Although the Sandin family seems kind of neutral
and doesn’t participate in The Purge themselves, if we read into the subtext we can see how
they really feel. The display of blue baptisias is a sign of
support for The Purge in the same way that a pink ribbon is a sign of support for the
fight against breast cancer in our world. This light blue to cyan color can be found
all over the Sandin’s house, it’s on their curtains, their kitchen, their furniture,
their possessions and even their clothes. All of the neighbors who participate in The
Purge also don this color. Charlie, however, is fundamentally against
the Purge and he is the only one not to wear the color. Even the interface of their security system
uses this color of blue, and this is the system that is supposed to keep them safe and keep
the homeless out on the street to be purged. The Sandins do not initially have bad intentions,
but it is because of The Purge that Mr. Sandin is able to sell a ton of security systems
and become rich. -[James] Ten years ago, we could barely afford
rent. Now we're thinking about buying a boat. So the financial comfort caused by The Purge
causes Mr. and Mrs. Sandin to unknowingly look past how bad it really is. The baptisia blue color also becomes a symbol
of the political party behind The Purge, the New Founding Fathers of America, or the
NFFA. In a television interview early on, the behavioral
scientist Dr. Peter Buynak also wears this color as he explains how The Purge is effective,
claiming that it creates psychological stability by allowing pent up aggression to be released. However, later sequels would confirm that
this data isn’t accurate and it’s actually quite the opposite. So the baptisia blue he is wearing is likely
a clue to the audience that this man is an NFFA plant spreading misinformation for political
reasons. I’ll also explore how one of the neighbors
has ties to a high ranking NFFA official, so stick around to the end of this video to
hear about it. This video is sponsored by PDS Debt. ♪ Metal Music ♪ Welcome to Things You Missed. Today I’m covering The Purge -- the dystopian
not-too-distant future horror story about a night each year where all crime is legal
for 12 continuous hours. In the opening credits we see the video feeds
of the previous nationwide Purges that have taken place for the past 6 years leading up
to this night. The story is just a small snapshot of one
family’s experience in this messed up version of society, but it’s simplicity is also
what makes it great, and it still contains setups to the greater lore that we would become
familiar with as the franchise would expand. So let's lower the security doors and take
a deeper look into some of those hidden details. (SLICE) (SIRENS) As James Sandin returns home from work, he
hears a guy on the radio explaining his own plans for Purge night. -[Radio Host] Pete from Northern Virginia,
what’s your Purge plan? -[Pete] I’m gonna hunt down my boss. That son of a ***** has it coming. The idea of an employee going after his or
her boss would be explored in further detail in The Purge Season 1. And I don’t want to already be going on
this rant, but I’m already going on this rant. It’s so annoying how the Purge franchise
is titled. If I say “The Purge”, I could be referring
to this original movie, the TV series called The Purge or the franchise as a whole. But I can’t say “The First Purge” because
the fourth movie is called The First Purge. They should have called the prequel The Purge:
Experiment and they should have given each season of the series a subtitle, like The
Purge: Homecoming and The Purge: Bloodstained Saints. or something like that. Those are actually pretty good. We soon meet the Sandin kids. Zoey is the bratty teen prep student with
a ton of accolades. She’s an excellent writer, softball player
and gymnast. She even won a marathon and is also an excellent
horseback rider. Her little brother is very much the opposite. He’s more of a science standout, engineering
his own drone that he calls Timmy. I’m not sure if this is an intentional Toy
Story reference, but it is very similar to Sid’s babyface creation so I’m gonna count
it. Charlie also has some disturbing drawings
of The Purge hidden in the secret spot behind his closet. These are never explained, and so we’re
only left to wonder if this seemingly innocent character has a dark side. I know the idea of a story about the kid who
once lost a parent in The Purge has already been done a couple times now, but it would
at least be interesting to see where Charlie and Zoey ended up. They would just get Tommy Wiseau to play Charlie
as an adult. At dinner, Charlie tells about his day at
school. -[Charlie] And in English I wrote a story
about a man whose love is so powerful that it can kill people so he cuts out his own heart. -[Mary] That is so sweet. This story is kind of similar to what happens
to Mr. Sandin in The Purge. It is his love for his family that fuels his
motivation to give Dante up to the purgers so that they can be safe, but he realizes
the error of his ways which ultimately means sacrificing his own life to save everyone
else. When he locks down the house, we can see the
security code 101382. I was looking around online to see if there
might be any significance behind that number. Famousfix.com suggests that “this equates
to the date 10/13/1982, the date of Ronald Reagan's Address to the Nation on the Economy.” I’m somewhat skeptical that this could be
the motivation, but it’s worth noting that The Purge is supposed to boost the economy. -[O.S.] Crime is down. The economy is flourishing. The family gets together for lockdown when
James notices this. -[James] Hey look at this. Mr. Sabian and Mr. Barbero are going hunting. That’s daring. The name Sabian is significant. At the time, this was just kind of a throw
away reference that director James Demonaco liked to put in his movies. His 2005 film Assault on Precinct 13 had a
character named Dr. Alex Sabian and he wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film The Negotiator
which had a character named Chris Sabian. These were probably a reference to Andrea
Sabian, who he’s given a special thanks to in the credits of The Purge and The Purge:
Election Year. But looking back on this line now, we can
connect it to a character who was part of The Purge experiment. Arlo Sabian was the NFFA Chief of Staff who
tried to manipulate the results of the experiment by killing people to make it look like it
had been a success. It’s hard to say whether or not this could
actually be him, but it could definitely be a relative, as
they both obviously support the NFFA. Mr. Sandin would spend the beginning of the
evening finishing some paperwork, but another secret can be found on the TV he has playing in the background. (THUNDER) As you all know, I love a good horror story. I mean that’s why we’re all here, right? But lately I’ve been fascinated with a different type of horror story. I’ve been watching a lot of videos about people describing their battles, not with a supernatural stalker or clandestine killer… but with debt. And much like a horror movie, getting into debt is easy, but getting out is kind of an ordeal. Luckily, there is help available thanks to PDS Debt. PDS Debt has customized options for anyone struggling with credit cards, personal loans, collections, or medical bills. Debt can be like the monster that keeps growing the more that it feeds. If you’re making payments every month on your debt and your balances aren’t going down, this program is for you. It’ll save you thousands in interest and fees, and help you pay off your debts in a fraction of the time by consolidating everything into one low monthly payment. PDS Debt is a top rated company on Google and has an A+ rating on the BBB. Everyone with $10,000 or more in eligible debt qualifies and there is no minimum credit score required. They’re like that horror movie character who comes in halfway through and gives the characters the lore and tools they need to learn how to defeat the villain. Right now, PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Head over to P D S Debt dot com slash CZsWorld to get your free debt assessment today. That link will be in the description. ♪ Intense Music ♪ Zoey goes back to her room, where she discovers
that her boyfriend Henry never left the house that afternoon. I noticed her pillow has text on it that reads:
Lights Out. This isn’t a reference to the movie Lights
Out, but it could be a foreshadowing of the moment that the power gets cut. As James finishes up his work from that day,
listen to the TV in the background. -[Reporter] We’re looking at some live feeds
from around the country and discussing The Purge with criminologist Tommy Aagard. Tommy Aagard is also a significant name, it’s
a reference to the first assistant editor and visual effects editor. One of the news broadcasts features Purge
coverage of Staten Island. Director James Demonaco is kind of obsessed
with Staten Island. His first movie was originally titled Staten
Island before the title was changed to Little New York. He also wrote and produced The First Purge,
which was set on Staten Island, and he’s working on a new movie called Once Upon a
Time in Staten Island. I told you -- he’s obsessed. Charlie feels bad when he sees a homeless
man, who we later find out to be named Dante Bishop, begging for help on the streets and
temporarily disarms the security system to let him inside, then right as that happens
Henry attacks Mr. Sandin, who had been against Henry’s relationship with his daughter. This allows Dante to escape into the house. Mr. Sandin fires back at Henry, which proves
to be a fatal reaction. A group of purgers outside threaten to tear
down the door if they don’t deliver Dante, so Mr. Sandin goes to look for him, and in
the hall he comes across his family photos covered in blood - a symbol of his worst case
scenario for Purge night. Eventually he finds Dante, but he’s taken
Zoey as a hostage, and this scene is part of what makes this Purge movie the best. There are lots of scenes in the other movies
where suspense is artificially created because a purger holding someone at gunpoint just
doesn’t pull the trigger when they should. Sometimes to a ridiculous extent. This scene, however, has a reason for it. If Dante kills Zoey, there’s no reason for
James and Mary not to jump him and give him to the purgers. Mrs. Sandin sneaks up behind him, but she
won’t shoot him either, because if they can’t turn Dante over to the purgers alive,
they’ll break into the house and release the beast on the family instead. Mr. Sandin has to make a moral decision. Does he kill a possibly innocent man to guarantee
his own family’s safety, or take his chances against them, perhaps putting everyone’s
life in danger? Ultimately, he ends up feeling empathy for
Dante, perhaps due to him being able to feel sympathy for his situation because he was
poor just 10 years ago. James doesn’t make it, but his decision
still ends up saving his family, because Dante returns the favor by protecting them when
the neighbors turn against them later that night. During the end credits, we learn that this
was supposedly the most “successful” Purge yet according to the NFFA who just want to
see a lot of violence and weapon sales. -[Reporter] The New Founding Fathers have
released an early statement saying this was the most successful
Purge yet. This is a running theme in the franchise -- it
seems like each Purge is always more violent than the last. The second Purge movie takes place 1 year
after the original and unemployment has risen from 1% in the previous movie to 5%. This may be a reflection of the economy in
the world of The Purge worsening, despite the claims by the political group, The New
Founding Fathers of America, that The Purge benefits the economy. As we now know first hand, it turns out massive
amounts of death actually isn’t so great for the economy as a whole, save for a select
few of the world’s wealthiest companies. In our world, Walmart and Amazon are the rare
examples of thriving businesses, but in the world of the Purge it’s all about weapon
manufacturers. This all plays into the commentary that Anarchy
makes about gun violence in the US. (Thunder) The first pur… the original Purge introduced
the New Founding Fathers, so this time around we learn a little bit more about them and
we meet their opposition, a revolutionary group headed up by Carmelo Johns. Johns surmises that the Purge is a tool to
funnel money upward to the upper class: the politicians and their rich donors. It is the poor who are most likely to die
on Purge night, as they are unable to protect themselves. This makes it appear as if the NFFA is doing
a great job by cleaning up the streets and reducing the taxes that go towards welfare
to take care of those people. Those rich political donors that I mentioned
likely consist of two groups, those who sell security, as we saw in the previous movie,
and those who sell weapons, which we start to see in this movie. Everyone wants to get in on the so-called
“holiday” sales trend. Even the street vendors try to sell Eva weapons
as she walks home, telling her she needs them as “protection” as casually as tourist
shops might tell vacationers that they need an item to commemorate their trip, and these
are the same stalls that you might find in LA selling t-shirts and
postcards. The use of The Purge as a money making tool
in 2023 is really only a slight exaggeration of what goes on in real life, where organizations
like the NRA donate tens of millions of dollars per year to fund election campaigns for politicians
who will do what they say, so when these weapons are used for the inevitable act of terror,
the gun companies can rest assured that their politicians won’t do anything to hurt their
weapon sales. The satirization of American gun culture is
a thread that runs through the entire movie, and seemingly the rest of the series. During the opening title, we see the seal
of The New Founding Fathers of America. It’s very reminiscent of the Great Seal
of the United States, the differences being that in the NFFA seal, the eagle is holding
