The first film, released in 2013, came on the heels of the first Hunger Games movie but also the 2012 election - mixing and matching themes like inequality and the privilege of the 1 percent with the government angst present in Suzanne Collins’s novel and film. And what’s novel about this approach is that while all of the movies share the same umbrella franchise and the same exaggerated dystopian premise, each one has tweaked the formula to better address the cultural and social issues of its time. The movies are a mashup of sci-fi, horror, and home invasion films each of the three films chronicles what goes down during a different 12-hour Purge. The event has become an annual tradition because people realized that since the introduction of the Purge, the country’s socioeconomic ills - crime, unemployment, a weak economy - have disappeared. The catch is simple: You’re always in danger of being killed. The Purge is a movie franchise named after its own dystopian premise: Each year, America has a 12-hour Purge (from 7 pm to 7 am on the designated Purge day) where anyone can commit any crime they want (murder, rape, burglary, cow tipping, etc.) and not face any kind of criminal charges. That we’ve been waiting years and years for the perfect loophole to squeeze our crimes through.Īnd now, with the third Purge film, Purge: Election Year, in theaters, it’s as good a time as any to examine the popularity of the franchise that’s not only macabre but almost too appropriate for 2016. The genius of the Purge franchise is that it imagines - or reveals - this American spirit as a fantastic fraud, suggesting that deep down, Americans want to kill their neighbors, friends, and family and the only thing stopping them are these dumb things called laws. The country is built on the idea of taking care of one another, a place where the 'huddled masses' yearn to be and can be free. For centuries, Americans have touted the virtues of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' US history is peppered with stories of heroes and heroines doing the right thing - standing up for oppression, standing up for justice, and standing up for one another.

What if the purge was real reddit