does anyone have a full understanding of the meaning behind the purge, espeically the end..

what is the meaning of the little toy that pops out of the custodian, what does trevor mean when he says, "I know the path to evil" what is the "substance" and what about that typewriter guy in the background?

-- divinity (divinity@u.washington.edu), November 03, 1998

Answers

Well, I don't think anyone has a full understanding of the show except the writers. But here's my take.

1)whats the toy? Who can say. It might just be a creepy image, or something more significant. It sure seems to upset Bambara 2)What does "the path to evil" mean? Actually he says "the WILL to evil" I think he's reffering to a cruel "evil"-minded personality and the one and only method of curing such a mind. Which OF COURSE (sarcasm) would be a fake concience which completely deprives people of free will and turns them into little more than dupes who write nursery rhymes and grin stupidly. 3)What is the substance? Substance? what substance? 4)who's the typewriter guy? He's a stenographer(one of those people who sit in a courtroom and types every word everyone says)

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), November 03, 1998.

The Purge is my favorite episode, so I watch it a lot. Here is what I've made out of it. I think when Trevor says, I know the will to evil, he means that being free and not having a custodian is the will to evil. I think the end shows even if Aeon had the custodian her will would of come over it. She pulled the lever sacrificing Trevor to kill Bambara.

-- Cliff Leslie (ComdrBlood@aol.com), November 03, 1998.

i understand the typerwriter guy was a stenographer, but why was he included, what purpose did he serve?

were the events being recorded for future reference, or was it a comparison to a court room where every detail is recorded?

what role did the audience play? there's obviously a connection to society. why did they all have levers? when bambara died, was it an act of social conscious?

i believe the little toy had a meaning... if trevor was merely his comprised of his custodian, and his custodian merely the toy, and the toy merely a creation of trevor's..

with the ending, i never sensed victory in aeon's eyes. it seems to me that she recognized the custodian as a manifistation of something she could never really escape/conquer.

namely, a social conscious (philosophically the question of free will, aeon's ultimate truth. can free will truly exist or is man merely a product of his time/environment?

or maybe it was just a bunch of jibberish, contirved messages (dirty carbunkl festering in teh corner... ok sure), and psycho imagry....

-- divinity (divinity@u.washington.edu), November 05, 1998.

It seems to me that the stage is a sort of symbol. Everyone in the show seems to be reading lines, as though this were all planned beforehand. Even Aeon and Bambara(to a certain extent). The way, the drink falls into Trevor's hand and he takes a sip, the way Judy walks in and does her little shindig. It all seems planned. Even when Bambara busts in, it doesn't suprise Trevor(a Trevor robot?). I think he was expecting him. Also, I think Aeon was forced to pull the lever somehow. If you'll notice, the custodian at the end of the episode was repeating Aeon's Lever-pull movement over and over.

I was completely baffled by this episode until I read a book about 6 people who woke up one morning to find their town completely empty except for them.(bear with me while i make my point) Through an odd sequence of events, one of the girls, a snobby, pretty type, acciddentaly set herself ablaze.(there was gasoline and a ciggarette involved) Later, the remaining 5 come across 6 short stories. One described how a vain Cindarella got caught in a burning ball. The rest of the stories each vaguely described the others and described their deaths in an equally vague manner. Over the next 4 hours, all but one die in similar ways to what their stories described. But it was allways their fault. No apparent outside source interferred in any way. For example, one guy steals a gun and later breaks into a house to see if there was anyone inside. There was a full leangth mirror inside and it was dark. He turned a corner abrublty and had been startled by his own reflection. So startled he shoot his reflection several times. One bullet ricocheted and killed him

Finally, the remaining person meets a girl that all 6 had wronged in some way, but who they thought had dies months ago. It turns out she was some sort of witch and the stories were a kind of spell. Each dicision the 6 had made, each word they said, even everything they thought was pre-written by her. They had had absolutely no free will even though they believed each action to be one of their own choosing.

I think The Purge hinges on a similar concept of control. Aeon pulls the lever, proving to herself and to Trevor that she is in control of herself. But when she sees the custodian imitating the movement over and over, I think she realizes she really had no choice in the matter. She WASN'T in control after all.

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), November 05, 1998.

There's no particular reason why he should be a stenographer. He's outputting _reams_ of stuff, even when people aren't talking, and besides, it's all being filmed. Keeping with the theme, he's more likely to be examining ratings, or monitoring the reactions of the characters.

-- Philip Mills (philip.mills@cableinet.co.uk), November 06, 1998.

Philly Willy, go watch the tape again. You only hear him typing right after somebody says something.

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), November 07, 1998.

Uh, what about when Aeon's unconcious?

-- Philip Mills (philip.mills@cableinet.co.uk), November 08, 1998.

After more than two years (it might be three) I have finally figured out the meaning of "The Purge." I haven't watched it in months, so I won't be able to discuss some of the smaller things, but I know what the episode as a whole is trying to say.