an assault rifle and machete instead of arrows and an olive branch. The wings are much more rigid, like jet wings
and the glory of stars, which originally represented the 13 American colonies coming together,
is thoughtfully replaced with two knifes coming together -- a symbol of unification replaced
with a symbol of conflict. The first character we meet is Eva, a waitress
taking care of a customer named Mr. Sabian. -[Eva] How is everything Mr. Sabian? -[Mr. Sabian] Great as always. Sabian is a name that director James Demonaco
often includes in his movies as a director’s trademark, but it has special meaning in The
Purge franchise, where it is often tied to a character with some kind of link to the
NFFA. In The Purge, Mr. Sabian was one of the neighbors
who went hunting during The Purge and in the prequel, The First Purge, Arlo Sabian is the
NFFA Chief of Staff. This time, Mr. Sabian is played by an actor
named Vick Sabian. There’s another potential reference on the
TV. The news scroller at one point reads: “A
drive along Oregon’s coast reveals soaring sand dunes,” which may be a nod to the production
company, Platinum Dunes. The news anchor also says that more people
will partake in this Purge than ever before. I mentioned in the last episode that this
is the case in seemingly every Purge that we’ve seen, and in Anarchy we find out why. Roll it. -[Big Daddy] Tonight we take lives. We make things manageable for us. Unfortunately, the citizens aren’t killing
enough. So we supplement it all. To keep things balanced. As commencement draws closer a married couple,
Shane and Liz rush to get to shelter and see people putting out blue baptisias, which the
previous movie explains to be a sign of support for the Purge. We don’t see them as much as you would expect
in this movie, which may be because of a shortage caused by a drought, as explained in an article
on the NFFA website. You can also spot men putting up plywood,
and this shot is a powerful visual representation of what Carmelo Johns preaches about the poor
being the ones who suffer most during The Purge, while the NFFA can afford to sit back
behind their high tech security systems. While Eva is walking home, you can get a slight
glimpse of a poster advertising the suspension of emergency services during The Purge, which
is actually just a movie poster from the ad campaign of the original movie. In that film, we encountered one group of
Purgers that wore creepy, nondescript masks. Shane and Liz encounter a new group who travel
around on motorbikes, skateboards and a large van. Some of them have religious iconography on
their masks or faces. The last movie did have a little bit of evidence
of The Purge starting to become a religion, with the crazy neighbors holding hands and
reciting something like a prayer, the emergency broadcast ending with this: -[Broadcast] Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn. ...and maybe even the choice of flowers, the
blue baptisias, being a reference to baptism, the symbolic form of purification in some
religions. It goes along nicely with a phrase commonly
chanted by purgers: -[Preacher] Purge and Purify! Say it with me. -[Crowd] Purge and Purify! Anarchy takes the religious parallels the
next level. I think the idea is that by making the violence
into a religious experience, the NFFA hopes people will look past their morals, and blindly
accept it as an OK thing to do. Many people follow religion to help guide
their morality, but I’m sure you can also think of examples of those who use their religion
as an excuse to justify horrible behaviour. Like those nutcases who try to ban horror
movies. Those people have strayed SO FAR from the
light. -[Crowd] Purge and Purify! We see The Purge become more and more intertwined
with religion throughout the first three Purge movies. Carmelo calls this out in one of his rants. -[Carmelo] We no longer worship at the altar of Christ,
Mohammed, Yahweh. We worship at the altar of Smith and Wesson. Smith and Wesson is a firearm manufacturer. Next is the sniper woman acting as a herald
from a rooftop. Her speech is rife with religious entitlement. She says: “I'm doing God's work. He uses an earthquake, a virus. The masses nourish and flourish. I am that virus tonight. I am a one-woman f***ing plague and you're
all in my path! I am the Holy Trinity. I am the Father F***er, Son of a B****, and
Holy S***! And my MP-9 silver-tipped Auto Magnum. The right arm of the free world and the left
hand of God! In flaming fire, I take the heads of them
that know not God.” And the host of the Purge Gala at the end
of the movie describes one the weapons that she considers her favorite. -[Host] It is so precise it’s as if God had crafted
it himself. That brings me to the Purge countdown billboard. When hacked by Carmelo’s group, it glitches
out and momentarily reveals a hidden message. (THUNDER) ♪ Upbeat Music ♪ Probably the most iconic new villain in this
second Purge movie is this guy, who for obvious reasons, I’ll just call “Godhead.” It seems that he’s labeling himself as God,
a decider of who lives and who dies. Halfway through the annual Purge, Carmelo’s
revolutionary group taps into the video feed of the countdown to deliver a message to the
people about the NFFA. His video contains a lot of distortion and
visual glitches which seems to be purely for aesthetic purposes. One of the glitches shows New Founding Father
Donald Talbot, and if we pause right as it happens, the word EVIL is written across his
forehead in the same spot Godhead has written the word God. Other subliminal messages in this presentation
include a message reading: Frick the Purge and a protest sign that says Where Corruption
Begins. WCB may stand for Workers Compensation Board,
the state agency that provides benefits to those that get injured during work. We never hear anything more about this, but
based on what we do know, it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that the NFFA is
using the Purge to take out people that were injured on the job so that they don’t have
to pay them. This would be yet another example of The Purge
disproportionately affecting the working class. Speaking of which... -[Liz] You know, we don’t have a lot of
time before commencement, Shane. -[Shane] We’ll be fine. I promise. He would not be fine. The last character we meet is Leo Barnes. These articles on his wall tell us he’s
the new Jeff Denlon and if you look closely, you’ll notice the drunk driver who hit his
son was let off the hook just two weeks ago, around the same time that Leo would have disabled
the man’s security system. -[Leo] Two weeks ago I came here and disabled
his back barricade, that’s what we’re doing here. By the way, we spend most of the movie wondering
how Barnes got all his awesome combat skills. When he drives out of the garage, it looks
like he’s got a cop car with extra metal armor covering the body. Then when he comes face to face with this
guy at the end, he says they looked up his info, and he refers to him “sergeant”. So it seems like Barnes learned to kick ***
because he used to be a police sergeant. When The Purge is about to begin, Shane is
still optimistic. -[Shane] Hey hey hey. Don't worry. We’ll figure something out. I promise. Promise. I do not think he knows what that word means. Speaking of which, when Eva and her daughter
Cali have their apartment invaded by the sweaty guy from their building, he seems a little
confused on the name of his favorite government tyrants, calling them the New Found Fathers. -[Diego] It’s my right! Granted to me by the New Found Fathers. Maybe he was confusing them with a certain
late 90s early 2000s pop-punk act, but I just had to point this out, because it seems to
have predicted this whole 2020 phenomenon known as the “Karen meme”, where these
people film someone breaking the rules, and the person freaks out and claims they have
the right to do whatever it is they’re doing and usually cites made up information and
makes a huge scene. -[Random Karen] I’m going to get my order, and I have a right. The name Karen is thought to be a reference
to a character from the movie Mean Girls, but there can also be Mankarens, so this guy
screaming about how killing is “his right”, and incorrectly citing the name of the group
that gave him that “right” seems be an almost Simpsonseque prediction of events later
to come. Hopefully this isn’t one of those cases
of life imitates art, though. I did find a case of art imitates art, when
the characters make it to Tanya’s house. The news coverage they have playing on the
TV is the same channel that James Sandin watched a year prior. Even though this takes place a year later,
the news scroll at the bottom has the exact same text as the first movie, about parliament’s
criminal imprisonment measures, and a comedian copyrighting a catch phrase. Also, it turns out that Shane getting shot
makes Liz realize how much she cares about him. -[Liz] I'm sorry. -[Shane] No, l got shot. -[Liz] Oh, are you gonna use this excuse
for the rest of our lives? -[Shane] Well, at least the rest of the night. Well. I guess this time they were both right... As the group travels through the financial
district, they come across the remains of a man who has been purged. There’s a note left on him that says, -[Shane]Here hangs stockbroker David Nuestadter. Stole our pensions now he’s gone. However, David Nuestadter is no stockbroker. He’s a horror film executive producer. In fact, he’s one of the most prolific horror
film producers of the last decade -- he’s responsible for funding all of the biggest
hits made by Universal Studio’s rival studio Warner Bros. The spelling of the name is way too specific. Clearly, Universal Studios or director James
Demonaco feels that Nuestadter stole something from them, and they’re quite bitter about
it. I’m not sure what that something is… maybe
there were early talks to make The Conjuring franchise a Universal / Blumhouse movie before
Neustadter swooped in and secured that $2 billion bag for Warner Bros. Or maybe Demonaco pitched something to him,
and then one of his future movies was a little too similar to his idea. If anyone knows what this beef might be about,
let me know in the comments. The climax of the movie would involve our
characters being kidnapped by Godhead and his crew and sold off to be victims in this
life-and-death stakes laser tag arena, but there’s something interesting about the
soundtrack in this sequence. (THUNDER) ♪ Classical Music ♪ After being kidnapped and sold to rich NFFA
associates who hunt people for sport, the main group is put on display to be sold off
along with three other victims, and to add credibility to Carmelo’s theory, all three
of them are dressed in clothes you’d typically see on a homeless person. Also, the music being played during this gala is a classic piano piece by Chopin. Much like how the series opens with a montage
of purging set to a classic piece by Debussy. After Shane is picked off by one of the bad
guys, speaking of potentially stolen content, the soundtrack here sounds exactly like a
Green Day song. 🎵 Slow series of notes from string instrument🎵 🎵 "21 Guns" - Green Day 🎵
(intro) Oh wow, the lyrics fit too! And that in itself it funny, because 21 Guns
has a melody from... Full House? Roll it. 🎵 "21 Guns" - Green Day 🎵
(solo) 🎵 "Everywhere you look, everywhere you
look!" 🎵 So yeah, that’s how The Purge: Anarchy connects
to Full f***ing House -[Carmelo] This is our time now! The team that helps Leo and the others escape
is aided by Dante Bishop from the last movie. They commandeer a vehicle in the parking lot. At the beginning, Leo was ordering two innocent
people to get out of his car, essentially leaving them to die in the Purge; but now
he’s ordering two bad people to do the same it’s only been 12 hours, but his experiences
on this night have already started to shape his morals. And about 40 minutes later, we see evidence
of his character development again, when he decides to let his son’s killer go free. I guess we don’t technically know that he
was ever planning to kill him, I mean maybe he was just going to give him a stern talking
to, but most likely, he had malicious intentions, but changed his mind. After coming out of the house, he’s finally
hunted down by this guy, who’s known as Big Daddy. Not that Big Daddy. Not THAT Big Daddy. That Big Daddy. It’s here that Barnes learns that the NFFA
interferes with the Purge, and this may have been the moment that inspired him to fight
against the NFFA by going into security work and protecting their political opponents,
as seen in the next movie. The final sirens sound, and Leo is rushed
to the hospital. I think we now know that this is maybe the
most unrealistic part of The Purge, since we’ve now seen how bad things can get when
hospitals all reach capacity. In the credits, there are a few hidden
cameos from the first movie, like the interface of a Sandin Security system, the group that
broke into the Sandins’ house, and James Sandin himself. At the beginning of this video, I mentioned
how The Purge: Anarchy is a social commentary about gun violence in the US. Demonaco himself has talked about how it explores
the idea that if there was no government then what would dictate our morality? We see that some people will try to take the
law into their own hands. We see those without guns of their own being
the most vulnerable targets, but when given a weapon, they fight violence with violence,
because if you can’t afford one, you can’t really protect yourself through other means,
the purgers will find you. It starts with just the gun lovers, but we
see participation in The Purge grow year over year as the groups being gunned down start
to retaliate. And ultimately, allowing this to go on year
after year causes things to devolve into complete anarchy. In The Purge: Election Year, Joe’s Deli
serves as a symbol of The American Dream for Joe and his community, but some of the images
seen around the store have a greater significance than you might have realized. Election Year shows us the height of a revolution
staged by the lower class against the government. This is essentially the New Civil Rights Movement
of the United States. In the world of The Purge, the poor are discriminated against.
