge. Proletariats affect the economy in the movie “Purge:

Anarchy” by working for the bourgeoisie. However, proletariats do not appreciate how they are

being treated and viewed by society. According to the scholarly journal Britton on Film: The

Complete Film Criticism of Andrew Britton, the author explains the relationship between the film

and the economy. Britton mentions in his article that “The enduring popularity of these slasher

film franchises can be explained, in part, by paying close attention to the social and economic

contexts in which the audience experienced these films, as a weak economy coupled with

governmental cuts to social welfare programs gave teenagers in particular a deep sense of

insecurity” (99). Britton explains that slasher films portrays the adversity of the economy year
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the movie is being produced. He also states that the individuals affected by government cuts

suffered with a deep sense of insecurity. For The Purge: Anarchy, the gang members are similar

to the teenagers in crisis. With the gang members facing financial issues, they had no other

choice but to take advantage of the purge to rise up in class.

The bourgeoisie class with excessive power and authority is damaging the American

civilization. The gang members during the night of purge are considered to be part of the

bourgeoisie class. Tyson defines bourgeoisie as “those who control the world’s natural,

economic, and human resources” (52). Typically, bourgeoisies are people who possesses wealth,

but in this scenario, the bourgeoisie are defined by their power and weaponry. In addition, the

effects of being a part of the bourgeoisie can make individuals create targets out of the lower

class. Specifically, the gang members who rise up during the purge and target the wealthy. The

movie shows the scene of the gang members oppressing Liz by trespassing into her car (The

Purge, 10:35-11:00). The gang members victimize the white, affluent population during the

purge due to their history that is constantly oppressing the minority. The movie portrayed the

proletariat vs bourgeoisie to evaluate the problems that the society has with the American class

system. With minorities suffering under systematic oppression, they are on the verge of revolting

against the majorities. As an act of rebellion, the proletarian gang member’s intend to avenge

their community from all of the injustice they have endured from the upper class.

Karl Marx, a German philosopher, economist, and sociologist has this idea of class revolt

where there is an imbalance between classes and the proletarian attempts to overthrow the

bourgeoisie. In this case, the conflict is between the Liz and the gang members. The Marxist

class revolt can be seen in the movie when Liz fights off the gang members nearing the end of

the movie. According to Vera Dika, the author of Games of Terror, she concludes that "self-
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awareness, is a more conservative stance in personal and sexual matters, and (as did the Western)

the readiness to use violence are once again the attitudes that will best ensure survival” (138).

Dika expresses that when a character is faced with a troublesome situation, the use of violence

will help the character survive and endure their sufferings. During the purge, Liz becomes

surrounded by the gang members with little to no hope. However, Liz transgressed into violence

and killed the gang members in order to help herself survive (The Purge, 55:46-56:51). Liz

killing is justified as she was only trying to protect herself from her own death. The gang

members on the other hand, put himself on the position of the bourgeoisie and found themselves

to be the oppressors. Marx delivers the message in his book The Communist Manifesto that “If

the proletariat during its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled, by the force of circumstances,

to organize itself as a class, if, by means of a revolution, it makes itself the ruling class, and, as

such, sweeps away by force the old conditions of production then it will, along with these

conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of class antagonisms, and of classes

generally, and will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class” (72). Marx concludes

that when the proletariat successfully gain their power from the bourgeoisie, it will change the

society as a whole as the class system will no longer exist. As a result, the government will decay

and find its end. The impact of the class system becomes detrimental when the individual do not

put themselves in check. The movie illustrates Marxist class revolt to make aware about the

consequences of a classless American society.

Gender representation in films are considered to be detrimental for the patriarchal

American society. Many women seen in horror films are often seen as the prey, due to the fact

that women are seen as powerless. During The Purge, the director of the movie introduces
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CCTV footage of men fighting and killing one another. This creates the image that men are

violent. This is a stereotype that men in horror movies are projected with when portraying a

character. Carol Clover, the writer of Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in Horror Films

explains that “the killer is almost always male and is, or at least was at one point, human… He is

a man usually without any special powers, or magic, though he often displays some measure of

invulnerability. The killer always uses a melee weapon” (93). With horror movies, many of the

plots involves killers which are generally men. During the movie, they showcase how men are

generally the killers because of their aggressive traits that is portrayed by society. On the other

hand, society views women as weak, sensitive, and kind. By having women be part of a horror

film, they are seen as vulnerable, weak, and dependent on men to save them. Women are given

this stereotype which characterize them as helpless. However, in The Purge: Anarchy, Liz and

Eva switch their stereotypes and show the bravery they have when fighting the rest of the gang

members (The Purge, 1:25:09 -1:26:15). Having them both be women and creating these

courageous characteristics, it creates the mindset of the audience that women can be strong and

brave without having a male figure by their side. Both women successfully protected themselves

throughout the night of purge by being with each others comfort.

With the use of lesbian continuum, Liz can be seen with liberation throughout the movie.

Along with many horror movies, violence tend to be the works of men. However in the movie, it

expresses how women are starting to have an uprising in violence as well. When being put in a

life or death situation with the gang members, Liz starts to fight back and kill the gang members

in order to protect herself and her friend, Eva. She was able to show strong and brave

characteristics throughout the night. Adrienne Rich, the author of Compulsory Heterosexuality

and Lesbian Existence explains “includes a range - through each woman’s life and throughout
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history - of woman - identified experience, not simply the fact that a woman has had or

consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman” (239). Whether the woman

is lesbian or not, it is normal for her to have a connection with the same sex without having

anything sexual going on between the two. For Liz and Eva, both were with each other

throughout the night, which meant that they needed to protect each other from the violence

occuring during the night of purge. Both of them were able to achieve a connection with each

other with the sense of comfort and protection.

The Purge: Anarchy is a movie designated to instill knowledge to individuals about the

outcomes of a society without the rule of law. Throughout the movie it features the wanting of

equality among humanities since it captures the wealthy with the poor fighting for their

communities. The gang proletarians wants to prove that they deserve to be respected, therefore

tries to resolve this problem by revolting against their oppressors, the white bourgeoisies. On the

other hand, the bourgeoisies wanted to seize a new population due to the large amount of people

designated in Los Angeles at the time. The government and NFFA wanted to lower the

population of minorities to get rid of prisons and unemployed civilians. The proletarians decided

to revolt against the bourgeoisies to destroy their power, privileges, and authority to control the

community they all share and live in. The same goes with people who are in desperate needs to

make sudden decisions. Liz exemplified lesbian continuum by fighting for Eva’s life with the

means of sacrificing hers. The Purge: Anarchy can be a warning for people that if equality is not

reached, a possible extermination between human beings might happen. The warrant is that

people need to treat others with respect, value, and equality to each other, whether the person is

of a proletarian class or a bourgeoisie class. The Purge illustrates the horrific depiction of a
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classless society in America; thus, The Purge: Anarchy should be seen in a thoughtful aspect

because of the possibility of having the purge happen in reality.

Work Cited

Britton, Andrew. Britton on Film: The Complete Film Criticism of Andrew Britton, Detroit, MI:

Wayne State University Press, 2009. Print.

Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in Horror Films (Princeton, NJ: Princeton

University Press, 1993); and Adam Rockoff, Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the
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Slasher Film, 1978-1986 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002).

Dika, Vera. Games of Terror: Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the Films of the Stalker

Cycle. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1990. Print.

Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, Samuel Moore, and David McLellan. The Communist Manifesto.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Print.

Rich, Adrienne. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Signs 5.4 (1980). Rpt. in

The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Henry Abelove, Michele Aina Barale, and

David M. Halperin. New York: Routledge, 1993. 227-54.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.