The Purge, 2013

November 17, 2022 | MATTHEW PAOLINI

In the Film, The Purge, the American government has implemented an annual 12-hour period that is free of all sanctions, indicating that all criminal actions are legal. The purge depicts a dystopian society that looks at the ideology of ethics and dictates the comparison of immorality and morality. During the purge, the people who want to participate can go into the streets. The purge gives them the freedom to make the decisions for themselves: allowing for a release from the stresses of their personal lives in any way they deem fit, including theft, murder, etc. In this society, the purge was implemented to resolve the vast amount of criminal activity, thus resulting in the prisons becoming overcrowded. After implementing the purge, the results of this experiment have been found to be successful. The movie follows James Sandin (played by Ethan Hawke), a wealthy security salesman for one of the leading home security departments, which sets up security systems to protect the people from the annual purge. The decisions of James and his family and their efforts to survive the night are depicted throughout the film. During the night, the family members are put in uncomfortable positions: forcing them to choose between right and wrong while making moral decisions.

The movie depicts moral reasoning from different perspectives depending on the character and situation. The overall idea of the purge is in line with the principles explained in the Utilitarian ideology. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that comes from consequentialism. Consequentialism views ethics through the judgment of its consequences. Utilitarianism is a derivative of this ethical reasoning. It looks at the decision-making of right and wrong through the perspective of the outcomes of those actions, stating that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the most people. This form of ethics was influenced by John Stuart Mill, a famous philosopher, who stated that each person desires happiness; ethically moral action creates the most happiness for the greatest number of people. A famous example of this form of ethics is the Trolley Problem. The Trolley Problem is a dilemma in which a train is coming at full speed, and if it stays on the path that it is on, it will kill five people. While the train is hurling towards the people, you are standing in front of the lever and have the power to switch the tracks. If you switch the train tracks, the train will go off course and only kill one person, yet if you do not switch the tracks all five people will get hit. The Trolley Problem is a great example of utilitarianism, as most people trying to answer the question would switch tracks and kill only one person, since they are saving and promoting the most eminent sum of happiness with this outcome. Due to its ability to answer concerning questions and give the reasoning for war and coercion, this form of ethical reasoning has become popular. However, utilitarianism does have limitations in its abilities (Cockshaw, R., 2021). Throughout the movie, the character's actions emphasize the limitations and the significance of this reasoning.

The idea of the purge, an annual 12-hour period free of all sanctions, allows and even encourages murder. In our societal norms, these actions are immoral and wrong, but the efforts of the purge and the “New Founding Fathers” that have implemented this annual night bring rise to one question: is the change for the better? The idea implemented within the purge expresses that societal issues are due to the sacrifices and terrors in an ordinary person’s life. It portrays the sacrifice of a few individuals would allow for a “rebirth” that changes the nation for the better. The better outcome includes a safer and more peaceful country in the other 364.5 days. From the utilitarian perspective, this idea is an ethical choice to implement, while the night may cause the loss of lives, the outcome is for the better. From the individual standpoint, it allows the release of any stress that causes problems in one’s personal life. It also offers the opportunity to take matters of some issues into one’s own hands, solving the problems in a way they deem fit their situation. Therefore, this would cause the greatest sum of happiness. It is also a decision for the better from a societal point of view, through the analysis of the statistics provided at the beginning of the movie. The movie began by showing their societal statistics: the unemployment rates and how they have become minute, lowering to a rate of 1%, as well as the disappearance of crime outside of this one day.

The ethical challenges and decisions of the characters could also be viewed and inspected through the position of Utilitarianism. James' son, Charlie Sandin (played by Max Burkholder), is put into a sticky situation when a strange man (played by Edwin Hodge) appears in the streets of the gated community. Charlie watches the man from the safe room in the house, which is composed of several television screens and audio that picks up the street views. Charlie can hear and see a strange man beg for help, visibly beaten and hurt. At this moment, Charlie is in a position to either help the man or keep his family safe in the house. Eventually, Charlie chose to deactivate the security system, let the strange man inside, and put his family in danger. This allowed the strange man to have protection from the group that was trying to kill him. Although the man is now safe inside, Charlie still did not know the strange man’s motives. Through the lens of utilitarianism, this decision could be taken as an immoral action. Although it was done in order to save a man, it could be deemed immoral due to the outcomes that came from this action. After letting the man into the house, the masked gang that was purging appeared in the doorway of the safe house. Due to Charlie's actions, James and the entirety of the masked gang were murdered. The murders and mayhem caused on this night by his actions to save a man established a situation that created the most harm and limited happiness for anyone involved.

The actions of the characters are not all immoral through this theory. James Sandin, the main character of the film, is placed in situations where he must depict what is moral through the lens of society and the individual. When the masked gang comes to the house, they only want the strange man, and make promises that if the stranger is handed over, the family will stay safe. If he lets the man out, the man will be killed but his family will be safe. Hearing this proposition, James must decide between saving his family or the man. Showing the sacrifice of one produces the greatest sum of happiness, or survival, for the family. Throughout the movie, James tries to find this man and deliver him to these people to keep his family safe, but in the process of doing so, he is met with the challenges of his own personal morals. When finding this man and wrapping him up in a chair, receives backlash from his family. James’ family, who do not support the doings of the purge, regardless of the profits they have made from the security of this night, put James in an uncomfortable situation. James must choose either to kill this stranger or live up to the deontology, or the rules that are implemented in his and his family’s life for the rest of the year. This is a decision that he makes to fight for what he believes is right and wrong, a decision that would inevitably take his life.

Aggregation is a factor seen in the movie as a significant depiction of utilitarianism, as well as a limitation. In utilitarianism, aggregation is the averaging of values or utilities as a guide for individual behavior (Narveson, J., 2009). It is a large portion of the understanding of utilitarianism in this movie. The idea is that the overall values of the society have been improving, and thus have been used as a guide to individuals to participate in the annual purge. This is promoted at the beginning of the movie, as James comes home with blue flowers. The blue flowers are symbolism for the family being in favor and agrees with the doings of the annual anarchy. In conversations, the question of “purging” or going out on this night is favored as it is thought to bring the most happiness to society. However, aggregation completely dismisses the individual. At the end of the movie, we see the decision made by the wife, Mary Sandin (played by Lena Headey), that she does not agree with this night and their values or their advantages. Mary makes the decision not to kill and more importantly makes the neighbors that are purging stop and sit at the table. Thus, forcing the killing and suffering caused by these people to stop.

Throughout the film, the premise and the overall message is expressing that the happiness of society must come before the happiness of the individual. This is the portrayal of the ethical theory of utilitarianism, which looks for an action that creates the most happiness for the greatest number of people. Each character is placed in a position of choosing what is right and wrong. In most cases, going against the utilitarian morals in protecting the group for the individual, caused greater problems, which in this night of mayhem was death.

REFERENCES

Harmon, Thomas P. “The Reactionary Moralism of Spielberg's ‘Ready Player One.’” Catholic World Report, 4 Apr. 2018, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/04/04/the-reactionary-moralism-of-spielbergs-ready-player-one/.

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