Not only can the wealthy better afford to protect themselves during The Purge, but if
you read into the lore detailed on the New Founders website, you’ll see they’ve enacted
laws like the Contributing Citizens Provision of 2019 that straight up allows discrimination
against the poor. There are both subtle and not so subtle comparisons
to the original Civil Rights Movement that took place in the United States 86 years prior.
Joe’s Deli is his pride and joy, his little piece of the pie, as he puts it. For him,
the American Dream means owning and operating his own business that serves the community,
but his dream, like the dream of his ancestor, Martin Luther King Jr., is crushed, when his
insurance company intentionally raises his rates 1 day before The Purge. -[Joe] They just raised the premium on my Purge
coverage. By thousands. The day before the damn Purge. If I don’t pay it by tomorrow
I have no Purge coverage for this store. In previous Purge movies, we’ve learned
that weapon and home security companies are the most likely shills for the political party
that created The Purge, the NFFA, and Election Year suggests that insurance companies have
joined that category. But some of the images seen in and around
the deli are more than just a generic symbol of civil rights -- they reference specific
historical events that foreshadow what happens at the end of the movie. There are also more
modern references, in fact, Election Year may have actually predicted some future events. (IMPACT) (Thunder) If you’ve been waiting for a video where Emo Abraham Lincoln, regular Abraham Lincoln
and Angry Abraham Lincoln all collide, this is the episode for you. If you want to hear
about the hidden meanings encoded in the third Purge movie, you are also in the right place. This would be the last installment directed
by series creator James Demonaco, although he would stay on as screenwriter going forward.
If you look at Election Year literally, it looks like the silliest, most ridiculous entry,
but we can find deeper meaning when looking on a metaphorical level. Let’s get into
it. All around Washington DC, there are NFFA logos
and advertisements, but in low-income areas like the area near the freeway underpass and
right around the deli, we see that the banners have been defaced, a symbol of the tension
that exists between the social classes. The divide between the rich and poor is highlighted
by the use of technology. The movie is set in 2040, so you’d expect some futuristic
gadgets, like Leo’s remote detonating briefcase and GPS tracking bullets, but Joe, Marcos
and Lainey use devices that feel outdated even today. From standard definition monitors,
to broken grandpa clocks to Samsung Galaxy S2’s and even this monstrosity. As I mentioned, the deli is decorated with
photos of the most prominent figures of the original American Civil Rights Movement, like
Malcolm X, who was an advocate of African American human rights in the 1960s who was
criticized for refusing to denounce violence as a form of self-defense. -[Interviewer] So Martin is your friend, yet
you would disagree to his approach to what he wants to accomplish? -[Malcolm X] Definitely, if his approach would bring
about what the black man in America needs, to completely eliminate the problem that we
have, I would say well and good. The Purge: Election Year has its own Malcolm
X -- it’s Dante Bishop, the homeless man turned revolutionary fighter who planned to
assassinate the NFFA’s presidential candidate. The independent candidate Charlie Roan criticizes
him on his methods. -[Charlie] Mr. Bishop, I’ve heard stories of tactics
that you employ on Purge night. I can’t say that I agree with any of it. Bishop changes his ways in the end, but they
do share the same fate of being taken out by extremists. Another picture seen in the deli is of Harriet
Tubman. Harriet was born into slavery in the 1820s, and her most notable accomplishment
was operating the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safehouses designed
to help escort African Americans out of slavery in the south. The new Civil Rights Movement isn’t about
slavery and race though, it’s about money and homelessness, so the new Harriet Tubman
is Laney Rucker, who spends her Purge night working in a triage van to help Purge victims
get to underground safehouses throughout the city where they can hide out and get medical
attention. Tubman also worked as nurse during the American
Civil War and notably led a military operation known as the Raid on Combahee Ferry where
750 people were rescued from slavery on Union ships. At one point, Laney’s character is implied
to also have some kind of notable military background, but it’s never explained or
expanded upon and isn’t relevant to the story in any way. -[Schoolgirl 1]That’s Laney Rucker, Kimmy. -[Kimmy] Laney Rucker? They called you Pequeña Muerte. Little Death. You’re my motherf***ing hero. This detail seems to only exist to explain
how she knows how to use a gun, or as an added parallel to Harriet Tubman.
Then there’s Frederick Douglass. Like the others, he was an important figure in slavery
abolition and Civil Rights. He went on to hold several political offices and at one
point he was nominated to become Vice President of the United States. If he does have a counterpart
in the movie, I’m guessing it’s Senator Roan, but there may also be another historical
figure who serves as a stronger reflection of Roan. The most recognizable person pictured here,
the true Patriot of his time, was Tom Brady; this was before he became a Buccaneer, but
other than that, there’s Martin Luther King Jr., who of course is the most prolific Civil
Rights speaker of all time, with his famous I Have a Dream Speech. There are a couple of pictures of him in the
deli, but I want to look at this one in particular, which was taken at a press conference on November
5th, 1964, just after Lyndon B Johnson was elected as President. Johnson was known for
his domestic policies known as the “Great Society” program and the “War on Poverty”
program, which assisted millions of families out of poverty during his administration.
Senator Roan’s platform is all about helping out low-income people, primarily by promising
to end The Purge. The day this photo was taken, Johnson spoke
with King Jr. to thank him for his support and ask him to get behind the poverty initiative. -[LBJ] We’re gonna spend a lot of time with
Schrieber on our poverty thing, I wish you’d give a little thought to it, because that
offers a lot of opportunity for our young people. -[MLK Jr] Well, good, good, and again, let me congratulate you. So as you can see there are a lot of similarities
between Senator Roan and Lyndon B Johnson, but there may be one more parallel in looking
at the circumstances of when they took office. Johnson was elected shortly after becoming
President due to the assassination of John F Kennedy, while Roan was elected shortly
after the assassination of Caleb Warrens, the NFFA leader that gets sniped down at the
end of the movie. The main characters would not be the only
ones who represent a person or group of historical significance, and there are many other secrets
waiting to be uncovered. (Thunder) The previous film, The Purge: Anarchy, started
to explore how the NFFA was creating a religious aspect to the Purge as part of their wider
effort to manipulate people into participating. Here, it’s front and center, as the new
NFFA Presidential candidate is a minister who holds a midnight ceremony on Purge night
where less fortunate people and political enemies are to be sacrificed. There are many moments that build up to the
finale at the cathedral, from the first shot of the evening showing the sun setting behind
a building that looks like a church to a church being the only location labeled on the GPS
system that the NFFA’s mercenaries use to track the Senator. The United States has something called an
Establishment Clause, the separation of church and state, but we see that all of the New
Founding Fathers are the religious leaders, serving as ministers and priests. This isn’t
a separate religion that they happen to be a part of, this is clearly an NFFA event,
Minister Owens even admits that Midnight Purge Mass belongs to his party. His first name is Edwidge, a french name meaning
“war”. He is a minister of war, and as Senator Roan suggests in a debate, murder
is his new religion. He’s joined at the altar by Harmon James.
Harmon is also a French name meaning soldier, and he’s the one seen carrying out the ceremonious
purging. On the topic of nomenclature, there are a
couple of notable names on the other side as well. As I mentioned in his Horror History
episode, Dante Bishop is given a name for the first time in this movie, previously only
being referred to as a stranger. Dante refers to Dante’s Inferno, a famous 14th century
poem about the journey through hell, while his surname Bishop would refer to the clergy
member in the Christian church. So his name comes off as an oxymoron. Perhaps he’s split
somewhere between heaven and hell. He has good intentions and wants to help people,
but uses violent tactics to make his points. At the end he has to choose between sin and
virtue. Also of note, he has a right hand man whose
name is Angel. Earlier on the streets, a crazy purger on chants about the gates of hell. -[Man on Street] That’s right! The gates of hell will
open and invite me in! The movie seems to be showing us the contrast
between traditional religious beliefs where behaviour would dictate going to heaven or
hell and the NFFA’s new distorted religious system where sin is glorified. One name that we’ve seen come up in every
Purge movie is Sabian. Arlo Sabian was the NFFA Chief of Staff in The First Purge, Mr.
Sabian was a neighbor in the Purge and diner patron in The Purge: Anarchy and now Mrs.
Sabian is a customer at Joe’s Deli. -[Joe] Mrs. Sabian, I wish I knew. The name Sabian is a staple in every movie
made by director James Demonaco, as is Staten Island. You can spot some channel 11 Purge
coverage of Staten Island on the TV in the back of the Senator’s living room. And speaking of stuff that appears in other
Purge movies, were we not supposed to notice when the sirens sound, they just ripped an
unused shot from The Purge: Anarchy? This is clearly LA. My only guess is maybe they
were trying to encompass how far the Purge series has come with this sequence, which
starts in the Senator’s home, (the first movie takes place all inside one home) then
showing Los Angeles (where the second movie takes place) then showing Washington DC, which
is the capital, it’s representative of the entire country. There’s also a connection to the original
film in that the flashback of Roan’s family being purged takes place on the same night
as that movie. Before the NFFA hired mercenaries invade her
home, there are a few significant items I noticed upstairs, like these two crane ornaments.
In Japanese culture, cranes are said to represent good fortune and longevity, two traits that
seem appropriate for Barnes and Roan who survive until the next morning against all odds. There’s also a turtle on the Senator’s
mantle, a Chinese symbol for longevity. This is seen just before Leo bursts into the room
and has her put on a bulletproof vest, her metaphorical turtle shell, if you will. Leo and Roan escape just before the bad guys
break into the room, and their leader unmasks himself, revealing his affiliation with many
of the most evil groups throughout history. We’ve gotta slow it down to understand all
of them. The more well known ones are the Nazi symbol,
the party responsible for the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremecist group, and
the confederate flag of the breakaway state that fought for slavery in the American Civil
War. He also has a tattoo that says 88, which is
supposedly a numerical code. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so this translates
to HH which stands for Heil Hitler. Another tattoo says AB, an acronym for Aryan Brotherhood,
a neo-Nazi prison gang and organized crime syndicate. My Google Search history feels
very dirty after looking this stuff up and that’s coming from me. My favorite search result though, was when
I looked up what a spider web tattoo on one’s head signifies, and found the answer: a serious
lapse in judgement. Upon looking further I found out it meant they were in prison. The assault rifle on his temple signifies
that he’s a gun carrier, and the words Free in America are written across his face. Which
isn’t a bad message by itself, but it takes a darker meaning in the world of The Purge. On the back of his head he has the American
Eagle. I’m guessing it’s not because he’s a fan of the clothing brand… or the roller
coaster, although he does seem to like Spiderwebs. There’s also an American flag, almost as
if the US has become the newest evil group in this universe. We see that the country
definitely attracts negative attention when a story on the news tells about the latest
travel trend called murder tourism. -[Traveler} We’re here to experience the purge. To k*ll. Release all the anger and h*te. Be like Americans. I think this is kind of a commentary on how
other countries see America today, where the rate of mass shootings is much higher than
any other developed country. Of course, I’m American, so I can only assume how other countries
see us. There are also several examples of medieval
weapons like a guillotine, a pendulum and a mace being used to purge, which I see as
a symbol for the primitive nature of weapon regulations in the US. The murder tourists play an interesting role
later in the story, as Barnes is trying to escort Senator Roan to safety and they’re
stalked by a drone, which we later find out to be a Russain drone. In other words, this
American politician is being followed around by Russian spies. The Purge: Election Year was released in 2016,
which was an election year in real life for the United States. It is said that Russia
tried to influence the results of that election by creating bots on social media websites
to spread propaganda. The drone is literally a Russian bot, and when Leo shoots it down,
the explosion lights up a mural that says Keep Washington Beautiful. If it’s intentional, it’s an interesting
metaphor. I’ll just let you decide how intentional it really is though. The movie came out in
July, but the election didn’t begin until the end of the year. It’s hard to say when
the Russain initiative would have begun, seeing as how I’m not a member of the CIA or FBI.
