If you are looking for a disturbing and maybe all too realistic science fiction film, look past the age of the film and give "Soylent Green" a watch. Just yesterday in the news I was reading about the first synthetic meats being created and maybe appearing as soon as a year from now. ![]() It's a terrifying and realistic portrayal of mankind when our resources begin to run out and alternative methods of food creation are employed. The over population of the planet has caused massive food shortages and many people literally lay on the streets, steps of apartment buildings and anywhere else they can. "Soylent Green" is one of the later films featuring the legendary Charlton Heston in one of his lesser roles, but Heston still gives a good performance as a detective in the future New York City in 2022. The film's secret is known to most, even if you haven't watched it, but I will not state it here in case. This being said, the film is also still quite relevant in today's world and the uncertain future mankind faces as a race together. I encourage comments and fellow bloggers to tell me their thoughts on Soylent Green.Let me start of the bat by saying that "Soylent Green" is certainly a film of it's time and obviously is way out of date by today's standards. I am genuinely interested in people's responses. No one would have to know, you could have just one. There is a big ol' plate of Soylent Green cubes right in front of you right now. The Soylent Green is your only option other than starvation. You haven't eaten in four days and it's a fifty-mile trek to the Twinkie factory on your map. Soylent Green is sourced in a fascinating novel by Harry Harrison that addresses the issue of overpopulation. You find a bag of Soylent Green (it keeps forever) in an abandoned supply depot. ![]() The overcrowded, polluted, impoverished world from before was a joy compared with the daily nightmare you now endure. Long Pig sends you a free bag of jerky to try. Scientists think vat-meat might be necessary to feed everybody in a couple decades, and if it's vat-grown, who is to say some of what's in the vats isn't people meat? Let's say you live in the world of Transmet, where everyone eats Long Pig, including your favorite journalist. Transmet 's lunatic anti-hero gonzo journalist, Spider Jerusalem, loves eating Long Pig, which is brand name, vat-grown human meat. Soylent Green is a 1973 American ecological dystopian thriller film, directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young and Edward. Perhaps my favorite comic, Transmetropolitan has its own version of the other, other white meat: Long Pig. You haven't eaten in a day and, after waiting in line for 4 hours, you get handed your bag of Soylent Green (because Tuesday is Soylent Green day!). The world is overcrowded, hot, there is no food and you are starving. In what situations would a reasonable person eat food made of people? Let me set up some scenarios for you, and you tell me how much you'd love to eat Soylent Green (which is people) in that scenario. We're all rational, scientifically minded individuals. So, in the spirit of ethical inquiry, I'd like to do some thought experiments. So what to do with the bodies of humans in a world where there is no room to put them and everyone is starving? What to do indeed. ![]() There is no space for anything in the movie's version of the future (people are everywhere) and cremation involves burning, which isn't exactly great for global warming. Marauding hoards of hillbilly cannibals aren't threatening to strip the meat from your bones. Ok! That last part is traumatic, I admit. ![]() Then your body is shipped off and turned into Soylent Green which everyone loves to eat. You die quickly and painlessly from a colorless, odorless gas. When you die, you go to a death-a-torium of sorts where you pay a small fee, then watch a really pretty movie filled with scenes from nature and peaceful music. The government hands out rations of Soylent products, which are awful, flavorless cubes and loafs of "soy" (actually plankton but really it's irrelevant cause it's people ) foodstuff that look like red, blue, or green Play-Doh. Global warming is in full swing and even rich people have to eat crummy food. įirst, a quick recap: In the movie, the earth is overpopulated and over-polluted. But for what it was, there were some cool ideas in Soylent Green. But no one ever talks about the rest of that movie, mostly because it's kind of terrible. Remember (* spoiler alert!* sheesh!) Soylent Green is people, as Charlton Heston discovered. I really want to know: Would you eat Soylent Green ?
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