Soylent Green

Soylent Green Movie Poster

Emily and I watched on old 1973 movie called Soylent Green starring Charleton Heston.   The movie is set in the year 2022 when the Earth is overcrowded and polluted. People are forced to scrape by with little to eat except Soylent food wafers which come in various colors including green.  Nearly all food products are made by the Soylent corporation which basically owns the world because of its importance.  It has a wierd twist at the end and the line Charleton Heston delivers was provided to me in another context by a friend which is what made me originally watch this movie (I’ll say no more).

The cool thing about the movie is that it made me think on two separate topics.  First, I wonder if we are headed down the same general road of overcrowding, pollution, disassociation from our food, etc.  There are large corporations that genetically modify food/seeds/etc to increase viability, production, and whatever else they can.  At the same time, they may be introducing a monoculture future where varieties of corn and beets and peppers, etc are non-existent. With reduced genetic diversity comes danger.  These corporations are also holders of the patents for these seeds/genetic variations which may give them additional power over what is available to us to eat in the future.

Secondly, I wonder how the human race ever survived the 1970s.  Older movies highlight hair styles and clothes and make me wonder how people were able get past how goofy they looked so they could procreate.  It amazes me.  Of course, I am a 1970s child and the fact that my parents procreated even further horrifies me (though, for my sake, I am glad they did).  I can write no more…

11 thoughts on “Soylent Green

  1. The only way I’ll be eating soylent-like products in the future is if I’m physically incapable of gardening and mentally incapable of guilting my honey into gardening for me! 🙂

    And yeah, the 70’s. I was born in ’72, but that wasn’t late enough for me to miss the bell bottoms, big hair, and other fashion losers of the time. But were the 80’s much better? Remember those awful shorts called Jams? And didn’t bell bottoms make a comeback? And in 20 years when we’re all sitting around naked and chewing thoughtfully on our tasty soylent snack, what will we be saying about today’s fashion?

  2. Ahh, Soylent Green. Hehe. What a great classic movie. I just might watch it tonight again. I LOVE old cheesy sci-fi. At least they had some original ideas back then. 🙂

    I stuck a lot of old dried cicada shells on my younger sister when we were kids… uh… in self-defense, of course.

    Thanks for the pepper jelly recipe… I just might have to try that. We have millions of peppers as well. 🙂

    Ron

  3. I don’t like the idea of a soylent future much either. The good news, in the movie, anyone who could grow food (probably just corporations), was pretty rich. Vegetables were almost contraband and went for high $$.

    It was a cheesy movie and I am hesitant to recommend it to anyone unless they like cheesy 1970s movies.

  4. It surely is amazing…the movie had references to the food issues/monoculture as well as global warming, homemade generators to charge batteries, and ocean die-offs…very prescient filmmaking!

  5. My husband and I watched that movie last year on the advice of my friend, Steve, who told us that we would be creeped out beyond recognition — and that it related to much of our subject matter on our blog.

    It certainly made us think and the line… well, it was perfect.

    Chilling.

    Love your blog! Just found it thanks to YD!

    Blessings!
    Lacy

  6. Thanks for visiting Lacy. I have been reading your blog (also thanks to YD) and have also enjoyed it. I am starting to enjoy the old movies. We have netflix and it’s been nice to search for old goofy stuff. Not super cinema but super funny!

  7. Hey! Are you *the* warren who has commented on my blog in the past? The one whose profile led me to believe he didn’t have a blog? If so…COOL! If not, oh well, but cool blog, sir, I’m happy to have found you. 🙂

    You must’ve been watching the same cable channel I was watching the other night when this came on. I don’t think I’d ever seen this movie from start to finish…I was mesmerized. And Leigh Taylor Young (the redhead) was stunning, didn’t you think? Some people just have faces that enthrall you – she had one of those. But then, I’m a really big fan of old movies (and old fashions, hairstyles, classic looks, etc. – I think they’re fascinating).

    Regarding heading down the same road, aren’t we sort of there already? Look at what we put into our bodies, what we feed the animals that feed us, what we do to our land that supports us….that movie just screams GIANT METAPHOR to me, which, of course, it was meant to be.

    Sorry – this comment is too long, but my favorite part of that movie is when the giant people scoopers (bulldozers) come along and scoop all the folks up that are too stoopid to take one step to the left or right to avoid that fate. 🙂

  8. Hey Farmgirl_dk, I am *the* Warren. I forget how I found your blog but I have been checking it our regularly for awhile.

    I agree that we already way down the road to Soylent Green but was afraid to speak too strongly about it…but there, you have brought it out of me!

    I sort of like the old goofy 1970s movies though they are usually less insightful than this one appears to be IMHO. I am still not sure why we haven’t seen the truth of this stuff…that was clearly known and illustrated in 1973 when this movie was released. It boggles my mind!

    Anyhow, thanks for visiting and posting!

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