Would The Purge Be Successful in Our Society?
Horror movies and thrillers have been embedded in cinema history since the very early 1900s. These dark films have continued to grow over the centuries- and not only in recognition, but in darkness and messages too. From cliche stories staring scary clowns scaring children — as seen in the 1990’s top hit It — to the gut wrenching and truly horrific franchises like the Human Centipede Trilogy starting in 2009, it would be extremely inaccurate to say that all of them seem the same. Throughout all the vastly different movies, however, they all have one common goal — to scare the audience and leave a lasting impression.
While The Purge isn’t one of the scariest movie franchises out there- it definitely is one of the more eye opening films and does succeed in leaving that lasting impression. In this dystopia, there’s a time every year where all crime is legal. American citizens are allowed to kill, rape, kidnap, mane, and commit everything despicable in a 12 hour time limit. The fake-government stated that due to the Purge being pushed, unemployment rates crashed and there was close to no crimes evident in everyday American living. The United States were able to pull themselves from a full-scale market crash, and overall the Purge benefited the economy. All considered, it seems from the surface that with the Purge that many of society’s problems are fixed automatically.
But in reality, would the Purge be truly successful ? It Perhaps might, but there are definitely some holes that would be found in the plan.
There are two main reasons why the Purge was created (in a movie sense):
- Control Crime
- Control Overpopulation
When dealing with homicide, about 70% of all murders are premeditated. That’s a massive chunk of homicides, but it does leave room for more impulsive murders. And, as more and more polls come out, it seems like even more crimes are done impulsively and without prior planning. In the Purge timeline, these 30% of impulsive crimes would like must happen before the Purge even commenced, due to them being impulsive. However, this still leaves a solid 70% of planned murders waiting to be committed. If someone was truly willing to go and commit murder, it could be argued that the purge could give them a fighting chance by already being prepared for the worst.
In the Purge movies, there’s a running root theme — People are naturally drawn to violence, and thus (secretly) enjoy watching “the world burn” around them. While on some levels this may be accurate, it’s also safe to say that many seek stability and safety more than dangerous, life-risking experiences. So while yes, in theory, there would be a bunch of crazed masked not-convicted-because-there’s-no-law criminals running around towns, it should also be considered that many would not participate as well. Those who chose not to wear their scary masks and stalk down dark streets, may do simple misdemeanors instead. People have a natural sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, which would play an extremely big role in a Purge scenario.
“If there was a 12 hour span of “no law”, most people wouldn’t be out in the streets killing each other, most people would be filing their taxes.” — Tippens, Will (Liberty.me)
By 2050, the world population is estimated to reach 9.8 billion. That’s a lot of people, and a lot of space being taken up. Over population would, without a doubt, be and extreme question and many would be looking for intense solutions. There’s a massive, in detail debate on whether overpopulation should be dealt with by our governments or be dealt with at all. However, I severely doubt anyone would go for a annual mass killing spree to solve over population. On paper, the numbers may work. But due to our societies being structured by morals and in some cases religion, we would have to be extremely desperate to reach a point that’s similar to The Purge.
If the government was to suddenly declare that cocaine was no longer a drug that was deemed illegal, would everyone just go crazy and start inhaling cocaine with their morning coffee? No. To many families, communities, religions, and societies it is common knowledge that cocaine is considered bad and to partake would have major social outcasting consequences — legal or not. While the Purge removes the laws, it does not remove the social judgement and social outcasting many would potentially face if they went off-the-walls in that 12 hour period. Unless that person holds power, they still have to face everyone after. I believe that previous fact alone would stop many in their tracks. Who would want to face their friendly neighbor they smile at everyday before work when they just massacred a bunch of their fellow civilians?
When looking into the logic from the fake-Purge-government, they often state that its to better the economy. The homeless would be killed off, and the those who were wealthy would stay at the top, healthy and alive. Natural selection, but based off of wealth (in a sense). Despite some of that argument being true — because yes the homeless would severely suffer — it should also be brought up that the massive amounts of buildings and money lost due to banks being robbed and places being burned down would severely outweigh the cost of eliminating some of the homeless/lower class population. To directly quote the movie, “there are no rules.” Arson can, and would be committed if the chance was given. Those who decide to go out and participate would undoubtedly go by the “go-big-or-go-home” rules, and focus their sights on big attention getting displays (like burning a national bank, etc).
The Purge, while a good idea in theory, has many big holes that would need to be looked into. The American government would face extreme backlash, the motives behind people’s actions would face harsh criticism, and all in all it would be very hard to pull off without creating a huge mess. The future is unpredictable, however, and its not too much of a stretch to say that an event like the Purge may show up in our societies in the far future.
SOURCES:
- Film School Rejects. (2019). Would a Real-Life ‘Purge’ Work?https://filmschoolrejects.com/would-a-real-life-purge-work-8354f836140c/ [12 Feb. 2019].
- Culture, P., Worth, N. and Lists, T. (2019). Thought Experiment: 5 Consequences Of A Real Life ‘Purge’ TheRichest https://www.therichest.com/expensive-lifestyle/lifestyle/thought-experiment-5-consequences-of-a-real-life-purge/ [12 Feb. 2019].
- Tippens, Will (2019). 4 Reasons Why “The Purge” Wouldn’t Be That Bad . https://tippens.liberty.me/4-reasons-why-the-purge-wouldnt-be-all-that-bad/ [12 Feb. 2019].
