Teachable Moment

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What is Solyent Green?

Soylent Green (1973) is a science fiction film being mentioned in news items these days because 50 years ago it predicted a future of New York City in 2022 with climate disasters, runaway inflation, food shortages, and a powerful elite separating themselves from the angry, desperate people. Because of the greed and mismanagement of governments and corporations, this is a dystopian future of misused resources causing pollution, constant heat, poverty, and overpopulation leading to euthanasia (killing by “peaceful death”). By the year 2022, there are severe worldwide shortages of food, water, and housing.

In New York City only the wealthy elite can afford spacious houses, clean water and natural food. Their homes have private security, bodyguards, and come with slaves, who are referred to as “furniture.” Most of the world’s population have never seen forests, animals, rivers, or ocean life. The opening sequence of the film shows overcrowded streets teeming with angry people wearing surgical masks.

The main character is NYPD detective Frank Thorn, who is investigating the murder of William R. Simonson, a board member of the Soylent Corporation. This corporation produces the food supply of half of the world in the form of wafers called Soylent Green, which are advertised as being made from ocean plankton. However, Soylent Green is in short supply and people are rioting for food. Simonson was murdered by his fellow Soylent Corporation board members, because he felt guilty and might reveal the secret about Soylent Green.

The secret: Soylent Corporation is quietly euthanizing (killing) people, and the human corpses are converted into Soylent Green wafers to feed the others. In the last scene, Thorn tries to warn the people that the government and corporations have turned them into cannibals.