Throughout The First Purge, eye color holds a deep meaning that furthers the film’s overall message. The First Purge offers an origin story for the chaotic central event in the Purge films. People staying in the city have the option to make more money by wearing special contact lenses to record the night. There’s a very psychologically manipulative reason for the contact lenses within The First Purge. By introducing the technological contact lenses, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) and administrators introduce a feeling that authority figures are always watching. This encourages the participants to act in the way that they think the administrators would want.
Additionally, characters in The First Purge who wear the lenses and engage in murder get more money than they would if they just stayed in the city. The administrators of the purge are using citizens’ poverty against them. Poor people don’t necessarily have the funds to leave the city. Due to their desperation, they may participate in the event in ways they wouldn’t otherwise. In the NFAA’s ideal world, the poor and disenfranchised would kill each other during the purge, leaving only the wealthy. The contacts also explain how the scientists can monitor the progress of the purge. Despite this, the colors of the contact lenses are never clearly explained.
Why The First Purge’s Characters Wear Different Contact Lens Color
Despite the functional purpose of contacts, The First Purge never even acknowledges that characters have different colored contact lenses. It’s clear that scientists know the colors are different, though, because they show up on the computer screens. The colors of the contacts likely serve an external purpose instead of influencing the internal narrative. Characters who agree with the purge have blue contacts, people who disagree have red, and people who are neutral have green. Only The First Purge’s Skeletor has purple, setting him apart from all the other characters. These coded colors help the audience keep track of who’s who in a darkly lit movie with a large cast.
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The First Purge’s Eye Colors Reflect The Movie’s Political Themes
In addition to revealing the characters’ feelings about the purge, the colors in The First Purge each match up with an American political party. The American system uses red to represent the Republican Party, blue to represent Democrats, and green to represent third parties. Characters with each of these contact lens colors reflect the correlating political party with their actions.
Isaiah only joined the purge to fight back against Skeletor’s tyranny in his neighborhood. His blue eyes represent his protection of human rights. The ATM robber’s priority is getting his money back. His red eyes represent fiscal conservatism. Many people stay on the island but don’t participate in the purge. Their green eyes represent values and desires outside of the binary.
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Ultimately, this use of color furthers The First Purge‘s anti-Trump political message. The people who are morally in the right within the film are the people outside the political system – those without contacts – and the people who put the betterment of others above their own desires – those with blue contacts. Ultimately, these characters try to save the disenfranchised people from slaughter in The First Purge.
The First Purge’s Color Symbolism Is Much Deeper Than The Contact Lenses
Though the most obvious example of color symbolism is the contact lens colors, The First Purge incorporates color into other aspects of the cinematography to classify the settings and characters. Red is used as a sign of the bad guys, and blue signifies the good guys throughout the film. The NFFA headquarters have red lights, the mercenaries in police uniforms have red-tinted sunglasses, and the Klansmen are covered in bright red blood spatter. Isaiah’s room has a blue-gray wall, Dmitri’s office has blue lights, and blue shines behind Doctor May Updale as she starts questioning the NFFA president.
Outside the good-bad binary, green is used to signal neutral people and areas within The First Purge. Doctor Updale starts out with green lighting every time she’s alone in a shot, signaling her neutral motives for the purge. Safe areas of the city glow green like homes of people not purging and alleyways. Additionally, most of the participants at the block party have green glowsticks. They may be technically breaking the law, but they aren’t purging in the way the NFFA desires. Ultimately, this use of color symbolism in The First Purge is what helps make this film a strong prequel in the Purge movie series.
The First Purge
- Release Date
- July 4, 2018
- Director
- Gerard McMurray
- Cast
- Melonie Diaz , Chyna Layne , Lex Scott Davis , Mo McRae , Y’Lan Noel , Luna Lauren Velez
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 98minutes
- Genres
- Horror , Thriller
- Writers
- James DeMonaco
- Budget
- $13 million
- Studio(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
