Masculinity in 2016 Presidential American Election: The Purge: Election Year (2016) as a Case Study

Abstract

[eng] The Purge: Election Year (2016) is an American action horror film released on July 1, 2016, written and directed by James DeMonaco. It portrays Senator Charlie Roan, candidate to the presidential election, and her struggle to win the NFFA, led by Minister Edwidge Owens. It is set in the near future, specifically in 2040. Its date of release coincides with the real presidential election celebrated in the United States, in which the candidate Donald Trump became the new President of the country. Thus, this remarkable event and the production of the film are not a coincidence, since a variety of horror movies were created as a consequence of the disputed 2016 US presidential election, as well as due to Trump’s ideology, which highlights the legitimisation of a hegemonic masculinity and traditional gender roles. Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, played an important role in this election, as far as she was a female candidate, which could be considered an outstanding circumstance, and a tough adversary to win. Therefore, it is essential that masculinity be taken into account in order to understand the election’s results. Even though The Purge: Election Year has been examined from different perspectives, previous research has never centred its investigation in the similarities between Owens’ and Roan’s masculinity and the real candidates’ performative acts. Thus, the present work will focus on examining these two relevant politicians, both in the film and in reality, in order to prove the continuing existence of a hegemonic discourse of masculinity in the 21st century and onwards.