However, paranoia of Russian plants has been a concept in American culture that goes back
for decades. That being said, the next scene does seem
to predict a Russian collusion, where bot accounts on social media pretending to be
American citizens would spread information that might influence the election. In The
Purge, we have these Russian tourists masquerading around in Washington DC in the costumes of
typical American icons, and they almost quite literally influence the election by purging
one of the candidates. So we’ve discussed how many characters and
groups have historical or societal significance in this story. What about Kimmy and her Purge
gang? We first meet her trying to steal candy from Joe’s Deli, then even when confronted
about it, she’s resistant to give it up. Kimmy represents greed. She comes back during The Purge with the intention
of stealing back the candy bar. -[Kimmy] I want my candy bar. And I’m gonna take it. When she returns, we see that she’s already
got it all: nice cars decorated with bright lights, bejeweled guns made of solid gold
and flashy costumes because… -[Purger] THE PURGE IS HALLOWEEN FOR ADULTS! No, Halloween as an adult is Halloween for
adults. I appreciate the positive energy though dude. Kimmy and her gang are basically the typical
American millennial archetype. Of course, this movie is set in 2040, so they aren’t
actual millennials; this is just another social commentary on our own time period. She isn’t
willing to buy the candy bar because she just feels she has the right to take it. -[Kimmy] If I want some candy, I'll take some candy. I'll take whatever the f@$k I want. Her greed isn’t limited to material things
either, she’s also a massive attention freak. Notice how their crew isn’t dressed for
stealth combat like most purgers. They deck their cars out with lights and blast loud
music, they wear skimpy outfits and wear mascots costumes and anime masks. For them, Purge is all about being the center
of attention, taking whatever they want and taking out anyone who tries to stop them.
Her crew is so self absorbed that they don’t even hear Laney’s van driving up to take
them out. (Van Speeding Up} This is actually one of many just… kind
of dumb moments in this movie. Like when Leo and the Senator encounter the swinging pendulum,
and they try to time it when there’s clearly just plenty of room for them to crawl underneath. I feel like I’m willing to forgive some
of the ridiculousness though, because this entry does have probably my favorite line
in the franchise: -[Caleb] We are going to use this year’s Purge to do some Spring Cleaning gentlemen… (IMPACT) One of the most poorly titled movies of all
time, The First Purge, invalidated 5 years of me referring to THIS movie as the first
Purge. However, unlike the original Purge, this one came out relatively close to when
the story takes place. The movie is set in 2016 and if you want to see me explain the
timeline watch this video. But being set closer to the release date affords
this movie an interesting opportunity to incorporate current events for the first time. Like how
Isaiah has a poster for another poorly titled movie: Halloween 2018 in his room. This is
part advertising for Blumhouse who wanted to hype up their other big release for that
year, and part foreshadowing, as Isaiah and his loved ones would hide in a closet at the
end of the movie, just like Laurie Strode did in Halloween. There aren’t really any decent masks for
sale for The First Purge for whatever reason, so I’m gonna go bare for this one. Welcome
to Things You Missed. The initial three Purge films were both written and directed by James Demonaco,
but for this prequel, he’d stay on as screenwriter while tasking Gerard McMurray with directing
duties. Subtle is probably not the word best used
to describe any Purge film, but you could at least make the argument that the themes
are subtle in 1 through 3, especially if you’ve seen my videos analysing them. McMurray decided
to take a more direct approach. The poster for this movie and the line said
during this one scene are very obvious jabs at the United States White House administration
during the time the movie was made, whereas the previous movies depicted the NFFA as an
alternative to real life political parties. One detail I found interesting was how the
NFFA Chief of Staff intentionally sends his mercenaries to purge in low-income areas.
This makes it appear as if the lower class is out for blood, which almost directly leads
into the beginning of the original movie, where a group of affluent purgers hunt down
an innocent homeless man for no other reason than the fact that he is homeless. We’ve also seen that the NFFA likes to use
statistics to make it seem like The Purge is helping reduce crime during the rest of
the year. Unfortunately, the NFFA website, which was updated with statistics and additional
lore to promote Purge movie releases in the past has its weakest iteration for The First
Purge -- there’s basically no new information here. But perhaps more importantly, at the beginning
of the movie, we see how this data was skewed. The scene suggests they are doing their research
about crime behaviour using crazies and addicts, as opposed to the general population. This
is a tactic they use to craft their own narrative. They want to make it seem The Purge is the
answer for the nation’s problems, but many of their opposers see through the BS and protest
at the sign up stations, where citizens can volunteer to participate in The Purge Experiment
in exchange for financial compensation. The conflict draws in many news stations, including
one called KRXJ News, a station that has also appeared in the TV show Psyche and in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe. It seems it's appeared in a couple of other
shows as well. Is this a coincidence? I don’t think so. There are about 35,000 possible combinations
that start with either K or W. I tried Googling a number of random combinations, and surprisingly,
they all seem to be taken. But KRXJ was the only one I found that yielded a fictional
entity. After doing a little digging, I realized that
prop designer Daniel Columbie has also designed for a few Marvel movies. I’m guessing that’s
the connection, and the answer to this pointless question. The sign up stations also give away blue flowers
to those who sign up to participate. -[Psychologist] Baptisias. The official flower of the experiment.
They represent rebirth. This explains the origin of a through line
in each of the Purge movies: the baptisias, which became a sign of support for the Purge. -[Stranger] And your blue flowers tell me
that you support The Purge. The main antagonist this time is the original
NFFA Chief of Staff, Arlo Sabian. If you’ve seen my other Purge episodes, you know that
Sabian is a name that comes up in every Purge movie, which is perhaps just a symptom of
the fact that they are all written by James Demonaco, who likes to have a character named
Sabian in all of his work. The other James Demonaco trademark is Staten
Island, where the Purge experiment is going to take place. This location appears on a
TV screen in preceding Purge movies, and the two non-Purge movies he’s directed
are both set there. But not far from where this is taking place,
our main character, Nya, leads a protest against the controversial experiment. One of the signs
reads “The 28th is a h*te crime”. This suggests that The Purge is being considered
as the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution, which is confirmed in the original iteration
of the website. But I think this movie creates an interesting
metaphor for The Constitution. Nya and Isaiah live at a building called The Park Towers.
Let’s pretend that building is The US Constitution. It’s an old building. It has a lot of leaks
that have come up over the years. The people that live there have a lot of issues with
it. The problem is, the manager is never in, and isn’t much help anyway with fixing these
issues anyways. Our characters are minorities, and they live
on the 14th floor. It just so happens that the 14th Amendment deals with equal protection
of the laws, and is often used to fight racial discrimination. This is fitting, because the NFFA hires modern
factions of racist groups such as the KKK and Aryan Nations to go into Staten Island
and purge. The main bad guy, whose name is… General Smiley?.. Has a gold armband very
similar to the red Nazi armband you might see in generals wearing in old photographs. They attack the entire building floor by floor.
On the second floor, a couple of armed citizens fight back against them. As it turns out,
the second amendment is the right to bear arms, something citizens are reminded of in
the form of a huge billboard. The text at the bottom says “Paid for by the UARO Political
Victory Fund. I have no idea what the UARO is, but if you look up “political victory
fund” you’ll find a bunch of stuff about the NRA, who are stated at the beginning of
the movie to be supporting the New Founding Fathers. -[Reporter] The New Founding Fathers, rising in polls,
with the NRA now endorsing them and supporting them financially with large donations to the
NFFA warchest. The implication is that The Purge is fueled
by money, that this whole thing happened because the NFFA values money, more than it values
the lives of its citizens. -[Nya] They have monetized and incentivized murder.
Walk away from their money! The police officers who are keeping an eye
on this protest don’t seem too enthused, but names like “Forbes” and “Sachs”,
maybe it’s because they are in on it as well. (Thunder) ♪ Intense Music ♪ Staten Island was chosen as the site of the
experiment partially because it is home to a number of street gangs, one of which is
led by a man named Dmitri who surprisingly operates out of a community center named after
Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey. You’ve probably noticed that this movie
picks up where Election Year left off comparing the anti-Purge movement to the American Civil
Rights movement. The First Purge is, as usual, a lot less subtle about it; there’s one
point where Nya even claims that she sees The Purge as a way the government is trying
to keep minorities down. In Election Year, Joe’s Deli was the center of the community,
and it displayed the photos of several Civil Rights leaders. In The First Purge, the community center has
some of these same photos. Literally, we see the same exact picture for Martin Luther King
Jr and a very similar picture for Malcolm X. I don’t know if this was the production just trying to save a few bucks
on props, but it actually makes me wonder if Joe from Election Year might have been
a youngster at this very community center, and took these photos with him when he went
to DC to start the deli. We know he has been a part of gang activity
before. -[Joe] Told you I ain’t no saint. Everybody’s
got a past. The other photos include civil rights figures:
Jesse Jackson, Marcus Garvey, Thurgood Marshall; and the corkboard celebrates athletes who
broke the color barrier, like Jesse Owens, Mohammed Ali and Jackie Robinson. Robinson
came up with the Brooklyn Dodgers playing first base, but faced a lot of adversity because
he was the first African American-American to play in MLB, as opposed to the Negro Leagues.
Brooklyn is right next to Staten Island, and there’s a scene later in the film where
a black man is purged by white police officers just in front of first base at a
stadium with advertisements for The Purge experiment displayed in the outfield. So it
feels like the movie is telling us that The Purge gave bad people the opportunity to undo
the progress made by people like Jackie Robinson. And while we’re talking about sports, I
have to say that there was a huge missed opportunity by the wardrobe department. They
gave this guy, Taz, an Eli Manning jersey. But they should have given him #17 for Plaxico
Burress, seeing as how Taz later gets shot in the leg, and Plaxico Burress infamously
shot himself in the leg at a nightclub. Gotta love the character of Dmitri though,
I mean how many powerful gangsters have time to also be an inspiring community basketball
coach? When it comes to gangsters named Dmitri, this guy is probably in my top 2 or 3. In Dmitri’s office, he has a giant artwork
of Ben Franklin, as seen on the 100 dollar bill. In universe, the reason he has it simply
because he likes money, but there are many shots where the eye peeks through, as if it
is watching and spying on him. Ben Franklin is one of America’s original
founding fathers, and in the film, the government is controlled by a party called the New Founding
Fathers, and they are notorious for spying on the citizens, whether it be through surveillance
cameras, recording contact lenses or attack drones. Another symbol for this can be seen in the
party scene, where a giant eyeball is passed around in the crowd. The party goers wear animal masks and makeup,
such as foxes, lions, leopards and cows. I think I spotted a wendigo in there too. This
is a way of foreshadowing the predator prey relationship between the NFFA and the public.
And speaking of masks, there’s a scene where Nya is trapped by a guy with a creepy baby
doll mask. The repurposing of a baby doll seems to be a nod to the remote control camera
created by Charlie Sandin in the original Purge. -[Mary] Quit playing with Timmy and come help me
set the table, Kiddo Since this is a prequel, there are some things
that we’ve come to know about the world of The Purge that seemingly haven’t been
instituted yet. I noticed that the vehicles have New York license plates, where in later
entries, the NFFA have instituted a uniform license plate for the US that says “A Nation
Reborn.” This was also before the US Postal Service
was replaced with NFFA Mail. Another difference is that the color of the
emergency broadcast screen was red instead of the usual blue. Director Gerard McMurray
kind of flipped the script when it comes to color. Other than this one graphic at the
very end of Election Year, the NFFA is always associated with the color blue. Perhaps the
NFFA intentionally chose light blue so that the public associates them with the good guys.
