Garrett Love

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Professor Arnold
Socio-economic and Racial Injustice in The Purge

At the time of its release, James DeMonaco’s The Purge was a shockingly brutal and

poignant depiction of a dystopian society hiding behind the veil of a utopia. Every year, there is a

single 12-hour period called The Purge where all crime, no matter the severity, is completely

legal. The film opens with nearly two minutes of stitched together clips from the “Purge night”,

each depicting a gruesome murder, beating, riot, or other violent crime. This annual, government

broadcasted event was created to give its citizens the opportunity to purge any pent-up desire to

murder, steal, seek revenge, etc. By giving their citizens this outlet, the government can then

boast that virtually no crime is committed any other day of the year. The film takes place during

the night of The Purge and follows the affluent Sardin family who voluntarily elect to barricade

themselves in their home for the night. After trying to save a man who is being hunted, the

family finds themselves under attack by a group of ‘purgers’ and, eventually, their own

neighbors. The Sardin family and the group of ‘purgers’ represent opposing, but equally

dangerous, depictions of wealth and privilege.

The Sardin family are representative of the ability of the wealthy to remain ignorant and

complacent to the oppression of the lower class while profiting from the systems that perpetuate

the oppression. The Sardins are a very wealthy family who have traditionally had the luxury of

isolating themselves from the chaotic events of the ‘purge night’. Their vast wealth has allowed

them to physically barricade their home so that they can be blissfully unaware of the

brutalization around them. The home security system that the family uses is owned by the

company James Sardin, the patriarch of the family, works for. In working for this company,
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James profits massively from The Purge and a result his family gets to live in ignorance of the

horrific circumstances that have been constructed from the enactment The Purge.

Unlike the Sardins, the ‘purgers’ do not isolate themselves, but rather use The Purge as

an opportunity to actively participate in the oppression of the lower class. In the first act of the

film, the Sardin family harbor a man who is being hunted by a group of ‘purgers’. The ‘purgers’,

led by ‘The Leader’, are a young, wealthy group that see The Purge as a chance to “cleanse their

souls”. When ‘The Leader’ first introduces himself to the Sardins, he states, “your home tells us

you’re good folk, just like us. And your blue flowers tell us you support The Purge.” In this

statement, ‘The Leader’ expresses solidarity with the Sardins, recognizing that they are one in

the same through their socioeconomic status. This is further evidenced in his follow up

statement, “the man you’re sheltering is nothing but a dirty homeless pig, a grotesque menace to

our just society that had the audacity to fight back. The pig doesn’t know his place and needs to

learn his lesson.” As a result of their privileged status, the ‘purgers’ have no regard for the life of

the homeless man they are hunting and even go so far as to admit their responsibility in the

oppression of the lower class by ‘keeping them in their place’.

Despite being a caricature of wealth and privilege, the Sardin family is not portrayed as

being evil or acting in malice. In fact, their invitation to harbor the man and assuming the

associated risks shows that they have the ability to be more conscious of the system in which

they have been profiting from, especially the youngest child Charlie. This part of the film

appears to be commentary on the progressiveness of the younger generation and their ability to

empathize across class lines. In the end of the film, Charlie’s empathy is rewarded when the
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homeless man saves the remaining Sardin family members from the attacking neighbors.

Through his act of bravery, the man shifts the perspective of Mary, the matriarch of the family,

and they join together to maintain peace amongst the neighbors as they wait for the end of the

Purge Night. The transformation of the Sardin family and their eventual solidarity with the

homeless man is a promising vision of unity between classes in the fight against oppression.

Lurking behind the overt messages of socio-economic imbalance in The Purge is also a

discussion of racial inequality. In her analysis ‘A Nation Reborn’: Right to Law and Right to Life

in The Purge Franchise, Megan Armstrong shares a similar sentiment when she says, “The

Purge franchise functions as a narrative that articulates the already-present states of vulnerability

and marginalisation through economic exclusion and its intersections with structural racism”

(Armstrong). The ritualistic hunting of the Black homeless man by the white, rich, and clearly

discriminatory ‘purgers’ is reminiscent of the horrific lynch mobs that plagued much of the pre

civil-rights era. The scene in which this conversation takes places was prominently featured in

Syarif Jakarta’s in-depth study on prejudice and discrimination in The Purge. In his analysis,

Jakarta connects the intersections of wealth and racial inequality, explaining that by describing

themselves and the Sardins as being “the haves'' (rich and white), while hunting and

dehumanizing a Black man, the ‘purgers’ are expressing their inclusion in a dominant group and

subsequent oppression of other racial and ethnic groups (Jakarta 32).

In conclusion, The Purge uses an outlandish fictional dystopia to overtly discuss

messages of socioeconomic and racial inequality. The film follows the affluent, white, and

complacent Sardin family and their attack by a group of similarly rich and white ‘purgers’ who
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are hunting a Black homeless man that the Sardins are harboring. Through their complacency,

the Sardins act as passive oppressors to the lower class. Unlike the Sardins, the ‘purgers’ are

active in their oppression, both socioeconomic and racial. In the resolution of the film, the

remaining Sardin family members persist against the attack from the ‘purgers’ and as a result

emerge from the experience with a newfound awareness of their role as profiters from an

oppressive system.
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Works Cited

Armstrong, Megan A. “‘A Nation Reborn’: Right to Law and Right to Life in The Purge

Franchise.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, vol. 13, no. 3, 2019, pp. 377–392.,

doi:10.1080/17502977.2018.1562683.

Jakarta, Syarif Hidayatullah. “Races Discrimination and Prejudice in The Purge Film.”

Universitas Islam Negeri, 2017, pp. 1–38.