The corrupted and corruptive America

A fictional view of the political system through the eyes

of its perpetrators and victims

PS Critical Area Studies:

American Cultures: 'Make America Gr- ... Popular Again':
US Politics, Policies, and Popular Culture

Mag. Mag. Dr. Cornelia Klecker

Matteo Volpe
12027158

WS 2023/2024
The following paper concentrates on the analysis and the comparison of the American

political system in the fictional realities as shown in two movies: Miss Sloane (2016)

and The First Purge (2018). Both movies display a certain attitude towards the political

system; while Miss Sloane lets viewers sink into its reality with a serious, heavy

ambiance and complex articulation of the characters, The First Purge invites spectators

into a violent, horrific scenery with a holistic message at its core: violence is not the

answer. While both movies belong to different genres and the tropes found are not

similar, what unites them is said political system; but they could not be more different

from one another. On one hand, Miss Sloane gives viewers the possibility to look

behind the scenes and get acquainted with the intricacies of the lobbying system, and

how competition can oftentimes overpower ethical questions and compromises that

individuals may make to achieve their political goals. On the other hand, The First

Purge apparently upheaves all questions of ethics and morality by turning the U.S.

political system into an abusive and oppressive leviathan. While Miss Sloane takes on

U. S. politics in a very grounded and realistic way, The First Purge uses a fictionalized

event to comment on social and political issues. This proseminar paper is going to

reveal that when compared to one another, the two movies are nothing but the same

message being delivered through the eyes of two participants: the ones that are in the

system and the ones who are oppressed by it. The fact that this oppression results in

violence, such as in The First Purge, leaves viewers with a few questions, of which the

following will be discussed in the paper: How would this kind of outrageous violence

be tackled in the universe of Miss Sloane? Particularly regarding the discourse of gun

violence and regulatory laws. In essence, Miss Sloane and The First Purge offer distinct

yet interconnected perspectives on the U.S. political system, revealing a shared critique

of its flaws and societal repercussions. To better understand the realities and idea behind

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each movie, they must be dissected almost as a human body is. To make a start, a closer

look at Miss Sloane will lead into the argument. Jessica Chastain marvelously plays

Elizabeth Sloane, a lobbyist who changes sides when she realizes how high the stakes

are. She is not the stereotypical politician, who is represented as a hero just because she

is a woman. The movie reveals her twisted side: insomnia, drug addiction, overwork.

All of these flaws are unknown to the typical spectator: a female politician that is shown

to be fragile behind the scenes? How does that affect the viewer and which light does

it shed on the weight carried by U.S. politics and lobbies in Hollywood movies?

Because the moment Sloane is confronted with the challenge of convincing mothers

that guns are good (and being a potential enabler of a female movement that is against

gun control), she recoils, dodging the bullet of ethical endangerment. This makes her a

‘hero’ for a fraction of the movie, but later on she has people followed to ensure no one

is leaking information, engages in blackmailing, uses inflatable rats to pressure

politicians, and uses sound bites prepared in advance during a televised debate. She is

willing to cross the boundaries of what is legal in order to push her agenda forward and

win at all costs. Miss Sloane goes against the stereotype of the conventional glorified

female politician; the trope found in other movies such as Long Shot (2019), Game

Change (2012) or The Iron Lady (2011) is deconstructed, it is even reversed. In Miss

Sloane, a male prostitute named Rob ‘Forde’ (Jake Lacy) plays a pivotal role because

he willingly lies about ever meeting Elizabeth as a client. The usual trope would see a

female prostitute being brought in at court, testifying against the accused, usually a

man, and exposing their shared past. Miss Sloane completely changes the game, not

only because the prostitute is a man, but also because the reputation of Elizabeth is

temporarily saved. Her reputation is something she evidently cares about, as she breaks

in front of the court when asked about her drug abuse and insomnia. That exact moment

