Origins of the annual purge In 2014, following an economic collapse and rising social unrest, a political organization named
The New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) is formed and voted into office. The organization establishes a new
totalitarian government and a
police state. In 2016, the NFFA devises a plan to help stabilize American society, and later in 2017, the 28th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution is ratified. This amendment establishes a 12-hour event known as "The Purge" which would take place from 7 PM on March 21 to 7 AM on March 22 wherein almost all crime becomes legal. Before the Purge begins, the
Emergency Broadcast System (the predecessor to the Emergency Alert System, which returned for unexplained reasons) is activated with rules and a prayer saying
"Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn" before ending with "
May God be with you all".
Rules The rules for the annual Purge are as follows: • Sirens blare throughout the land to signal the start and end of The Purge. • All police, fire, and emergency medical services are suspended for the duration of the carnage. • The president, first family, and government officials of rank 10 are granted immunity from the Purge, meaning that they must not be harmed. (This was revoked in
Election Year to permit the murder of political opponents, including Roan). • Only Class 1–4 weaponry is permitted, while Class 5 arms (such as explosives) is prohibited. • Violations of any Purge rules will result in public execution.
Emergency broadcast system message Below is how the Emergency Broadcast System announces the Purge's commencement in the first two films: In
The Purge: Election Year, the rule granting immunity to ranking 10 officials is revoked by the NFFA to assassinate Roan, an anti-Purge Presidential candidate who runs on a platform of overturning the 28th Amendment which, to the NFFA's distress, has achieved parity in the polls with their candidate. This change is reflected in the announcement of the final Purge's commencement as follows:
The First Purge, taking place in 2016 on Staten Island, New York, was blocked off from all contact due to the First Purge really being a social experiment conducted by the New Founding Fathers, providing monetary compensation of at least $5,000 to anyone who decides to stay on the island for the night, one year prior to the first nationwide Purge. Below is the commencement speech:
Impact Within the film series, the Purge has resulted in crime and unemployment rates plummeting to 1% and a strong economy. Although it's thought to be used as an act of catharsis for the U.S. populace, it's actually used as a method of artificial
population control, as the unemployed poor in slum neighborhoods as well as some working-class people are usually the main targets. In
Election Year, a character notes that sneaking up on a Black man on Purge night is a particularly foolish action, suggesting that Black people are used to being targets on this night. By this time it has also increased tourism as foreigners enter the US solely to participate in the Purge.
Timeline of events Below is the fictional timeline played out in the franchise: • 2014: Rising unemployment and a housing crisis in North America lead to the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) being elected to become the most powerful political party in the United States. • 2016: NFFA
chief of staff Arlo Sabian and sociologist Dr. May Updale announce a controversial
social experiment to take place on Staten Island where for 12 consecutive hours, all crime will be legalized, and citizens will be allowed to release their inhibitions in any way they choose, including murder, a practical examination of a
thought experiment developed by Updale. •
March 21–22, 2016: The NFFA Social Experiment occurs in the
New York City borough of
Staten Island as a "NFFA Social Experiment", dubbed "The Purge" by Sabian on the suggestion of a crazed drug addict named Skeletor. After the majority of the inhabitants of Staten Island (minus Skeletor) engage in low-level crimes rather than high-level violent ones such as murder, Sabian rigs the experiment by deploying masked mercenary groups to the island to kill citizens. Updale is executed when she discovers the sabotage and Sabian's corruption. After the NFFA declare the purge a success, President Bracken authorizes the Annual National Purges. • March 21–22, 2017: The first national Purge in the United States occurs. Occurring as a national experiment to determine whether the Purge can be implemented nationwide. After the success, the 28th amendment is ratified imposing a national Purge annually. • March 21-22, 2018: The First Annual Purge in the United States occurs. •
March 21–22, 2022: National acceptance of the Purge; the Sandin family saves the life of homeless man Dante Bishop, while the family patriarch, James Sandin, is killed by the purgers and the Sandin's jealous neighbours. Elsewhere, Charlie Roan's family is killed by another batch of purgers, leaving her as the only survivor. •
March 21–22, 2023: Carmelo Johns forms an anti-NFFA resistance movement with Dante as his partner. Leo Barnes considers murdering the man who accidentally killed his son, but was not arrested due to a legal error, before changing his mind at the last minute. • June 21, 2023: In the United States, The NFFA designates June 21st as Purge Remembrance Day in honor of those who died during the Purge. This holiday would continue annually three months after the annual Purge. •
March 21, 2027–March 21, 2028: European countries (Such as Russia, Turkey, Belarus and the UK) have some plans to adopt a Purge night of their own in the future after seeing the success of the event in America. The
European Union also has plans to adopt a new regulation or directive, similar to the
Anti-Purge Act in Canada. •
March 22, 2036–March 22, 2037: Former NFFA surveillance employee Esme Carmona publicly exposes the NFFA's misdeeds before being illegally executed moments after the ending of the Purge. •
March 21–22, 2040: Dante saves the life of independent presidential candidate Charlie Roan, who seeks to end the purge, alongside Barnes, her security chief. • May 2040: Charlie Roan is elected
President of the United States and vows to end the purge, with Barnes serving as her
chief of staff and head of the
secret service. • March 21–22, 2041: With the purge outlawed, would-be Purgers are arrested en masse. • November 6, 2048: The NFFA are re-elected and state their intentions to reinstate the purge to resume the following year, citing an increase in crime and immigration as justification. •
March 21–22, 2049: The Purge is re-authorized by the NFFA after a nine-year absence. After the Purge is supposed to end, an anti-immigration hate group and NFFA offshoot the Purge Purification Force (PPF) organize a "forever Purge" across America.
Canada and
Mexico open their borders for asylum seekers looking to escape the "forever purge" for six hours, while the NFFA is permanently disbanded. After purgers defeat a military base in El Paso, Mexico closes the border early, leaving many survivors stranded at the border, allowing them to be mercilessly slaughtered by Purgers, as a new resistance movement forms against them. •
2059: As the Second American Civil War rages, Leo Barnes embarks on a mission across the remapped Americas' "tribalized" states, where various independent Purges are taking place. ==Reception==