Format: DVD from Cortland Public Library on basement television.
The Purge is a right-wing fantasy movie. I don’t mean that the political right is specifically thrilled about the idea of 12 hours of lawlessness (although I think a lot of them are). No, what I mean is that pretty much every conservative I know has a closet full of guns and an intense desire to use them on a home invader. The Purge is that fantasy writ large. It’s a world where people are essentially dared to break into your house and you can kill them without consequence. The entire membership of the NRA had to have a hard-on over this concept.
There’s another, more sinister reason that The Purge is the deepest fantasy of the American right, and it is that 12 hours of lawlessness. Essentially, this is the story of a future, far more fascist America, where for 12 hours every year, virtually all crimes are made legal. While it’s not stated outright, after a massive economic crash, a new political party takes over the country. Unemployment is down and draconian policies crack down on crime. However, needing a release, the American people are given a 12-hour period every year to go buckwild and get all of their violence out of their system. And, true to form, this is not a parade of rape and theft, but of the wealthy and fortunate targeting the homeless. It’s open season on “undesirables,” and there’s a reason that the stereotype of conservatives wanting to hunt the homeless and immigrants for sport exists.