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in the movie (Miss Sloane, 27:21-30:14) feels like watching a documentary where

lionesses are about to make a kill; they slowly approach their prey, which seems to be

resistant at first. But the more lionesses arrive and attack, the more difficult it gets for

the prey to escape the deadly felines. In the same way, senator Sperling (John Lithgow)

continues to inveigh against Elizabeth, and finally breaks her. Because the central

theme of this paper is forms of violence and their influence on how the American

politics are represented, this form of violence does not come with brutal murders and

mutilations, it comes with words. Miss Sloane is a much more violent movie on the

verbal level, or better, on a psychological level. It executes violence in the mind of the

protagonists, where Elizabeth is just like an animal trying to survive in a wilderness full

of predators. She wants to be the most ruthless of all, and even though she succeeds,

and the law is passed, the black-market sale of guns can’t be stopped; Sloane ultimately

commits career suicide. The words ‘suicide’ and ‘violence’ are deeply connected on a

meta-critical level, and it is interesting to see how a movie that contains virtually no

deaths or gun use is capable to make the spectator feel just as exhausted as after

watching The First Purge. Miss Sloane is exhausting because it leaves spectators with

a feeling of frustration and confusion after watching: the real stance of Elizabeth Sloane

is ambiguous, as is her portrayal as a hero (or a villain.) The director of the movie, John

Madden, has rid Sloane of humanity to a certain degree, as this inhumanity is necessary

if one wants to survive in the lobbying landscape. Miss Sloane primarily plays on the

viewer’s intellect because there is no emotion to arise when watching it; a high level of

concentration is necessary, because if a fraction of the movie gets less attention, it

significantly weakens the point Madden wants to make: violence is not the solution to

every problem. Gun violence is something the USA have been struggling over the last

decades, and Miss Sloane wants to show how deep the problem lies, even though the

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character of Elizabeth is vilified in a certain way. The movie itself emphasizes the

ethical vagueness integral to such activities (how the lobbying system influences

legislation and advances their agendas) and raises questions about the truthfulness of

the political process. What Miss Sloane does best is providing political commentary: it

is a critique of the manner in which power is exercised and manipulated within the

system, while at the same time it disturbs the dormant creature that is ethics. The ethical

implications of the actions Sloane and other lobbyists take are the resonance of the

intersection of politics, power, and morality. But there is not really a solution to the

situation Elizabeth finds herself in, neither is there one to the matter of corruption and

unethical behavior. Miss Sloane aims to raise awareness about the negative

consequences of unethical behavior and the human toll that comes with pursuing power

on a large scale. By showcasing these effects, the movie intends to encourage viewers

to think critically about the current situation and the need for significant systemic

change. The delivery of the political commentary is silent but powerful, and it is not

direct or explicit, it can mainly be grasped by those who really reflect upon the movie.

Due to the serious tone of Miss Sloane, the spectator encounters a somber ambiance:

not one bit of happy music can he heard, most scenes have a dimmed light setting, and

there is a fair difference in the atmosphere between day and night scenes. These settings

not only affect the mood of the spectator, but they also set the tone of several scenes

and overall, of the whole movie. These choices were made with this very intention; had

there been more light, more cheerful music or different settings, the gravity and

seriousness would have been lost. The tropes of a political thriller movie are therefore

more than evidently present in Miss Sloane, setting the bar high with an excellent cast,

but ultimately failing in being a primary example of its kind. Political thriller films have

always dominated Hollywood ever since the early days of Alfred Hitchcock, although

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their plots and production were heavily influenced by the terrorist attacks on the WTC

on September 11th, 2001. The post-9/11 era ushered in a new generation of political

thrillers if which many criticized the American government much more directly than

ever before. It even came to the point where a representative of the Bush administration

“held a summit at Beverly Hills where representatives of the entertainment industry

joined him to consider how they might contribute to the war on terror.” (Dodds, Klaus.

2008: 1621) Knowing this, film critics and students might ask themselves how deeply

affected the industry has been ever since, poisoned by a new stance on violence and its

representation in movies. Movies such as The First Purge might be the brainchild of

this new wave of ‘ideological movies.’ Because The First Purge really does stand for a

certain ideology: through a purge, less violence is likely to happen in the future (in the

realm of the movie); that is the excuse used by The New Founding Fathers of America.