Think about pop culture: good guys blue, bad guys red. But McMurray uses light in this movie to reveal
the true allegiances of characters. In addition to the red emergency broadcast, there’s
the NFFA headquarters, the hunters that try to purge Isaiah, and Sabian steps into the
red light after revealing the true sinister intentions of the experiment. Isaiah has blue contacts, Nya’s church is
blue, and Dmitri’s car has a blue underglow. Dmitri’s office is also blue, but when the
assassins enter the room, they come from the lone red light in the corner. The office also has a picture of a man in
red boxing against a man in blue; The Purge is like a punch in the face from the government
to those that oppose them. Interestingly, Skeletor is the only character
whose contact lenses are purple, a combination of red and blue. The bystanders who stay home
are green, and the looters are usually green and occasionally orange. It’s possible that there’s also a political
side to McMurray’s decision to color code. In the US, Green is representative of the
third party, so maybe that’s why green is used to portray those that seem to be neutral. The artwork in Dmitri’s office is also representative
of the differing ways that Nya and Dmitiri deal with their problems. In one scene, Nya
confronts him because she was upset that her younger brother was getting involved in his
operation. She criticizes him for what his gang has done to their community. As they
argue, Dmitri is standing in front of the two boxers -- he solves his problems with
aggression. The artwork behind Nya also depicts a boxer,
but he is sitting in the dark, thinking and quietly reflecting. Nya solves her issues
with her head. Isaiah had been hurt while selling illegal
substances on the street for Dmitri. Nya is vocally against him him doing this, and their
apartment is covered with signage that says “Drug Free Zone” and “No Smoking”.
Dimitri’s gangs rule the streets, but the apartment acts as a safe haven for Isaiah. I also noticed that their building looks very
similar to the example of low-income housing that Dante Bishop shows on TV during Election
Year. Election Year takes place 24 years later, so these images illustrate how nothing ever
actually improved while the NFFA was in power. Comparing the technology from The First Purge
to Election Year highlights one of the many frustrating things about The Purge franchise
-- which is that technology actually seems to get worse as time goes on. Election Year
has a lot of tech that feels old even today. The coolest gadget in the series is probably
The First Purge’s video contact lenses, which are actually based on a real concept
that Sony has filed patents for, but we are still years and years away from seeing in
practice as I record this video in 2021. Now I’m gonna get to the end of the movie,
and why it makes no sense, but before I do, it’s that part of the video, where I’ve
gotta air them out a little bit. During the robbery at this cash for gold place, why does
the store owner only have a security shade over one window? And I like how he keeps his
neon signs on, so he can advertise to criminals that he has valuables. Also, there’s no way Dmitri would have survived
this crash, but he’s perfectly fine a couple minutes later? One thing I did find interesting is that the
mercenaries that Sabian sent into the Purge to give the appearance that people had participated
are hidden in everyday vehicles, like a plumber’s truck and a veteran transport van. Now the ending of the movie is a bit unconventional.
With Dmitri’s help, Nya, Isaiah and the others are able to ward off General Smiley,
Skeletor and the rest of the bad guys, and The Purge ends. Usually at the end of the movie, you see that
the character has changed somehow. We call it: the character arc. But when Nya asks Dmitri what’s next
he tells her: -[Dmitri] Now we fight. Which kind of goes against the message of
the movie, which has shown us how fighting basically nearly destroyed the community.
So it’s kind of like a “bad guys win anyway” scenario, because conflict is exactly what
the NFFA wants. This ending also might be suggesting that
Dmitri was kind of like the start of the resistance, kind of a seed that would grow into the anti-NFFA
group that we meet later on in The Purge Anarchy, as more people in different cities get involved. That group is probably not the most notable
resistance in the Purge franchise though, I would give that honor to the group we see
in another poorly titled installment, The Purge TV series. (Thunder) As the Betancourt family heads out to a party on Purge night, you may notice a sign in their
front yard, noting that the house is armed by Sandin Security. This little detail is
one of many in The Purge series that references James Sandin, from the original movie. You
may recall that Mr. Sandin used his own company’s security system to protect his family, and
that didn’t work out too well for him, and he was purged before morning. Despite the supposed poor quality of these
systems, they aren’t the only ones to trust the Sandin brand. -[David] State of the art Sandin Security. -[Joe] Who’s providing the shell system?”
-[Rick] Sandin. -[Joe] The best Even the NFFA once trusted Sandin to install
their system. It’s surprising that Sandin is still trusted in The Purge Season 1. According
to the NFFA website, their main competitor, G&D security, overtook them after James Sandin’s
passing, stating, “we’re what Sandin promised to be, and wasn’t.” The Purge Season 1 takes place in 2027 based
on the dates displayed on these security systems. We can assume Henry’s signature on this
release form was a typo. That sets the season 5 years after Mr. Sandin’s system was breached,
so I’m guessing improvements were made to the company after his passing. The series opens with this shot of some blue
and yellow shower loofahs. We later find out that these colors represent the robe colors of an organization called the Mercy
cult. These kids are manipulated into giving themselves up to the Purge. Once they are
old enough, they graduate from these yellow robes to the light blue ones that they die
in. Light blue has always been associated with
the NFFA and The Purge, but it’s not until Season 2 that we discover the meaning of yellow.
Yellow is the color of Remembrance Day, the holiday that takes place 3 months later to
commemorate the lives lost on Purge night. In the first episode, Miguel Guerrero is looking
for his sister at this abandoned structure. This is actually an existing location in New
Orleans, but the blue flowers and grim reaper happen to work perfectly with the Purge. As you know, the dystopian government party
in The Purge franchise is called The New Founding Fathers of America, and the series features
many locations and references to America’s original founding fathers who helped America
gain its independence in 1776. The finale of Season 1 takes place at Thomas Paine High
School, which comes up several times in the show. The Stanton family lives on Jefferson
St, named after Thomas Jefferson. In Jane’s flashback, we see that she attended Thomas
Jefferson High School. There’s also a street called Franklin. -[Catalina] We have roadblocks, [unintelligable], go
across Franklin.” The classroom
seen in Episode 9 shows the constitutional amendments and many of the Founding Fathers.
When Miguel and Pete search for the school, they come across a map of Washington Street,
named after George Washington. Likewise, in Season 2, Esme Carmona searches
Professor Adams’s house and there’s a framed picture of the Lincoln Memorial, a
location also seen in The Purge: Election Year. And, in the last episode of Season 2,
reports go out about illegal use of weapons in Washington Square, another reference to
George Washington. If you’ve seen my previous Purge Things
You Missed episodes, which you should have, you know all about the name Sabian. Every
Purge installment has a character named Sabian, because they’re all written by James Demonaco,
whose trademark is to use that name in his writing. In the series, Sabian is mentioned
in the first episode. -[Jenna] Oh and don’t forget, after you close the deal, he’s probably gonna make a pitch for us to become NFFA party members. -[Rick] I know, I know, I’m ready for it. I’ll deflect my way out of it. Now remember,
Billy Sabian closed a huge deal for his start up here last year and he didn’t join. Another element we’ve come to expect in
all Purge entries is the inclusion of civil rights leaders in the sets, as a comparison
between America’s Civil Rights movement and the mistreatment of the poor in the world
of The Purge. This time, you can spot it in the hideout of Henry’s gang, where you’ll
see images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other figures, as well as a quote by Harriet
Tubman. MLK and Malcolm X are quoted on the wall as
well. Another aspect we’ve become very familiar
with is the idea that each Purge is bigger than the last. There are two Purges shown
in each season. First there’s the 2027 Purge. -[Reporter] Prognosticators are predicting a
record turnout tonight. We only see about 90 seconds of the 2028 Purge,
so participation is not mentioned, but the 2036 Purge continues the trend. -[Curtis] Estimates came in already. Thirty percent
uptick from last year in every district. Biggest Purge in city history. The 2037 Purge is no exception. -[Vivian] You ever seen crowds this big? -[Curtis] Never. This years tracking to become the largest Purge we’ve seen. One of the big Season 1 plotlines has to do
with Jenna being pregnant. There are a couple signs early on, like her asking for Tylenol
and ordering salt-water instead of alcohol. That being said, I still find this to be kind
of a risky question. -[Catalina] How far along?
-[Jenna] Is it that obvious? The second episode would be filled with more
connections to the movies, as well as easter eggs connecting it to other horror movie franchises. (THUNDER) ♪ Upbeat Music ♪ In Miguel’s quest to find his sister, he
comes across a Triage Van, a concept we saw more of further down the timeline in The Purge:
Election Year. There are a few Election Year references in the series, like when Miguel
figures out his sister is at the Carnival of Flesh, goes there and hears this phrase
chanted by the announcer. -[Announcer] Purge and Purify! Purge and Purify! Purge
and Purify! That’s the same motto chanted by Edwidge
Owens, the main antagonist of Election Year. In Season 2, there’s a cold open set in
a company meeting for The Merrymakers Mask Company, and we see their logo strongly resembles
the style of masks used by the Russian tourists in Election Year. We also see that Purge Tourism
trend in another cold open in Season 2. Later on in Season 2, there’s also a part
where a van gets flipped over. I don’t know if it’s a reference, but we’ve definitely
seen it all before in Election Year. One of the trials Miguel has to overcome to
get to Penelope is an obstacle course known as The Gauntlet. If the name sounds familiar,
you may be thinking of the 2016 Halloween Horror Nights maze The Purge: Gauntlet of
Fear, which happened two years before the Gauntlet appeared in the show. Other than
the fact that there’s actual danger in this Gauntlet, it really does feel a lot like a
Halloween Horror Nights maze. I would definitely be the camera guy wearing
skull makeup, and this is actually the stunt co-ordinator of the show making a cameo. There are actually a lot of funny Purge groups
in this season, my favorite of which is these guys who dress up as golfers for some reason.
And when they take their victim away, I love how he does this giddy-up motion. Imagine
being that guy. The Purge is produced by Blumhouse, who has
always been known to put funny stuff into some of their horror movies. One example of
this is Happy Death Day, which is referenced in the entrance area to Pete’s Cantina.
Masks are checked at the door, and on the rack, you can spot the Baby mask worn by the
antagonist in Happy Death Day. The property is referenced again in Season
2, where college students Ben and Turner live in a frat house that seems to be the same
as the sorority house from the Happy Death Day movies. I believe the campus they attend
is the same as well. It looks like Ben’s dorm room even has a
poster for a similar mascot. In Happy Death Day it was the Bayfield Babies, this poster
is for a team called New Orleans Baby Cakes. There are plenty of other references on the
wall of masks throughout the night though, like the sheep mask and fox mask, from the
2011 movie, You’re Next, a mask that was worn by one of the Mercy Cult purgers in episode
1, the mask of Godhead, from The Purge: Anarchy, (more on that later). The mask shown on the
sign appears to be the same mask worn by Polite Stranger in the original Purge movie, and
that mask actually appears on the rack in Episode 8. It’s not just the movies that are referenced
though. This may be the Finders Keepers app mentioned on the NFFA website. Of course, I can’t leave out The First Purge.
I mean, I could, it’s my channel, but I’m not going to. One of the storylines follows
a businesswoman named Jane, who looks out her window and sees the only building lit
up on Purge night is a bank. This is part of the idea that The Purge is fueled by money.
Jane works at an equity firm, and in a flashback to her job interview, she says the following. -[Jane] I’ve been following your firm since
I read a profile in Forbes back when I was an undergrad. This is the second time Forbes has come in
this franchise, the first being on a police officer’s name badge in The First Purge.
