L.A. riots of 1992, hurricane Katrina; on TV they showed the flashpoints of mayhem that occur when the control grid is interrupted, but they didn't show the neighborliness and cooperation that was the greater part of it.

Amen to that. I hate the idea that humanity is so depraved that we need someone to keep us in check.

You know what? Rapists rape regardless of laws or government. Murderers kill regardless of laws or government. Thieves steal regardless of law or government.

Government literally does not stop these things, they only punish them.

Most of us would go about our business. There would be the odd idiot that causes trouble. But society would deal with it.

Constabularies worked quite well before. It wasn't broken, why did it get fixed.

Here's what I wrote about this movie when the sequel came up in the sub a couple months ago, a different perspective:

I actually liked the first one, although it wasn't great. (After writing this comment and thinking about the movie more I recommend it)

What I thought was interesting was the "conspiracy theory" built into the plot. It was very clearly laid out on a TV news segment within the movie. Everyone I've talked to has completely missed this bit from the movie or it went over their heads.

It gave a much more believable explanation of the purpose of the Purge and why it has effectively "saved society" than the somewhat ridiculous theory that the characters in the movie are being forcefed by the media on a daily basis.

The Purge hasn't saved the economy and eliminated crime and unemployment by letting people "blow off steam." What's actually happening is that The Purge is a mass culling of the poor and weak members of society while the rich and powerful are safe in their barricaded mansions. That's why unemployment and crime are down.

A counterpoint, perhaps a deviously subversive one, to the "official story" of the movie.

The main characters are not bad people, but the media is constantly brainwashing everyone to not only accept the Purge but to participate in it. They roll out an endless series of experts and psychologists to tell people why it's a good thing, and perfectly natural.

The Purge hasn't just allowed people to "unleash the beast" and an organic bloodbath ensues, the population has to be whipped up into a violent frenzy by the media in order to be convinced to participate.

I'd like to watch this new movie to see if there are any similar clever little hidden themes.

Edit: For those who haven't seen it, spoilers incoming: the film ends with good triumphing over evil, but not by fighting fire with fire. The good guys "win" by holding onto their humanity despite the temptation to turn to barbarity in response to barbarity being visited upon them.

edit 2: Even the title has a double meaning.

Edit: I had the initial reaction to the trailers that OP has had, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think the TV is the real villain in the film.

This hits the nail on the head and I believe this is more to the point of what the film tries to get across... The weeding of the population (eugenics?), targeting mostly the lower class, through propaganda and media induced frenzy.

I'm glad someone else saw the same movie I did :)

Gonna go watch it tonight.

Let me know if you think I'm way off base ha. I've only seen it the one time.

Propaganda is so pervasive in TV and movies.

One thing that I couldn't believe was an episode of Family Guy. In the episode, Peter joins a terrorist sleeper cell which blows up a bridge. At the end of the episode, as the terrorists are arrested they make a 'joke' about how they will not be given a fair trial.

After watching that episode, I couldn't stop talking about how disturbing the propaganda of the episode was. The episode was presenting a reality in which we are surrounded by Muslim terrorist sleeper cells which care about nothing but blowing things up, and that these people are not to be given fair trials. The dehumanizing of muslims was unbelievable. I felt like I was watching anti-jewish propaganda in Nazi Germany.

Fortunately Fox doesn't have to fully live up to the shame of pushing such racist propaganda because they stopped airing the episode after the Boston Marathon bombing less than a month later, because this episode of Family Guy also contained a really bad joke about Peter killing a bunch of people at the Boston Marathon.

The recent episode of the Simpsons where Lisa reports Homer to the FBI because she thinks that he has been converted into a Muslim terrorist also made me very sad.

What does government actually do? What is its purpose?

Most people would say that it exists to protect us.

Governments can't protect you. They never have and they never will be able to.

Protect you from what?

A random act of violence?

From theft? the government is the greatest thief of all.

To secure the borders? Borders only exist because governments do. Standing armies exist only to serve the will of governments.

Government is a convoluted system of rules and regulations. Despite its intended purpose, its only real effect is to strip your liberties. The bigger it gets the more freedom is lost. This is not even considering the corruption that infects governments like flies are attracted to shit.

the Government is simply men with guns.

Who protect the super rich families money rackets & steal for them under the name of "patriotism".

Haha, word.

Who would be putting anarchy in place? ;P

Yeah no. The concept of The Purge is that people do things they normally can't. Murder is one. But if you want a slave, you can buy one. You want illegal drugs, you can do them. Not only that, but it's a fucking fictional film. Would you want to watch a film where people just sit around and smoke weed and do fireworks for 24 hours? It's entertainment.

Since you think it is simply entertainment then that must be that.

They don't need to make a movie to get that across... all you have to do is look at 3rd world countries to see what happens when you have functional government.

As an anarcho capitalist, I hate when people use the term anarchy to mean chaos. Check out /r/anarcho_capitalism