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Politics in Horror: American Anxieties Play Out on Screen

&NewLine;<p>It is not new or revolutionary to connect the political and social realities of our times to films that we produce and consume&period; There is a longstanding tradition of drawing political theory from film&comma; and producing films with specific political motivations&period; As far back as the 1920s&comma; films from the Soviet Union were produced with the sole intention of promoting socialism and national unity&period; It could be argued that the vast majority of American war films also have a nationalistic message and pro-democracy slant&period; Setting aside these more overt examples&comma; it is especially prevalent to read the underlying politics in horror films&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Contemporary analyses of the genre have led film historians and critics to theorize that trends in horror films often reflect larger trends in politics&period; For example&comma; the rise of zombie films in Hollywood tends to coincide with the rise of far-right&comma; conservative parties&period; These are rather broad trends&comma; both simple in nature and readily identifiable by mass audiences&period; However&comma; there has been a fracture in American politics in recent years that has been both complex and far-reaching&period; This fracture&comma; which has many moving parts and intricacies to account for&comma; has been more difficult to see in films&period; It is most evident in the recent and controversial election of Donald Trump&comma; as well as the rise of the Alt-Right movement&comma; and conversely&comma; with the meteoric rise and popularity of Bernie Sanders&comma; an outspoken socialist and progressive politician&comma; along with such movements as Occupy Wall Street&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The nation&comma; as a whole&comma; is simultaneously perceived as having strayed far to the left&comma; becoming more secular under the presidency of Barack Obama&comma; and at the very same time more traditional and reactionary&comma; clinging to Christian fundamentalism and racial discrimination&period; Income inequality&comma; gun violence&comma; gay rights&comma; climate change&comma; abortion&comma; and religious zealotry&comma; among many other issues&comma; have all exacerbated concerns that the country is careening toward some unknown and possibly terrifying end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>And Hollywood has tapped into these fears&semi; catering films to niche audiences that see these issues differently and generally hold vastly different political&comma; moral&comma; and religious views &lpar;one would not think that the same people who went to see <em>Heaven Is For Real<&sol;em> would also be inclined to visit the theater for <em>Nymphomaniac<&sol;em>&rpar;&period; But filmmakers have pandered to their audience for decades&comma; and there is very little evidence that this practice has become more pronounced in any major way&period; Nonetheless&comma; the fractures in American society are not lost in the films we watch&period; While we may not see notable trends in the popularity of certain genres or subgenres&comma; we can see these fractures within the individual narratives&comma; and our own interpretations of those narratives&period; This is particularly true of horror films&comma; as they are a unique genre&comma; insofar as the primary aim of a horror film is to frighten its audience&period; If a certain horror film uses elements that the audience does not find frightening&comma; it falls flat&comma; and fails to execute its intended purpose&period; Therefore&comma; horror films must implement those things that frighten us&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There is always an element of fear entangled in politics&comma; to varying degrees and in a variety of ways&period; Politicians use fear for their own purposes&comma; often to cast the opposition party or candidate in a negative light&period; Groups and individuals use fear to incite violence or chaos&comma; and many people fear that the government or corporations are gaining too much power over their lives&period; This causes some of our most basic fears as human beings&comma; regarding survival and general well being&comma; to be played out at the ballot box&period; But&comma; more often than not&comma; all of our complex fears and anxieties are channeled into a singular fear of &OpenCurlyQuote;The Other&comma;’ the invisible enemy that &lpar;we believe&rpar; undermines our values and can&comma; if left to its own devices&comma; ultimately lead to our destruction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>For some&comma; it can be the opposing political party&comma; for others&comma; it can be a different religion or skin color or culture&period; We are always looking for a scapegoat&comma; someone to embody and justify our fears&comma; something to help set&nbsp&semi;ourselves up as good and righteous by comparison&period; It has always been a trope of the horror genre to establish&nbsp&semi;a dichotomy between two distinct ideologies &lpar;Good vs&period; Evil&comma; Normal vs&period; Abnormal&comma; Human vs&period; Inhuman&comma; etc&period;&rpar;&comma; and