#Soylent green movie

“People absolutely do not think critically,” he said. But, he added, that doesn’t make misinformation any less dangerous. Maynard concedes that the world is a subtler and far more complex place than it was in the movie. They’re not asking hard questions, and we have to ask why and what we can learn from that.” “And most people don’t question it, right? They live miserable lives, but they’re not rebelling against the machine.

“It’s exactly this tension that is seen in a film like 'Soylent Green,' where you have a layer of society that is using technology both to maintain their own position, control other people and to actually suppress other people. “We’re living in a world where we’ve somehow got to play catch up with how we use our technological abilities wisely,” said Andrew Maynard, an associate dean for curricula and student success at ASU’s College of Global Futures. It’s communication as control, and it’s magnified by today’s technology. They see a beautiful montage of waterfalls, deer and flowers – before their remains turn into wafers of Soylent Green. Its duplicitous messaging is most evident when people choose to be euthanized. In doing so, the corporation protects itself from public examination or even the most cursory questioning.

#Soylent green movie

The Soylent Green corporation controls the world’s food supply, and in many ways, the information faucet to the 7 billion people around the world. (That's one more thing the movie accurately forecast: Today’s world population is 7.9 billion). So young people who may have good jobs still aren’t able to buy a home.” The power of (mis)information “It’s people who are kind of in the low or very low income bracket who are trying to get into the housing market for the first time,” she said.

Those without significant resources can’t get into a home, either, which is very 'Soylent Green'-like. Pricing people out of affordable rentals isn’t the only problem, Cook-Davis added. “Those are the individuals who are just trying to make ends meet and really get squeezed because they were already potentially cost-burdened in terms of the percentage of their income they’re paying toward housing.”

“It’s having really devastating effects, especially for low-income households,” she said. According to a January count by the Maricopa Association of Governments, the unsheltered homeless population has increased from 1,053 in 2014 to 5,029 this year. The rising rental prices, Cook-Davis said, will likely cause an even greater increase in the number of homeless people in the Valley. “The vacancy rate is historically low, so the rents are getting pushed up and up.” “The housing shortage has become particularly acute over the past year,” said Alison Cook-Davis, associate director for research at ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Currently, median rents in Phoenix are $1,227 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,498 for a two-bedroom apartment. The affordability of resources isn’t quite as class-driven today as it was in the film - unless you’re trying to find a decently-priced apartment in the Phoenix metro area.Īccording to Apartment List, rents increased by 25% in Phoenix during the past year. The elite, they’re called.Įveryone else sleeps in their cars - or on the street. Housing in New York City, where 'Soylent Green' is set, is only affordable to the richest of the rich. In the movie, the food shortage is so extreme a jar of strawberry jam is $150 and people weep at the sight of beef. The film portrays a world being devastated by climate change, its oceans polluted with waste overpopulation and overuse of resources lead to shortages of food and water housing prices skyrocket to the point only the elite can afford apartments.Īpril 19 marks the 49th anniversary of the film’s release, and its futuristic, dystopian themes have some relevance today, so much so that four Arizona State University professors, all in different fields, could address the movie’s, well, prescient takes. Yes, the movie is a fictional piece of work. “Soylent Green is people!” Heston yells, his left arm and bloody left hand lifted over his head. Spoiler alert: In the final scene of the 1973 movie “Soylent Green” actor Charlton Heston, who plays detective Frank Thorn, is being led off on a stretcher following a gun battle when he desperately reveals the secret he wants the world to know: The nutritious wafer Soylent Green is composed of pulverized remains of human corpses.