How do I pretend this isn't just a plea for you to watch The Purge(s)?
Lowbrow/Lowbrow
I binged The Purge franchise for the first time this week. Only the GOD mask guy can judge me.
The Purge feels ubiquitous enough that I don’t have to explain what it is, but I do feel the need to defend my unabashed love for it. But how? It’s hold on me defies logic and language. Here are my stabs at an explanation (and yeah dude, pun absolutely intended).
I finished reading Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 and craved more near-future speculative fiction, quality be damned.
The concept intrigued me since I saw the trailer for the first film, as it clearly does a lot of people judging by the hundreds of millions of dollars the franchise has made. (Breathe, Dave, you’re getting defensive.) In fact, the films (and when I say “films” or “movies” I’m including both seasons of the TV show because I don’t want to keep saying “franchise”) are interested in their concept more than fleshed out characters, surprising plot, or realism. Sometimes those things exist, but only as afterthoughts. At one point in the TV show, a character spoons sugar into her coffee, stirs it, and then JAMS THE WET SPOON BACK INTO THE SUGAR JAR. It’s like these movies are so excited to ask you, “What if The Purge was real? What about this?” that they can’t be bothered with the details of portraying our current world faithfully. I find that charming.
The politics of The Purge are not exactly subtle, but there is comfort in seeing people portrayed who clearly despise their so clearly evil government. The films contain their fair share of copaganda and usually end with a liberal message about kindness and individual strength, but some radicalness leaks out. The movies are full of mutual aid! And even though we’re supposed to side with him, the way Leo arrives and starts giving orders to the Black resistance organization in Election Year is a great example of how not to act in activist/movement spaces.
I felt myself sliding into decision paralysis while browsing HBO Max and, before it overtook me, pressed “play” on The Forever Purge. It’s the worst one and was still enough to intrigue me!
Speaking of quality, you deserve a ranked list. First, here is the order in which I watched them (number in parentheses is the order they were released). I enjoyed the chaos of watching them in order of how quickly I could find them streaming:
The Forever Purge (7) → The Purge: Anarchy (2) → The Purge: Election Year (3) → The Purge (TV series), Season 1 (5) → The Purge (TV series), Season 2 (6) → The Purge (1) → The First Purge (4)
Here are my rankings, with just a little extra commentary because I’ve already done what little I can to convince you to watch these things and talk to me about them.
The Purge: Anarchy: Generally agreed to be the best of the bunch, but it’s a toss-up between this and The First Purge for me. It’s the most fun and gives you the feeling the concept should: wandering outside in this shit, scared of rounding every corner.
The First Purge: The only movie that really addresses the racial undertones of the franchise/concept, which makes sense since it’s the only one with a Black director. Hella relevant, alternating creepy and badass throughout, and a Desiigner cameo. Hell yeah.
The Purge: Election Year: Like Anarchy in structure, and the set piece in the church is cool but you can only rank so high with a “just vote” message.
The Purge (TV series), Season 1: The balance between compelling story and absurdity is maintained like a new busser carrying too many dishes back to the kitchen and not dropping any through sheer luck. This is the one where the actress rams the coffee-covered spoon back into the sugar.
→This is the line beyond which I’d stop recommending them, unless you’re fully Purge-pilled←
The Purge (TV series), Season 2: The dishes crash. None of these movies are unpredictable, but this one is so rote I felt like I was waiting half an episode for the characters to catch up at times.
The Purge: General opinion is it doesn’t capitalize on the premise enough; it’s just a home invasion movie. And that’s my specific opinion too! But the scene where Ethan Hawke sees his daughter’s boyfriend for the first time is pretty funny in how audacious it is.
The Forever Purge: I don’t remember much about this one even though I saw it less than two weeks ago. It was good for introducing me to the world. It tried to be The Purge: Immigrants, but the message is maybe we’re not that different after all?
So how’d I do? Are you gonna watch all the Purges with me now? Did I lose you forever?
THIS IS MY PODCAST, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
It’s my first two-episode week! The aforementioned Everything for Everyone has two authors, Eman Abdelhadi and M.E. O’Brien. I talked to both of them in separate episodes, both of which are fascinating in completely different ways. Tibetan Buddhism has 16 different hells!!
Their book is one of my favorites in a while, and I recommend it even more highly and with much less reservation than The Purge franchise.
Content warning: suicide, banana peel violence, being a “bad” Muslim, Tibetan Buddhism, polycule drama, Eman with the literal most idyllic Relive 1 Memory segment ever and M.E. absolutely refusing to Relive 1 Memory.
THINGS I’D TEXT YOU
Oh hey, trombone is the funniest instrument, and here’s a free gut laugh if you want it.
Kate Berlant’s special, Cinnamon in the Wind, is on Hulu, and like every Bo Burnham-directed special these days, it’s worth watching.
MAY I PLAY YOU A SOUND?
My friend visited Chicago for Riot Fest, and at coffee, her boyfriend recommended Pale Waves. He described them as sounding like Avril Lavigne before backtracking in search of a cooler comparison. But guess what? They sound like Avril Lavigne, and they sound good. You could pick a song out of a hat to enjoy, but “Unwanted” is the chorus in my head right now.
Hmmmm, it’s almost like a thing can be ridiculous and still enjoyable, and you don’t have to figure out why you like it to recommend it to others and please just watch The Purge: Anarchy or maybe The First Purge, okay?
Purge siren,
DM