these distinctions allow for horror films to be easily read as political in nature&period; The horror filmmakers find what scares us&comma; what keeps us awake at night&comma; and then use those fears within narratives containing two polarized elements that are ostensibly apolitical&comma; to then be read as political&period; Looking at the following films&colon; <em>The Purge&colon; Election Year <&sol;em>&lpar;2016&rpar;&comma; <em>The Witch <&sol;em>&lpar;2016&rpar;&comma; and <em>Get Out <&sol;em>&lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; it is evident that recent horror films showcase the increasing fracture and polarization of American politics&comma; and benefit from national anxieties and paranoia regarding the future of the nation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Just like its predecessors&comma; <em>The Purge&colon; Election Year<&sol;em> centers on a national holiday &lpar;of sorts&rpar;&comma; during which all crimes&comma; including murder&comma; are made legal&period; This holiday&comma; known simply as the Purge&comma; was created by the ruling party&comma; The New Founding Fathers or NFFA&period; At the beginning of the film&comma; riots break out all over Washington D&period;C&period; in anticipation of the election and in protest of the Purge&period; Charlie Roan&comma; a senator running against the ruling party’s candidate&comma; sees the Purge as a tool of the rich and powerful to wipe out the poor and disenfranchised&period; The day before the annual Purge&comma; the NFFA rescinds a rule stating that government officials cannot be killed&comma; paving the way for them to assassinate Roan and remain in power&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Murder Tourists” flood US airports&comma; excitedly entering the country to watch and&sol;or participate in the Purge&period; As the Purge begins&comma; chaos ensues&semi; various assailants&comma; including a Neo-Nazi squad working on behalf of the NFFA&comma; chase Roan through the city&period; This game of cat-and-mouse culminates in a ritualistic mass at a cathedral&comma; conducted by Minister Owens&comma; Roan’s opponent in the presidential race&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image alignnone wp-image-360"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter is-resized"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;50&period;116&period;64&period;30&sol;~philosy4&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;the-purge-election-year-inside-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Purge Election politics in horror" class&equals;"wp-image-360" width&equals;"1200"&sol;><figcaption>The Purge&colon; Election Year &lpar;2016&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The second film&comma; <em>The Witch<&sol;em>&comma; follows a devoutly Christian family in 17<sup>th<&sol;sup> century New England&period; After being forced from the local community over a dispute regarding different biblical interpretations&comma; William&comma; Katherine&comma; and their four children move far from the village&comma; and settle near an ominous forest&period; Soon after the move&comma; Katherine gives birth to Samuel&period; While playing with his sister&comma; Samuel suddenly disappears&period; It is revealed to the audience that Samuel was abducted and killed by a witch living in the woods&period; The family quickly falls to infighting&comma; with much of the blame for his disappearance falling on their eldest daughter&comma; Thomasin&period; Though the family lacks food and money&comma; and is terrorized by Satanic apparitions and disturbances&comma; they continue to cling to their faith&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In the final and most recent film&comma; <em>Get Out<&sol;em>&comma; a young black man&comma; Chris&comma; is apprehensive to meet the parents of his white girlfriend&comma; Rose&period; As Chris spends more time with her family&comma; he notices that something is amiss&period; The family’s black servants act very strangely&comma; and Rose’s mother insists on hypnotizing Chris&comma; under the guise of helping him quit smoking&period; When Chris tries to escape the family&comma; Rose admits her role in deceiving him&comma; revealing that Rose’s parents habitually abduct black people&comma; hypnotize them&comma; and transplant the consciousness of older white people into their bodies&period; The victims are forced to live in a subdued state&comma; at the mercy of the controlling white consciousness&period; Rose’s father claims that they choose black people because they are &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the in fad&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>All three films operate as horror films &lpar;<em>Get Out<&sol;em> is the only one considered a &OpenCurlyQuote;horror-comedy’&rpar;&comma; with the horror stemming from various sources&period; In <em>The Purge<&sol;em>&comma; the horror comes from the unrestrained violence that society &lpar;within the film&rpar; allows&period; Anybody can commit any heinous act they desire during the Purge without consequences&period; In <em>The Witch<&sol;em>&comma; the horror stems from religious anxieties&comma; both in regard to the unknown consequences of