Offering the inhabitants of Staten Island a bribe of $5,000 might sound like a small

amount of money to most spectators, but given the life conditions of the people there,

the idea behind The First Purge might be closer to reality than one thinks, stemming

from real-life threats and concerns of American society. The marginalization of the

people on Staten Island is the miscarriage of civilization in The First Purge; the opioid

epidemic only worsened the vulnerability of the already marginalized groups. The

movie itself does not concentrate on one main character as in Miss Sloane, but rather

has a group of protagonists at its center. Isaiah (Joivan Wade), Nya (Lex Scott Davis)

and Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) play pivotal roles in this much more violent and gory movie

when compared to Miss Sloane. The graphic detail put into The First Purge showcases

the intention the movie director Gerard McMurray: the outcome may be bloody and

violent, but the ultimate goal is to reduce crime rates. While Elizabeth Sloane wants to

decrease gun violence and crimes by passing a law, NFFA chief of staff Arlo Sabian

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(Patch Darragh) and sociologist Dr. May Updale (Marisa Tomei) do this by unleashing

their citizens’ primal instincts for twelve hours. The political commentary the movie

wants to give and the noble lesson it wants to teach is visualized through the portrayal

of the Purge as being a morally ruined and tyrannical system. The harm done is greater

in disadvantaged communities, leading to more violence and chaos instead of

effectively reducing crime.

Interestingly, there are almost no dystopian action horror movies that involve a large

group of wealthy Americans; examples such as Snowpiercer (2013) and Office (2017)

are always about the lower, bigger groups of people fighting against a handful of

proletarian old white men (and occasionally women). Even in Surviving the Game

(1994) the reputation of the wealthy is scrutinized and deconstructed; Jack Mason (Ice-

T) fights to survive in the wilderness while being hunted by his wealthy hosts, and he

must use his intelligence and survival skills to outsmart them.

The intense, gritty, and dystopian tone of The First Purge is nothing like all

aforementioned movies, the scale of blood and death is by far higher than say in

Snowpiercer. But then, The First Purge also has moments of deep, rooted humanity,

moments that Miss Sloane is evidently missing. Other missing assets in Miss Sloane are

race and gender diversity, a field where The First Purge excels; the film's exploration

of bigger societal concerns such as government control, race, and class are reflected in

the diversity of its cast, which also mirrors the urban location. Surely John Madden has

cast Gugu Mbatha-Raw to play Esme Manucharian in Miss Sloane, but she is and

remains the only character of relevance that belongs to another race in the movie. The

diversity in gender and race representation leads to a much different dynamic in The

First Purge, where very diverse characters come together in solidarity despite their

differences. In Miss Sloane, it is exactly because of a lack of diversity that the plot and

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imagery seem more tedious, protracting in length and playing on a psychological,

‘invisible’ scale. The First Purge plays on the physical, palpable scale of things, which

is much closer to the spectator (emotionally speaking). Another matter that needs to be

discussed is the use of disguises in The First Purge: according to costume designer

Amela Baksic, the inspiration behind them came from actual events, such as the Black

Lives Matter protests and the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017 (Abrams,

Bryan. 2018). These two movements, radically different from one another, perfectly

represent the two extremes that have come to be over the last decades in the United

States of America. The inspiration taken from these events perfectly reflects the

costumes used in the movie: masks of American icons such as the Statue of Liberty or

George Washington are worn by the killers during the Purge, hiding their identity to

make them look scarier. When seeing these, some spectators might recall the events of

the seventh season Cult of the TV show American Horror Story, which was aired by

FX in 2017. The season handles the 2016 victory of Donald Trump as president and its

consequences on the population of the fictional suburb of Brookfield

Heights, Michigan. In the seventh installment of American Horror Story, where after

the formation of a radical right-wing group it takes over the suburb but ultimately falls

apart because their leader is tricked and then imprisoned, Brad Falchuk uses the same

trope of costume wearing to characterize cult members. And once again, violence is

their way to spread terror and fear, although the lesson that Falchuk wants to teach

spectators is that giving in to these feelings is not the solution. The same thing is done

in The First Purge, where the main characters never give up, are strongly bound by

their humanity, and all of them are eager to survive the night, going to every length just

to go on. The feeling of unity and purpose leads the protagonists on, and as in many

other Hollywood movies, the virtuous get their happy ending. In comparison to The