The whole point is to make us question whether we are really in control or not. At the end, Aeon thought that if she was implanted with a custodian, she would not be capable of pulling the lever to (kill Trevor?, i forget what it was supposed to do). So she pulls it, but then a couple of minutes later sees that the custodian is supposed to do that action. So Aeon was in fact implanted, and being completely controlled by the custodian. So like I said before, I think that Chung wanted to make us think about who really is in control in our lives. We think that we are this mind and this body, but what are we really? We think we make our own decisions, but do we?

-- J.P. McDevitt (JuntMonkey@aol.com), November 15, 1998.

More Questions: is there any signifigance with aeon's thigh hitting the lever before she actually pulls it? does anyone else find judy's nursery ryhme related to the episode at all? hinx minx <"man alive goodchild you give me the hinks"--aeon> the old witch winks the fat begins to fry blah blah blah blah every knave will have a slave perhaps I have too much time on my hands?

-- mindy anderson (atilla@c-zone.net), August 30, 1999.

That's incredible. I'd never even considered it.

-- Philip Mills (philip.mills@cableinet.co.uk), September 01, 1999.

i don't remeber the rhyme off hand, but yes it is a summery of the short... the "old witch" is whats-her-name... every nave will have a slave?...... the toy... is this symbolic for trevors conscience... and is the shell symbolic for trevor's public persona.... he is just a dancing karbunkel when it comes down to it? is THAT his conscience -mischif? WHO is bambara? the "lower class" -or our "lower" side? WHAT about the young girls? why do THEY say trevors speech? what is his speech...jugdicus levity? anyways..... "purge" is my favorite one too... excuse all my spelling

-- neut (neutron@null.net), September 10, 1999.

the purge...no i don't have full understanding, being a bit reprobate and therefore barred from full understanding of a conscience. but i was always struck by the fact that the band of provocateurs opposed to the custodian are all female. freud claimed women have incomplete superego formation because they do not, as men do, have to give up mother as original love object; therefore women do not have the moral conscience that men do, are not fit to make societal decisions, &c ha ha ha. also 3 stages of womanhood are represented in the episode: the twins as maiden, aeon as fully (i mean fully) sexualized, and the head provacateur as crone. what would that coke-sniffer say? what about the song of the creepy little cabbage-eater "...mutton pies, tell me when your mother dies, i'll be there to bury her..." freud thought female pleasure to be masochistic--these women definitely explode that notion, but someone could make a case for bambara as an anal-stage figure with his rum antics and defecating, o! i should go back to counting sheep and swirling around the sky above my sleepless bed...

i like the idea of the stenographer as recording for future reference. perhaps the episode is coding and recording itself for its future reception. trevor's a pro-spective type with his evil twist on nietzsche's will to power. he's not really there at all.

-- erin (eeedwards@msn.com), September 15, 1999.

in the purge it seems to me that when the hostesses purge that first woman she DOESN'T have the surgical cap that is put on after having the belly button untied and thus did not have a custodian put in. . .rather she already had a "custodian" or a conscience. . .likewise when we see the custodian in the tank at the end of the episode it is NOT INSIDE Aeon as it would have had to be to control her, so it seems to me that this is not a sign that she has a custodian inside of her but rather a sign that she has a conscience. There are my thoughts

-- siniadv (bdavis-shannon2@washcoll.edu), January 25, 2003.

i don't know if its been answered or not but this is my take on the little monster thing. The whole idea behind the custodians to me is trying to believe if you are really in control of your own thoughts or if your a "puppet" being used by someone elses thoughts, and the lttle monster is showing that even the person trying to control someone else is being controled. if that makes sense lol. but i think he adds a twist of irony with it being silly looking and acting say thing being controlled is a never ending cycle you are constantly being manipulated by other peoples thoughts weather you like it or not and its up to your own free will to decide what you believe or don't. Sorry this is probably really twisted up i didn't read through this for edits but this is my take hope it keeps the thoughts alive :).

-- Ian Connin (connin_c@bellsouth.net), May 31, 2004.

By "little monster" you mean the dancing wind-up toy right, Just to clear that up.

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), May 31, 2004.

yes, sorry for the bad example i had no idea what to call it i think your answer suites it best :) thank you but still thats my take on the episode.

-- Ian Connin (connin_c@bellsouth.net), June 06, 2004.

Yeah, you're right man. Human life is an unending daisy-chain of bullshitting and petty power struggles.

Depressing but true.

-- Ashly Kehl (stefburk@metrocast.net), June 07, 2004.

in the purge it seems to me that when the hostesses purge that first woman she DOESN'T have the surgical cap that is put on after having the belly button untied and thus did not have a custodian put in. . .rather she already had a "custodian" or a conscience. . .likewise when we see the custodian in the tank at the end of the episode it is NOT INSIDE Aeon as it would have had to be to control her, so it seems to me that this is not a sign that she has a custodian inside of her but rather a sign that she has a conscience. There are my thoughts

-- siniadv (bdavis-shannon2@washcoll.edu), January 25, 2003.

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True enough, it is not implanted. The strange twist is that the conscience is accurate. If Aeon lacked the conscience, she would have performed the same with the custodian. However, she did indeed have her own and therefore did what needed to be done as dictated by conscience. I consider this a full endorcement of mind control by Chung and Co.

-- Nadar (mdr@sasktel.net), June 12, 2004.