sin&comma; as well as the fear of religious persecution&period; And finally&comma; in <em>Get Out<&sol;em>&comma; the fear of racial discrimination&comma; as well as the fear of becoming a slave&comma; create the horror&period; In all three films&comma; horror also stems from more simplistic and biological fears&comma; those things that we find horrifying at a basic&comma; physical level&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>When considering <em>The Purge<&sol;em>&comma; the maniacs and NFFA are unsettling and merciless&comma; violent and able to cause harm without remorse&period; In <em>The Witch&comma; <&sol;em>the evil lurking outside the woods is both violent and gruesome to look at&comma; with the witches portrayed as old&comma; grotesque women&period; And in <em>Get Out<&sol;em>&comma; the white attackers seem completely cold to the plight of the black characters&comma; and the black characters under hypnosis are akin to helpless zombies&comma; unable to escape their tortured existence&period; But there is one element of horror that is present in all three films and underlies each narrative&comma; and that is paranoia&period; In <em>The Witch<&sol;em> and <em>Get Out<&sol;em>&comma; the paranoia is more overt&comma; and a centerpiece of the film’s story&semi; in one&comma; it is the paranoia regarding white people and fear of being tricked or brainwashed into submission&comma; and in the other&comma; paranoia within a family and fear of God&&num;8217&semi;s wrath&period; Lastly&comma; in <em>The Purge<&sol;em>&comma; paranoia is an essential part of what makes the premise so frightening&period; Every citizen is susceptible to being violently murdered or tortured at any moment&comma; and not only is it legal&comma; but the government actually encourages and facilitates the slaughter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It is this paranoia that displays the underlying fracture in American politics&comma; and the implementation of politics in horror&period; The fear of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the Other&comma;” the fear of unchecked violence&comma; the fear of religious or racial persecution&comma; the fear of unchecked governmental power&semi; no matter the political affiliation&comma; any viewer can read these films as speaking to their innermost fears&comma; and by extension&comma; our larger societal anxieties&period; This can be further analyzed by the seemingly contradictory and disparate reviews and interpretations of these films&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Adam Holtz of <em>Plugged In<&sol;em> writes that the narrative in <em>The Witch<&sol;em> focuses so much on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;wickedness” with &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;no godly counter and certainly no happy ending&period;” &lpar;Holtz&rpar;&comma; while Simon Abrams classifies the film as a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;feminist narrative” that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;feels more like a sermon&period;” He continues by stating unequivocally that the film is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;about women&comma; and the patriarchal stresses that lead to their disenfranchisement” &lpar;Abrams&rpar;&period; The first review&comma; which is primarily concerned with how &OpenCurlyQuote;family friendly’ the film is&comma; laments <em>The Witch<&sol;em>’s lack of hopeful optimism and clear-cut Christian reinforcement&comma; while the second one reads the film as a sermon on the crushing nature of patriarchy and religious fundamentalism in colonial America&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full wp-image-373 aligncenter"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;50&period;116&period;64&period;30&sol;~philosy4&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;the-witch-movie-review1-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The witch politics in horror" class&equals;"wp-image-373"&sol;><figcaption>The Witch &lpar;2016&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In John Semley’s scathing review of <em>The Purge<&sol;em>&comma; he painted the film as having contradictory motives&period; He wrote that the <em>The Purge<&sol;em> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;delights in images of excessive&comma; cartoonish&comma; aestheticized violence…&lbrack;but&rsqb; at the same time&comma; its ostensible message is that excessive&comma; cartoonish&comma; aestheticized violence is bad and wrong and that we should feel bad about indulging it” &lpar;Semley et al&rpar;&period; However&comma; Andrew O’hehir&comma; while not finding the film entirely worthy of praise&comma; did see it as a glimmer of hope and a source of escapism from our bleak reality&period; He wrote that <em>The Purge<&sol;em> is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a mind-numbingly obvious political allegory&comma;” but at the same time provides &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a more idealistic vision of democracy than any currently available in the so-called real world of Trump and Brexit and post-partisan meltdown&period;” He believed that the story emphasized &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;sacrifice