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First Purge, Miss Sloane does not follow the usual story arc (exposition, rising action,

climax, and resolution); it moves on in hiccups, having multiple climaxes and

expositions. Miss Sloane is not the formulaic political thriller many spectators know,

diverging from the stereotype by having Elizabeth challenge conventional notions of

right and wrong. The moral ambiguity that arises in The First Purge comes from

characters making difficult choices in extreme circumstances; hazardous situations lead

the characters to commit sacrifices. Elizabeth Sloane also commits sacrifices; she puts

her own health at risk in order to meet the expectations others have from her. Spectators

may initially be tempted to empathize with Elizabeth, but gradually lose her sympathy

over the course of the movie. In contrast, in The First Purge spectators are motivated

to root for Nya and Isaiah, and their survival is much more satisfying than say Elizabeth

being released from prison. She is vulnerable in the sense that through flashbacks,

moments of loneliness, isolation and personal sacrifices, all suffering is inflicted upon

her either by her past or her own self. The harm that is done to her is rather internal than

external; it is the opposite of what happens to Dmitri, who despite being involved in

illegal activities, emerges a reluctant hero that is saved by Nya and Isaiah towards the

end of the movie. Dmitri becomes the virtuous, purging his own errors of the past and

being able to escape his crimes. Elizabeth not only remains trapped in her own game;

she becomes the opposite of Dmitri: a person who is desperately longing for humanity

but finds herself to be the most inhumane of all. She has given up on love a long time

ago, she says to Forde, showing how she has left humanity behind to become ruthless.

Furthermore, the choice of an engagement of a male prostitute shows exactly how

Sloane wants to be perceived: unable to love, a product of the system she inhabits and

wants to thrive in. This longing for success ultimately destroys her, leading to her

downfall. Among the many ethical errors Sloane commits, what stands out is the

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betrayal of Cynthia (Lucy Owen), which is revealed in a cruel manner (by having the

rest of staff see a picture of her meeting with Connors (Michael Stuhlbarg)). At this

point in the movie, a direct comparison between Elizabeth Sloane and Arlo Sabian is

possible. Who of the two is the tyrant in this situation, who is responsible for causing

fear and terror among the ones who stand below them? Sabian clearly states that in the

Purge “as with any scientific trial, those who participate receive payment.” (insert time

stamp) Elizabeth, on the other hand, is conducting her own sort of trials on the minds

of her team, having all of them followed and spied on. This shows that she is ready to

risk it all just to have a team she can fully trust. The rat is found, and Cynthia is escorted

out of the room. Though Elizabeth may possess strategic skills, such as when she steers

the strategy team’s attention from Florida to Colorado, but she then lacks emotional

skills; exposing Esme in the debate with Connors is an unforgivable move, possibly

causing the woman’s ghosts of the past to come back and trauma response to arise. Not

long after that, spectators experience one of the few humane moments Elizabeth has:

the moment she confesses to Forde that their night together is the closest she has ever

come to a date. Relationships never have been her forte, and betrayal is at the ready

everywhere in the universe of Miss Sloane. One only has to look at how Elizabeth is

betrayed by Jane (Alison Pill), a natural move in a game where the stakes are this high.

In The First Purge, where stakes are even higher, there is no such thing as treason,

because the protagonists are united in their run for survival. In some other movies, the

trope of the traitor among the unfortunate protagonists, such as the character of David

(Michael Fassbender) in Prometheus (2012) is found over and over again, but not in

The First Purge. This fact proves that Madden’s intention by showing spectators how

Jane betrays Elizabeth that the political and lobbying system not only corrupts but is

corrupt itself. Is Jane then the one who is the most ruthless in the system? Or is she the

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virtuous person who exposes Elizabeth because of her wrongdoings? Most evidently,

Jane is both at the same time, showing how multifaceted she and the system can be.

And there are always downsides to such troublesome environments, may they be on an

individual or collective level.

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Works cited:

• Dodds, Klaus. “Review Article: Hollywood and the Popular Geopolitics of the War
on Terror.” Third World Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 8, 2008, pp. 1621–37. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20455133. Accessed 14 Feb. 2024.
•

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