Side note, in Jane’s flashback we see her boss checking her out as she leaves… but
she never sees him, so how does she have that in her memory. It doesn’t make sense. There’s another flashback in the following
episode, where Miguel and Penelope’s parents are offered money to stay home during The Purge. We can see the pamphlet that says Staten Island Experiment this is the same pamphlet we saw
being handed out in The First Purge. The First Purge isn’t the only movie to
have this struggle of classes. Many of the entries make it obvious that the NFFA is power
because they are rich and The Purge is all about making money. There’s actually a piece
of graffiti in New Orleans that says 2 MUCH THREL, which is a slang term for a rich person,
so this is likely a form of propaganda against the NFFA. We see how their brainwashing of the American
people has affected people when Jane’s employee Alison purges her co-worker in order to ensure
a promotion. I’m not sure I understand the logic here. Sure, murder is legal on this
night, but wouldn’t she still be fired for offing a co-worker? Anyway, Penelope is taken away by a group
of purgers wearing nun outfits. Not sure if this is a thematic choice, given how some
groups are starting to see purging as a religious act, thanks to NFFA propaganda, or just a
result of this show coming out in 2018 and creepy nuns being really popular at the time. What’s equally unclear is if the anti-NFFA
checkpoints set up in the streets are related to the anti-NFFA group from Anarchy. All I
can confirm, is that a couple of their members seem to be wearing berets, as some of the
Anarchy resistance did. This headline seen at the end of Season 1 is also familiar if
you’ve seen Anarchy, it warns of ‘Heavy Consequences for Purge Night “Revolutionaries”’. Oh, here’s another funny part. -[Crowd] Wah haha hah. This is part of the aforementioned Carnival
of Flesh, which is also where you’ll find probably the most hilarious mask in all of
Purge. But the Carnival may have more sinister affiliations than you might have realized.
The “O” in the logo is a Celtic Cross turned 45°. This is a symbol used by Neo-Nazis
and Ku Klux Klan members. It’s also displayed in the merch cart inside the letter “O”
in shopping. The carnival also sells merchandise with KKK depictions. These racist groups have
been known to work with the NFFA and take advantage of The Purge in the movies. Penelope spends like three to four episodes
captive at the carnival thanks to her vengeful ex-boyfriend Henry. Meanwhile, Rick and Jenna
escape after the Purge party they are attending is attacked by revolutionaries. Then they
get held at gunpoint at home, by their neighbor, Ross. This part actually drives me crazy.
It’s as if they don’t understand that there can be conflict in a story without someone
holding someone at gunpoint. Especially since we just saw like 3-4 episodes of that kind
of tension. And then if you’re going to do it AGAIN
almost immediately, at least make it make sense -- like she’s about to shoot this
dude, and the people standing behind him aren’t even gonna move? What if she misses? What
if she doesn’t but she blows his brains into the crowd? Or the bullet could go right
through him. Now before I move onto Season 2, there are
a couple things present in the background all throughout Season 1 that I’ve yet to
touch on. (THUNDER) What if I put the Plus-head mask on over the
Angry Abraham Lincoln mask… That’s kinda not bad! The New Founding Fathers of America have one
practice that the originals never would have been able to: using technology for surveillance
of the citizens. -[Jane] I forgot that you were the eavesdropping
type, David. -[David] You know I’m always watching and
listening Jane. We saw this more than ever in the previous
entry -- The First Purge, where I pointed out the eyes that symbolize the always watching
government. The TV series gives us way more of that. In the Betancourts’ house, you’ll see
large artwork in the hallway of a human eye. When they return home safely after the party
I noticed another eye up above a painting near the front door. In Henry’s apartment during a flashback,
he’s also got artwork of an eye, a very illuminati looking one at that. An interesting
note here is that it says the word: Purity, which may go along with that often repeated
phrase: Purge and Purify. -[Joe] I can Purge and Purify myself. Another note on this piece is that this eye
actually has a sword going into it, a possible foreshadowing of what happens to Henry -- his
cornea is permanently damaged in a fight with Miguel. Jane’s Purge night is a crazy one with many
destinations, one of which is a sexist human art gallery held by her boss, David Ryker.
He too is the proud owner of some artwork of a big human eye. At the end of Season 1, everyone is brought
together by the main antagonist, Joe Owens. Joe has been saving each of the main characters,
because he wants to put them on trial, where they can either give a worthy confession,
or be purged by Joe himself. Joe is very much like Jigsaw, specifically,
from the movie 2017 self-titled movie. Both characters go around capturing people who
have wronged them, in order to try to force them to confess to their wrongdoing. Also,
Eleanor is here, so, there’s that. Joe plans his victims’ abductions by posting all the
information he has onto a big wall, something we’ve seen in the Saw franchise in the past,
we learn he’s extremely smart and good at math in a flashback and he even builds traps
that try to account for every possible outcome. They even share the similarity of having basic,
non-suspicious American names. “Oh my God, Joe?”
“Joe Owens?!” -[Carly] John? John Kramer?! Anyway, the reason I bring up Joe Owens with
the eye motif, is because he too ends up getting an eye poked out. When it comes to Joe though,
I’m not entirely sure that he’s dead. In the final battle, Miguel shoots his bulletproof
vest, shoots his knee and kicks him into the pool. We never get confirmation that Joe died,
and I’ll circle back to that later in this video. The last thing I have to hit on before fast
forwarding to Season 2 is our crew reference easter eggs. If you’re new to this channel,
filmmakers love to hide their own names in movies and apparently TV because we’re very
egotistical. It starts at the rehab center Penelope discharged
from: Kantrow Rehabilitation Center is named after producer Alissa Kantrow. There’s a
list of visitors at that rehab center that includes first AD Paul Uddo and production
accountant Jeff Reynolds. The character Rick Betancourt is named after co-executive producer
and writer Mick Betancourt. Pete’s Cantina has a poster for a jazz show by Neal Orillion,
which happens to be similar to the name of the art director, Nealy Orillion. David Ryker shows off an art piece that he
calls “an original Lemercier”. This is probably a reference to executive producer
Sébastien K. Lemercier. During one of Joe’s trials in Episode 9, he tries to get a confession
from someone who picked on him in high school, and shows a yearbook page. Most of the other
student names on this page are crew. You can pause if you want to read them all. Finally, there’s a flashback to the moment
when Rick and Joe had their falling out. The words: McNight House are written on the whiteboard
in the background, that’s a nod to cinematographer Kevin McNight. The motif of an eye as a symbol for government
surveillance would continue in Season 2, and there would be a lot more examples -- almost
as many as the amount of times a character expresses their dislike for this damn night! -[Papa Rico] I’m gonna try to sleep through this God-forsaken holiday.I hate this night. -[Tavis] Must be the night.
-[Shane] It’s nice to officially meet you on this sh**ty night. -[Joe] I hate this night! -[Charlie] This night corrupts everyone.
-[Dante] This is their way of protesting this damn night. -[Axe] C’mon, let’s go find a place to wait out the rest of this f***ing night. “I just hate this night.” “God, this night. This night is…”
“She knows what night it is.” “This night has been a long one.”
“I think this night has taken a toll on all of us.” “Maybe he’s just having a bad night.” “...but this night is relentless.”
“I hate this night.” “This night just kind of makes me start
thinking about what’s really important.” “A baby would probably make this night even
harder.” “She hated this holiday, she wouldn’t
be outside.” “I’m done with this night.”
“God I hate this holiday.” “I hate Purge night.” The first eye motif can be found on the necklace
of Ben Gardner’s girlfriend, Kellen. There are many instances of eyes being present in
the graffiti found around the city, whether it’s a random piece of plywood, on the bank,
on a warehouse accompanied by the text: ‘I’m watchin you’, or in an alley. The presence
of these eyes play an even more important role this season, where the plot literally
revolves around the NFFA surveillance team, and areas with no cameras known as “dead
zones'' are very important for the main characters. The surveillance team is known as the NFFA’s
visual analytics department, but most people have a different name for them. -[Ryan] You’re government.
-[Esme] Yes. I am. -[Ryan] Which department?
-[Esme] Visual analytics.” -[Ryan] Eyes in the sky. Their office has computers with an animated
desktop background. The logo says: New Founding Fathers of America -- established 1984. Of
course, they weren’t really established in 1984, they were established in 2014, which
you know if you’ve seen my Horror History episode on them. Later episodes do not contain
this text. The 1984 is a reference to the novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell,
which is about a dystopian future government who controls the population through constant
surveillance, much like the NFFA, who always have eyes on their citizens. (THUNDER) ♪ Intense Music ♪ In the second episode of Season 2, Ben relieves
his urge 2 Purge with The Purge video game in a kiosk… in the mall. He exits when another
guy complains about how long he’d spent in there and sees that he’s wearing a shirt
with three pairs of gorillas’ eyes. Esme’s sister has a poster of a peacock
feather in her room, which kind of looks like an eye, although maybe she’s just a Jimmy
Eat World fan. Esme has a pillow in her own home with a giant eye on it. The opening of episode 8 shows off a mask
with one eye, perhaps a callback to Henry from Season 1. In the frat house, there is
a beer pong rules board which also, for some reason, contains a pair of eyes. The main antagonist of Season 2 is Ben, who
loses his mind after nearly getting purged by a man in a Godhead mask. Many of you wondered
in my Anarchy video if this is the same Godhead from Anarchy. That guy was black, and this
guy is white, so I’m gonna say no, they’re not the same guy, but I guess creating this
mask became somewhat of a Purge tradition, as you’ll recall, we also saw one in Season
1. Maybe the NFFA emblem posted next to his bed
is a clue that he’s going to become evil. I’m not sure why the Big Brain meme is here
though, maybe it has something to do with Ben being an example of the findings of Prof.
Adams’s study, that aggression on Purge increases aggression throughout the rest of
the year. -[Darren] So those brain scans... they show that
violent acts can light up the pleasure centers of the brain like a drug. Especially those in the younger generation,
those who grew up with the 28th ammendment. Ben listens to an audio program from Bobby
Sheridan, the same speaker who inspired Joe Owens in Season 1. At one point, he listens
to the same recording that Joe had on in the Season 1 finale. -[Bobby] People will always surprise you
when they don’t want to die. But when you embrace the Purge. When you commit to the
healing power of it’s violence. Anything can happen. Ben starts taking out victims off-purge, the
first of which is a farmer, who is eventually found, but the cause of death is reported
as heat stroke. I was having a little bit of trouble understanding why the NFFA would
lie about this. It could be part of their plan to give people the impression that The
Purge is working, that crime during the other 364 days a year is down. But then why be so
strict about people whose crimes went past 7AM? Maybe they only want to admit crimes
occur when they think they can catch the person in order to make it look like nearly all criminals
are caught, and since Ben took out the farmer in the countryside, there were no cameras
on it. This could also explain why they let him off
the hook after he admits to smoking marijuana. If the public doesn’t know that a crime
occured, it’s in the NFFA’s best interest to keep it that way. What I don’t understand
is why that doesn’t make him a bigger suspect towards being the campus killer. The whole campus killer thing is honestly
a pretty big plot hole. Ben is playing video games with his friend, Asian Andy. They’re
using an XBOX One. I’ll excuse the use of a console that’s 22 years old in-universe,
and just assume they are fans of retro games. What I can’t excuse, is the fact this is
where Asian Andy is taken out. Ben lies about having been there. That means there are no
cameras in the hallways of the dorms, even though we clearly see that there are cameras
on campus in the first episode. -[Turner] This is awful. I feel bad even taking a picture. Demonetized! Speaking of that first episode -- I think
there may be a big callback to the first movie. A man named Marcus finds himself stranded
outside during The Purge and tries to get his neighbors to let him in, but nobody does.
It seems very similar to the situation that Dante Bishop was in in the first film. That’s
not the only time that Marcus seems to be connected to the Purge movie that started
it all, because his flashback scene takes us back 14 years to 2022, the same date that
The Sandins had their home invaded by purgers. This is also where we meet Plus Head. Kind
of a minor role to justify selling masks, but I’ll take it. Plus Head can be seen
rolling with his buddy: Run Mouth. Marcus has one more connection to the first
movie though. He has dinner with his wife Michelle, in what they believe could possibly
be their last meal because it’s right before the next Purge. She is playing Dubussy’s
Clair de Lune in the background. 🎵 Clair de Lune - Dubussy 🎵 -[Michelle] So if this is our last meal. This is the same song we heard at the very
beginning of the original, which accompanied the montage of purgers from previous years.