and heroism&comma; a story of redemption and renewal and cross-racial working-class solidarity” and showed &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the American people finally reclaiming their destiny from the tiny clique of gated-community wealthocrats who run everything” &lpar;O’hehir&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In Joe Jarvis’ review of <em>Get Out<&sol;em>&comma; he describes the narrative as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a vehicle for a racial agenda&period;” He elaborates on this point&comma; arguing that the film aims to convince African-American viewers that they &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;cannot trust white people&period;&&num;8221&semi; However&comma; it also argues that the police&comma; and by extension the entire government&comma; should be trusted as they &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;are only there to help&comma; even when it seems intrusive” &lpar;Jarvis&rpar;&period; While the reviewer praised the film’s artistry and entertainment value&comma; he saw the subversive message as being ultimately detrimental to African-American viewers and their perception of white Americans&period; Armond White of the <em>National Review<&sol;em> had an even more negative take on the film&comma; decrying it as a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;state-of-the-divided nation movie&period;” He wrote that the director&comma; Jordan Peele&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;exploits racial discomfort&comma; irresponsibly playing racial grief and racist relief off against each other&comma; subjecting imagination and identification to political sway&period;” <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In this review&comma; the film is simply opportunistic&semi; a well timed attempt to allow white liberals to relish in their recognition of current racial injustices&comma; while feeding off of and fueling African-American fears and paranoia &lpar;White&rpar;&period; However&comma; in Walker MacMurdo’s glowing review of the film&comma; he wrote that the filmmaker intends to comment on the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;quotidian horror of life in black America&colon; You can make all of the right decisions&comma; and still find yourself in mortal danger by being in the wrong place at the wrong time” &lpar;MacMurdo&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full wp-image-368 aligncenter"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;50&period;116&period;64&period;30&sol;~philosy4&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;getout-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"politics in horror" class&equals;"wp-image-368"&sol;><figcaption>Get Out &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>However&comma; just about every film of every genre has contradictory reviews&period; Even <em>Get Out<&sol;em>&comma; which most critics loved&comma; had its detractors&period; But in these reviews&comma; it is not necessarily the reviewer’s perception of the overall quality of the film that truly matters&period; It is how they go about analyzing and politicizing the films&comma; and what this says about the state of the cinema and the nation&comma; both in regard to filmmaking and film viewership&period; Was <em>The Witch<&sol;em> a secular attack on Christian values or an overly religious rumination on feminism and the evils of patriarchy&quest; Did <em>The Purge<&sol;em> force audiences to face the issue of gun violence in America&comma; or did it provide a much-needed escape from the horrors of reality&quest; Was <em>Get Out <&sol;em>anti-white propaganda&comma; or biting satire&comma; commenting on the plight of African-Americans&quest; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Depending on your perspective&comma; any of these analyses could be true&period; The point is that all three films gain from our collective paranoia and the fractured political sphere that we now exist in&period; No matter if you are rich or poor&comma; christian or atheist&comma; conservative or liberal&comma; white or black&comma; these films aim to get under your skin&comma; to pry at your anxieties&period; And it is not just limited to these three&period; The current trend in horror is the acquisition of hyper-politicized themes and narratives to draw in audiences and breathe life into our pre-existing unease&period; This is also evident in <em>The Invitation <&sol;em>&lpar;2015&rpar;&comma; <em>Green Room <&sol;em>&lpar;2015&rpar;&comma; <em>Don’t Breathe <&sol;em>&lpar;2016&rpar;&comma; and <em>10 Cloverfield Lane <&sol;em>&lpar;2016&rpar;&comma; among others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>While paranoia and political undertones are nothing new in horror films&comma; there has been a recent escalation in films that play on the ever-widening gap that exists in American politics&period; Whether it is use of a gang of Neo-Nazis&comma; a demagogue with absolute power&comma; seemingly normal white people with sinister&comma; racially-motivated intentions&comma; or even Satan himself&comma; nothing is more effective than politics in horror&semi; or rather&comma; seeing our innermost political fears played out on screen&period; These