Soylent Green could be Worse

"Soylent green is made out of people!" ... but it could be worse?

Soylent comes in many different colors, but the color green is what the people are made out of. The color green symbolize greed, wealth, sickness, jealousy, all qualities of people on both sides of the fence in the Soylent Universe. The food is a direct reflection of the people, because it is the people. You are what you eat. 

I know it is supposed to be shocking that it's people, but the people are dead and THEN they are baked into green Cheese-its. Yes it's messed up, but I feel like it could have been taken even further if they were baked alive (might be too much for the 70s production codes...)

Let's look at the 70s:
During the time this movie came out, This movie was made in the early 70s and people grew up during the Vietnam war and it was still going on for 2 years after the movie came out in theaters.  Low income, low educated citizens were being targeted for the draft in 69s early 70s and Soylent green is a direct reflection of that reality, seen on both sides of the fence in the movie. The rich are protected and the poor are subject to the real circumstances of the world.


I feel the story has 2 different takes.

Take 1: The Basic Idea
Forester talks about food in Sci Fi movies providing memories, personal histories, regrets and most obviously about how tech has been taken to the extreme and shows the audience how far society has gone wrong. In Soylent Green, yes, the earth has gone to shit. It is over populated and a majority live in poverty while the rich are uber rich.






Take 2: The Millennial Idea

HIPPIE MOVIE!
It's all about veganism and sustainability.

People are mammals, animals are mammals. Soylent Green is a warning about how we should have focused on sustainable living options like growing personal crops and figuring out alternate ways of living rather modestly than exploiting animals and resources.
----BREAK OUT THOSE REUSABLE STRAWS-----

I'm leaning towards take 1 rather than take 2, but I think it's always interesting to see movies in two possible mind sets




Now----what would I do if I figured out what Soylent green was?]

I would like to think if I was rich I'd become a super vegan and figure out how to grow GMO food plants with science and employ the people living in poverty. Then I'd  slowly take zones of the world and integrate people back into normal society.... Because that's obviously how it works (I hope you sense the sarcasm!).


But if I was poor, In all honesty I would nothing. The world is dead already. I need to stay alive and everyone's brain that is poor is in survival mode. If I do something without the power of money I would probably die like Thorn- is that a bad thing? No. I think I'd want to die at that point!



Again, I feel it could have been more brutal than taking already dead and eating them in the context of the apocalypse. But I guess it's horrifying enough as it is.