Marcus and Michelle both have the same dinner idea in mind that night. -[Marcus] You did not cook. The night before Purge? -[Michelle] We had sushi on our first date, remember? -[Marcus] Yeah, where do you think I stopped before I came home? That one feels a little too close to the anniversary
shared by Nick and Amy in Gone Girl. -[Amy] It’s… we had that joke that our sex
was too good for ordinary, so these are 2000 thread... We’re so cute. Marcus realizes that someone is trying to
purge him because of a bounty posted on the dark web. The site is called “Ivory Road”,
a parody of “The Silk Road”, which was one of the first dark web drug trading sites. -[Marcus] Wait, so how do you know about this? I know about that as a fan of the internet
and internet history, not as a customer. Another important detail in this scene is
the calendar app seen on this phone, which is one of only two a couple details that help
confirm when the season takes place. We know it’s before 2037, because Ryan’s drivers
license that expires in late 2036 is still valid. But because it has to be after 2032,
based on how far back the flashbacks go. That gives us a range of 4 possible years where
it could take place, and this calendar only aligns with one of those -- it’s 2036. Just don’t take the dates of birth here
too seriously. This guy doesn’t look 55, but maybe people age more gracefully in the
future. And apparently the headphone jack is going to make a comeback and… a tape
recorder…? Seriously? I feel like the technology problem in The Purge is never gonna get fixed. But this Ivory Road account becomes something
that Marcus would keep coming back to in order to try to catch whoever ordered his hit. He
puts up a post of his own to try to find someone who can get him more information -- one of
the responses is spam, advertising “Cheap Boner pillz the NFFA doesn’t want you to have!” The final storyline follows a band of thieves
and the NFFA agent whose computer screen is home to even more Things You Missed. (THUNDER) ♪ Classical Music ♪ The Purge is a night where all crime is legal,
but for whatever reason, the first four movies and the first TV season focus entirely on
murder -- no other crime is addressed, outside of just a tiny side character here and there. Season 2 totally changes that, making it one
of my favorite installments. We see bank robbery, conspiracy, treason and hacking. During the initial bank robbery scene, Tommy
has a shirt that says “break the rules.” He breaks his gang’s code by going back
for one more bag of money as the sirens are beginning to sound. This is what leads to
him getting arrested, because he doesn’t make it out in time. He should have tried to make the argument
that his foot was lifted off the ground. I mean how does this work anyway? Is it college
rules or NFL? We need some clarity, James Demonaco. Anyway, Tommy goes to jail for 1 year before
his execution date on the next Purge. During his time in the clink, Ryan brings him a book.
It’s the 1844 novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, about an innocent man who is wrongly,
but deliberately imprisoned. The book ends with one final message: all human wisdom is
contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope'. This was Ryan’s way of telling him that
if he holds on until Purge night, they may have a way of breaking him out. In the meantime, they also plan their heist
for the next Purge. -[Ziv] Our city attracts a lot of people
on Purge night. Although it hasn’t been updated in a couple
years now, this actually calls back to the NFFA website, that was used to promote each
Purge movie. In 2014 for The Purge: Anarchy iteration of the site, they did a blog post
about the top 5 Purge destinations, where New Orleans ranked number 3 in the country.
I guess that held up for over a decade. It’s actually referenced again in the fifth
episode, where Miami and New Orleans are hot tourism destinations during The Purge. Part of Ryan’s plan for stealing the bank’s
money is to let the jackal’s steal the money for them, and then steal it back later in
the night. The jackals are thieves that steal from other thieves, so Ryan’s plan involves
giving them a taste of their own medicine. When he and Esme look up the jackal’s identities,
I noticed some familiar names, like Trent Sarreal and Sam Bogh. These are also the names
of Professor Adams test subjects from her experiment about the effect of purging on
the human brain. The photos are different though… and the test subjects did not survive,
so I think this is a mistake, like they accidentally used the name twice for minor characters. Season 2 is not void of crew reference easter
eggs. Ryan has a flashback to his days on the police force, where we we the locker next
to his is labeled Federico, named after second unit director of photography Federico Veradi. During that same flashback, Ryan catches a
surprise out in the field on Purge night. -[Ryan] Reynolds what the f*** are you doing out
here? I already brought up Jeff Reynolds. He was
also a crew reference easter egg in Season Ryan’s director of training at the police
academy was Amy Krebsbach, who was named after the truck costumer. There’s also an article
written about one of Ryan’s heroic actions as an officer. It’s written by James Crafton
(that’s the production secretary) and there are mentions of names like Paul, Emily and
Raul Uddo, all probably family members of Paul Uddo, the first AD who was also mentioned
in Season 1. The other article shown here mentions a gas
station incident, where Ryan is named again, along with his superior, Andrea Ziv. Her character
is named after writer and co-producer Krystal Houghton Ziv. The article mentions a couple
more crew members: travel coordinator Callie Martin, second assistant director Ben Ledoux. Esme then moves onto a letter that Ryan received
from the mayor in 2010. It’s signed by a Colleen E Moody, who is also the script supervisor. There’s one other crew reference later on.
Remember the part where Asian Andy raves about Dr. Updale’s book? -[Andy] I’m halfway through Dr. Updale’s Foundations of the Experiment. Unauthorized. I’m kind of a history buff. -[Bonnie] NFFA History? -[Andy] Yeah. It was a best-seller. -[Kellen] Didn’t she kill herself after creating the first purge night?” -[Andy] No, that’s been debunked. She died Purging. Not only does that explain exactly what the
NFFA told the public after the events of The First Purge, but we see this book throughout
the series. First on a poster, then Parker finds the book itself in Ben’s possession,
where we see the author: M Martin, a reference to the prop master Michael S Martin. There’s also a poster that can be spotted
in town advertising for Purge: The Musical, a story of good vs evil. I wonder if that’s
a sign of things to come. -[Ryan's Mom] Why aren’t you in school?
-[Ryan] It got cancelled. Well that one hit home a little bit HARD.
Not the first time the Purge has predicted a disaster either. When I did the Things You Missed episode of
The First Purge, I pointed out this wall art of a boxer, and explained how it represents
the character Nya. In the Frat House where Ben tortures his fellow fraternity members
there’s a portrait of a football player in a very similar style. Another callback can be seen when Ryan’s
gang busts Tommy out of captivity. It seems the Mercy Cult bus from Season 1 has been
repurposed, and is now used as the prisoner transport vehicle on Purge night. Season 2 comes to a close as Ben truly becomes
the new Godhead during the 2037 purge. He takes out most of his frat, but Parker survives.
As Ben is hunting him, he’s hit by a car, and wakes up in a triage center. When he comes to, the first thing he sees
is a Jesus statue looking down on him. Perhaps this angers him, because he now sees himself
as God, he doesn’t want to be looked down on by this religious figure. -[Ben] You’re just trying to play God.
But you’re not God. I AM! Marcus is able to sedate him and save the
rest of the Triage Center, but Ben survives. In the final shots, he can be seen preparing
for another Purge. It’s an interesting choice, and if my theory is correct, that means both
major villains from the TV series, the new Godhead and Joe Owens, both survive. In the scene where Dylan Tucker is securing his family during the Purge, we see him use
an app based security interface. The UI is clearly the same as the interface of the Sandin
Security system seen back in the first movie. There have been many references to Sandin
Security since then. The company is never mentioned by name here, but it’s clearly
supposed to be the same system. To learn some of the interesting secrets hidden around The
Yeehaw Purge, or as you may know it, The Forever Purge, stick around to the end of this video. (THUNDER) It’s the Purge! The Yeehaw Purge! I still can’t believe
they didn’t call it that. Huge missed op. The Forever Purge doesn’t even make that
much sense. Most of the characters in the movie call it The Ever After Purge. Not The
Forever Purge. So THE YEEHAW PURGE was written by series
creator James Demonaco and directed by Everardo Valerio Gout, who had mostly worked in TV.
His previous film was an award winner at the Mexican Academy of Film, so he was probably
seen as a good choice to be able to direct a movie with scenes that contain English and
Spanish interchangeably. The use of language actually relates to one of our Things You
Missed, so let’s get in -- to the cosas que te perdiste. (YEEHAW rodeo music) Early in the movie, we see the border wall
between the US and Mexico, which now blocks citizens from being able to see into the other
country, unlike the current wall which has slits. This is probably done to increase the
feeling of division and tension between the two nations. It goes along with the graffiti
seen later: Build bridges, not walls. It also allows people to deface the wall with graffiti,
some of which is kind of impressive. This American flag has the hammer and sickle
from the old USSR flag, suggesting that someone wants to see the US transition to communism.
The government in power during the Purge movies is the NFFA, or New Founding Fathers of America.
They are portrayed to be objectively evil, but they are clearly not the type of evil
that subscribes to communism. For example, the NFFA thrives on division between different
levels of income, while communism looks to eliminate the free market entirely. So this
symbol suggests the emergence of a new group, which we see before long. The opening titles show animated scenes of
the USA, with each becoming corrupted with red splatters and scary imagery. One of these
shows a good ol’ fashioned American barbecue, and the guests become corrupted with purge
masks, one of which looks just like Kimmy’s mask from The Purge Election Year. Also, there’s one that I find funny. We
see this street front with shops like Victoria’s Bakery and Kyle’s Dress Boutique, but when
it glitches out it just becomes Kyle’s DIE. Now that sounds like somewhere I would shop. We learn that the NFFA has been voted back
into power again. And this is where I need to pause the analysis for a little rant. The
last movie chronologically before The Yeehaw Purge was The Purge Election Year, where we
saw Senator Charlie Roan win the election, thus ending the NFFA’s reign of power. But
at the very end, there’s an uprising. – [TV announcer] We’re just now hearing
reports about a few scattered incidents around the country where NFFA supporters are reacting
violently to this defeat, they are burning cars, breaking windows, looting, attacking
police officers -- – And then it just ends, the movie ends.
Then they did a prequel, then they did two seasons of the TV series, which both took
place before Election Year. So all of this time, we’re waiting to see what happened
after the election. Finally, they announce The… The Yeehaw Purge! And it looks like it’s going to be about
groups who refused to stop purging. I thought it was
gonna take place right after Election Year. But it’s not. It’s years later. President
Roan would have been in power from 2040 to 2044. In the US you can serve a maximum of
two 4-year terms, so if she was re-elected, she’d last until 2048. Our only real clue
about the date in The Yeehaw Purge is this poster for a Purge Week BBQ on Friday, March
19th. It doesn’t matter if Roan served one or two terms, the first time March 19th lands
on a Friday is the year 2049. Yes, The Purge has now caught up to Blade Runner and San
Francisco Rush. This is what future tech looks like in Blade
Runner 2049. Here’s what it looks like in The Purge 2049. Transportation in Blade Runner. Transportation in Purge. I’m sure the real 2049 will fall somewhere in-between,
but still, we’re getting scammed out of potentially cool sci-fi elements. Anyway, in America we ended up not having
to wait for a Purge movie to show us what it looks like when people refuse to accept
losing an election, and that is as much time as I’m willing to spend on that. Our main characters this time are Juan and
Adela, who are illegal immigrants looking to get away from the drug cartel in their
home country. We see Adela making a great effort to learn English. Everything in their
house is labeled with sticky notes containing both the English and Spanish words. Sink,
dish, curtains, toaster, flower pot, plants, television, and others. She scolds Juan for
not putting in the same effort that she does… – [Adela] Please, where are we? You need
to practice your English! – And she listens to an audio program that
seems to teach her what to say if she ever gets caught. – [audio program] Repeat after me. I was
just visiting friends in Texas. – She’s even seen with a book called English
Fast Track Learning For Spanish Speakers, though it would make more sense if the title
of the book was in Spanish, considering the target audience wouldn’t understand English
until after reading the book… The reason I bring all of this up is because
the language barrier comes into play at the end when Adela is captured and forced to call
her people for help in order to lure them into a trap. She calls out in Spanish, and
he demands she speak English so he can understand, but she refuses. As a result, her friends
are able to save her. Usually in a movie, the main character goes through a character
arc, where a character is one way at the beginning and undergoes a change that allows him or
her to overcome an obstacle. In The Purge, James Sandin learns that a stranger’s
life is just as valuable as his family’s and gives him a chance to live. In Anarchy,
Leo Barnes realizes that revenge on his son’s killer will not make him feel better about
the loss. Adela almost has like a reverse-character arc, because she basically goes back to the
way she was before the movie. It feels kind of backwards. Dylan has more of a traditional character
arc. At the beginning wants his culture to stay separate from Mexican culture, and he’s
envious of Juan’s cowboy skills. At the end, he has to work together with Juan and
he finds that he is now the one crossing the border and integrating into Mexican society.