films operate as dark caricatures of our reality&comma; energizing our increasingly biased and one-sided view of the world&period; With the introduction of &OpenCurlyQuote;alternative facts’ into our collective vocabulary and increasing distrust of our media and institutions&comma; paranoia has quickly become a defining characteristic of American society&comma; thus solidifying the success of these kinds of films&period; And once fear and paranoia take hold&comma; we look to these horror films&comma; either to escape reality&comma; or to try to answer the question&colon; What can we do&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch any of these films&comma; you can rent&comma; purchase&comma; or stream them via Amazon at the following links&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B00EQWW4A2&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B00EQWW4A2&amp&semi;linkId&equals;a649868884de0e37bc2ef9a7cdcce287">The Purge<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B01BT3SCUG&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B01BT3SCUG&amp&semi;linkId&equals;c130fdc16be03494c84b1a4868811cba">The Witch<&sol;a>&comma; and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B06Y1H48K7&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B06Y1H48K7&amp&semi;linkId&equals;ea7b590fe7c615e0b5cde784bda469eb">Get Out<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Sources<&sol;strong>&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Abrams&comma; Simon&period; &&num;8220&semi;The Witch Movie Review &amp&semi; Film Summary &lpar;2016&rpar; &vert; Roger Ebert&period;&&num;8221&semi;<em>RogerEbert&period;com<&sol;em>&period; Ebert Digital LLC&comma; 18 Feb&period; 2016&period; Web&period; 20 Mar&period; 2017&period;&lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;rogerebert&period;com&sol;reviews&sol;the-witch-2016&gt&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Holz&comma; Adam&period; &&num;8220&semi;The Witch &vert; Movie Review&period;&&num;8221&semi; <em>Plugged In<&sol;em>&period; Focus on the Family&comma; 16 May&period;&nbsp&semi;Web&period; 25 Mar&period; 2017&period; &lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;pluggedin&period;com&sol;movie-reviews&sol;the-witch-2016&sol;&gt&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Jarvis&comma; Joe&period; &&num;8220&semi;How The Movie &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Get Out” Is a Genius Piece of Racial Propaganda&period;&&num;8221&semi; <em>The <&sol;em><em>Daily Bell<&sol;em>&period; Blacksmith Pte&period; Ltd&period;&comma; 6 Mar&period; 2017&period; Web&period; 23 Mar&period; 2017&period;&lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;thedailybell&period;com&sol;news-analysis&sol;how-the-movie-get-out-is-a-genius-piece-of-racial-propaganda&sol;&gt&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Macmurdo&comma; Walker&period; &&num;8220&semi;Get Out Is As Good As Everyone Says It Is&period;&&num;8221&semi; <em>Willamette Week<&sol;em>&period;Williamette Week&comma; 28 Feb&period; 2017&period; Web&period; 20 Mar&period; 2017&period; &lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wweek&period;com&sol;arts&sol;movies&sol;2017&sol;02&sol;28&sol;get-out-is-as-good-as-everyone-says-it-is&sol;&gt&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>O&&num;8217&semi;Hehir&comma; Andrew&period; &&num;8220&semi;Which Is Stupider&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Purge&colon; Election Year” or the Total Insanity&nbsp&semi;of the Real World&quest;&&num;8221&semi; <em>Salon<&sol;em>&period; Salon Media Group&comma; Inc&period;&comma; 3 July 2016&period; Web&period; 21 Mar&period; 2017&period;&lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;salon&period;com&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;02&sol;which&lowbar;is&lowbar;stupider&lowbar;the&lowbar;purge&lowbar;election&lowbar;year&lowbar;or&lowbar;the&lowbar;total&lowbar;insanity&lowbar;of&lowbar;the&lowbar;real&lowbar;world&sol;&gt&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Semley&comma; John&comma; and James DeMonaco&period; &&num;8220&semi;Latest Film in Purge Franchise Achieves Apex of&nbsp&semi;Idiocy&period;&&num;8221&semi; <em>The Globe and Mail<&sol;em>&period; Special to The Globe and Mail&comma; 12 July 2016&period; Web&period;&nbsp&semi;17 Mar&period; 2017&period; &lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theglobeandmail&period;com&sol;arts&sol;film&sol;film-reviews&sol;latest-film-in-purge-franchise-achieves-apex-of-idiocy&sol;article30713076&sol;&gt&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>White&comma; Armond&period; &&num;8220&semi;Return of the Get-Whitey Movie&period;&&num;8221&semi; <em>National Review<&sol;em>&period; National Review&comma; 24 Feb&period; 2017&period; Web&period; 10 Mar&period; 2017&period; &lt&semi;http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nationalreview&period;com&sol;article&sol;445206&sol;jordan-peeles-get-out-trite-get-whitey-movie>&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to read more film essays like this one&comma; consult the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film Homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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