Anti-Anonymous/Libertarian Imagery In "The Purge," "The East," and "The Following"

I wrote in November and December about The Year Of The Mask -- and mask imagery is still going strong in our popular culture. But while this all started as a riff off the Guy Fawkes "Anonymous" mask, it has taken a very cult-like, Manson-like, serial-killer turn.

Exhibit One: The TV show "The Following," about an Edgar Allan Poe-obsessed cult led by a charismatic, Charles Mansonesque leader. Here's a visual of the masks the followers -- who are in "sleeper cells" and could be anybody -- use:

Apparently the show -- which is incredibly disturbing and visceral -- has made concrete connections between the Poe cult and the Tea Party/Libertarian movement, as seen by this still from an episode where the "Don't Tread On Me" flag is displayed:

Next, we have the recent trailer for the movie "The East," about an Occupy-type group who targets big corporations. Here is a sample of their mask imagery:



While the corporate "Bad Guys" in the film have all the standard "Illuminati" imagery like a Bohemian Grove type get-together and a company name like "Hawkstone" (Horus-Stone, Horus-Mason), we find a quick cut from the trailer where one of the "rebels" is wearing a Baphomet symbol:

Who are really the "bad guys" in this movie? More than likely, The East will be revealed to be a Manson-like violent "cult" that should never have been trusted.

Lastly, here are images from the upcoming film "The Purge," about the beleaguered government announcing a 12-hour period where any crime is legal.

The trailers also have a strong "America Reborn" theme that is reminiscent of Alex Jones-type rhetoric and graphics:



"The Purge," then, features mask-wearing gangs that seem at the same time Anarchistic (Occupy, Anonymous) and Tea Party/Libertarian.

What we can glean from all this? No matter what political extraction of the mask wearer, the message is CLEAR -- these are dangerous people who need to be stopped. That is the message of all this -- that they are all cults, no different from a Manson/Waco type scenario. It is taking the Guy Fawkes symbology and consciously turning it "evil."

Good thing, perhaps, that the next major superheroes to grace our silver screen either have armor (Iron Man = military tech) or are maskless (Superman = Ubermensch, Thor = Aryan ideal).