In that sense, he’s actually a lot like Leo Barnes in Anarchy, who started off wanting
to be a lone hunter, but ended up being saved by his new friends. There are a lot of loose homages to previous
Purge movies. One example is Chiago Harjo. Early on we see him on TV preaching the truth
about how the Purge is not effective at releasing anger. Later on he meets with the main characters
and helps escort them through danger. He’s filling the role of Carmelo Johns in Anarchy,
or Dante Bishop in Election Year; the revolutionary that our characters see on TV and later meetup
with to receive assistance. By the way, his broadcast about how the Purge
actually only increases anger, and does not decrease it, is an echo of the research done
by Professor Drew Adams in The Purge: Season 2. Chiago doesn’t specifically mention Professor
Adams, but we can assume he is referencing her study, which the NFFA unsuccessfully tried
to cover up. Like in past Purges, there is a lot more we
can learn from looking at some of the small details hidden in the graffiti and artwork
around the city. (impact) (mysterious music) The immigrant character Adela works in a butcher
shop. You may have thought about how this feels representative of The Purge, which temporarily
turns the entire country into a butcher shop. In fact, the logo features two knives coming
together, different, but also reminiscent of the clash of knives seen on the official
NFFA seal which first appeared in Anarchy. This idea is further touched on at the beginning
of The Purge. As everyone locks down we cut from the ranch, where all the cattle are herded
together in the dark, to the passengers on the bus full of potential purge victims. It’s
very symbolic of how human lives are treated like cattle in this world. The bus, by the way, says Lemercier Public
Schools on the side. It’s named after one of the producers, Sebastien K Lemercier, and
this isn’t the first time there’s been a Purge easter egg to reference him. –[David] This right here, is an original Lemercier. – Overall, the NFFA takes a back seat this
time thanks to the rise of the radical group, The Real Patriots of America. I’ve talked
a lot in my Purge videos about how the NFFA is always associated with the color blue,
which matches the color of the blue baptisias. In the world of The Purge, people put these
flowers out to show support for The Purge. We only see one example in this movie, maybe
a sign that the NFFA is losing favor. On the contrary, the New Patriots of America
logo is red, they probably made that choice so they can be viewed as enemies of the NFFA.
I also noticed that the emergency broadcast screen is red again. They have also reinstated immunity for government
officials ranking 10. Guess they didn’t like their President getting killed too much
in Election Year and decided to roll that one back. We don’t see much of the blue baptisias
this time, but there’s a new flower of importance: the red roses. Our characters are told to
follow the roses if they get into trouble in America. Being red, they symbolize safety,
whereas the blue flowers symbolize violence. I’ve talked before about how this is the
opposite of what you’d expect, which is probably why the NFFA chose blue, to deceive
people. These can be seen throughout the city. It’s established that they guide our characters
to safety, but what isn’t immediately obvious is how directions are hidden in each painting. This one is part of a mural with a one way
sign, telling them to go right. The next one has a grim reaper pointing to the left. This
poster shows a Lucha Libre wrestler pointing up and to the right. The stem of this rose
extends into an arrow pointing left. All of these signals lead them to the neon rose at
the end. There are other relevant pieces of street
art. When everyone arrives at the safe zone, I noticed artwork of a giant pair of eyes
with a gunshot in between. The Purge TV series featured lots of eye graffiti as a symbol
of the NFFA’s dystopian surveillance. This area is essentially the new underground triage
center from Election Year. The intercutting between it and the more comfortable conditions
of the ranch family relaxing at home show how The Purge affects different social classes
much more than others, an idea that has been heavy in the series ever since the first movie. It seems the Florida man meme is one of the
many things that hasn’t changed by 2049. The line that the broadcaster leaves us with
before going off the air is also a significant reference. – [broadcaster] Good night, Texas. And good
luck. It’s a nod to the 2005 movie,
Good Night and Good Luck. –[Edward] Good night, and good luck. Yeah, that’s the one. I talked earlier
about the communist symbol appearing on the American flag on the border wall. Good Night
and Good Luck is all about a group of journalists who try to expose the truth about the American
politician Joseph McCarthy, who was making reckless and unsubstantiated accusations of
communism around the time of the Cold War. The trailer for Good Night and Good Luck describes
America during this period as a “a nation terrorized by its own government”, certainly,
not a far cry from what’s going on in The Purge, only under very different circumstances.
Good Night and Good Luck deals with the integrity of the media, which is not really an aspect
of this particular Purge film. There’s no journalist character in the movie. The only
somewhat relevant beat is when the NFFA announces that anyone displaying the Ever After Purge
flag will be arrested immediately, which of course would be unconstitutional in the United
States, because it would violate freedom of speech. A lot like how McCarthy tried to silence
his critics. The journalism aspect might be relevant if the filmmakers are trying to give
themselves a pat on the back; essentially saying that they are making a brave statement
through their art. The last few Purge films have gotten more and more pointed towards
aspects of the real life USA political situation. Again, not really interested in getting into
that. So let’s talk about franchise callbacks.
As this Purge begins, we see scenes of purging happening around the city, as we often do.
Here there are a bunch of men tracking victims with dogs, as seen during Anarchy. This dude
gets dragged behind a motorcycle, something we saw in The First Purge. Then there’s
this firing squad set up right outside a church. The firearms go off right as the church bells
strike midnight. This is an example of Midnight Purge Mass, which we were first introduced
to in The Purge: Election Year. The saddest part about 2049 is not the Purge,
but the fact that we still don’t have protected bike lanes. Get it together America! Later on there’s also an encounter with
this guy with a swastika on his face, as kind of a spiritual successor to Earl Danzinger,
the neo-nazi from Election Year. He refers to the gunshot sounds all around them as “homegrown
music from the heartland.” I think he’s meant to signify the attitude of some gun
enthusiasts; the idea that it becomes a recreational activity, like listening to music, and they
may lose sight of how dangerous these weapons actually are. We meet this guy inside the police van which
is rounding up Ever After Purgers. In typical Purge fashion, this van gets rolled over.
That’s basically tradition at this point in this franchise, it happened in Election
Year and in Season 2. One tradition they seemed not to uphold, however, was having a character
named Sabien. Then there’s this: (horsey jump scare) Yes, they really did try to make a jumpscare
out of literally just a horse walking. LOL. Then we’ve got my favorite guy. His name’s
Kirk. The Yeehaw Purge! Then there are some not so great guys, like this man in the high
vis vest. Not exactly great for sneaking around during Purge. He also uses a mallet as his
weapon, even though it seems very easy to get guns in this world. Guess this dude’s
playing on hard mode. As were the motorcyclists who thought they could challenge a big truck.
Not a battle you’re gonna win. The characters realize their best bet is to
seek asylum by crossing the border back into Mexico. I’m not gonna talk about the Dracula,
Frankenstein and Psycho appearances, because they’re not even references. They’re just
there. But 99K USD is a damn good deal for a luxury condo, especially considering inflation
by 2049. What a deal. I wonder if you can walk from there to the festival in Central
Park. Better check website.com to find out. One of the things I like to do is scan all
the graffiti in the Purge films and see if there’s anything interesting written. In
my video on Anarchy, I talked about how they took a shot at Hollywood film producer David
Neustatder, by making a man named David Neustatder be one of the Purge victims found in the street.
In this one, there’s a message that reads: Kill David Dead. There’s probably no connection…
but if there is, wow! They’re still not over this are they? The mystery deepens. Anyway, the Native American Chiago is gonna
help them get across the border, but not before we stumble upon a few more eye opening details. (THUNDER) ♪ Mysterious Music ♪ An interesting detail about the finale is
that The Forever Purgers don’t need masks anymore, but a couple of them continue to
wear them anyway. I think it’s generally accepted that the purpose of the masks is
to hide the Purgers’ identities, because after The Purge, you gotta go back to work,
and even people that participated are ashamed. But with the Ever After Purge, they aren’t
planning on ever going back to normal. Perhaps some were confident that it really would last
forever, while others were not. But they do have these hats though. How much
you want to bet these are the same hats that they gave the cast and crew? We hear a new chant from the Purgers. -[Purgers] Purge and Purify, ever after. – [Crowd] EVER AFTER! Actually, it’s more of a twist on an
old classic. We first heard chants of Purge and Purify in Election Year. These anti-NFFA
radicals have taken a motto from the NFFA, and twisted it into something of their own.
I think it’s meant to be a parallel to groups that latch onto one political idea and fester
into their own little cult, or whatever. The battle rages on. This guy thinks he’s
in a Legend of Zelda game with the bomb arrows. As our characters get closer to the border,
the purgers close in on them. There’s a Wilhelm Scream. (scream) If you aren’t familiar, the Wilhelm Scream
is a funny sound effect found in many, many movies, usually when a character falls down
or gets shot or something. It’s named after a character named Private Wilhelm from the
1953 Western film, The Charge At Feather River, which used it over and over. (screams, over and over) You can find compilations on YouTube that
show just how many movies, shows and games have sampled this sound. So I was absolutely
shocked that this is the first Wilhelm Scream I’ve pointed out on Things You Missed. I
guess it kind of makes sense… it’s a very silly sound effect, so it’s probably not
that likely to be used in horror movies. This is a horror channel. I guess it’s fitting that the sound became
famous in a Western, and I’m introducing it in this Purge movie with Western elements.
We should start a Wilhelm counter. (Wilhelm scream) We’ll see if we ever revisit that. Anyway,
the characters make it across the border, and Dylan and Cassie are able to safely have
their baby. –[Cassie] It’s a girl. Do you want to hold your daughter? I’m sorry, WHAT? What the **** is
going on here? Do they not know how this works? Did they just run out of pink hats? How do
you run out of pink hats? This was supposed to be the last movie in
the franchise, but it answers nothing and it really just raises more questions. In fact
the first thing we hear during the credits is “this isn’t over.” –[Reporter] What will the new America look like when
this all ends? – ♪ This isn’t over! ♪ – [Zac] It wasn’t long before James Demonaco
suddenly had an idea for a new Purge movie, and reportedly, it went into development.
It’s pretty clear now that we were lied to about The Yeehaw Purge being the last movie,
but honestly, I’m kind of glad. This next one will allegedly bring Frank Grillo back.
He’s the guy that plays Leo Barnes. That’s something that I wanted for this movie, and
it wouldn’t be right to close things out without a proper conclusion to the Leo Barnes
trilogy. I’d also like to see the adult Charlie Sandin, the kid from the first one.
He’d be in his 40s now. He’s a character who lived most of his life in The Purge era,
lost his father in The Purge at a young age and has been shown to be selfless the last
time we met him. He could be a useful character to turn to as the country continues to fall
apart. As for villains, Joe Owens and Godhead 2.0 from the TV series are, as far as we know,
still alive. They are among the most powerful villains we’ve ever seen and they could
easily be side villains that work alongside one final threat. I am probably hyping this up too much, we’ll
probably JUST get Frank Grillo, but when The Purge returns so will I. With another episode
of Things You Missed. Click the playlist on the left for all of my Purge analysis’ and
remember to subscribe to CZsWorld for new horrors every week, ring the deathbell and
select all notifications and I’ll see you in the next one. Assuming we both survive. (spooky dance music)
