Film Discussion Entry and Essay Analysis Entry

Soylent Green

 

Richard Fleischer’s Soylent Green is a dystopian film set on the scene of New York City in 2022, with an overpopulation of 40 million people. Current populations are estimated to be around 8 million people according to the United States Census Bureau. That’s a difference of 32 million people. Considering how people dense New York City already is, having that many more people only begins to paint a dark picture of what this New York City looks like. The film begins with the screeching halting noise of sirens, addressing to the populations that street curfew will begin soon. There are advertisements to obtain Soylent Yellow, and Soylent Red high energy food supplements with a new Soylent Green, made from plankton concentrations that always seems to be in high demand with low supply. The surrounding areas in the City are polluted, the streets are filled with thousands of people wearing masks covering their eyes and noses from the green tinted smog in the city. Dozens are scattered throughout, sleeping on the streets, on staircases, anywhere where they are able to seek shelter.

This film only continues to address growing concern of overpopulation, which has been an issue since the settlement of the West in the United States. This issue of overpopulation goes hand in hand with the fear of humanity losing itself, as survival instincts begin to flourish when society begins to collapse. Though briefly mentioned, Sol had stated how humans have caused all of this on themselves, reducing our climate to just hot year round, destroying the water ways and destroying our food supply. It is an extremely disturbing dystopia, because not only did humans aid the formation of this new reality, but did not seem to do anything to prevent it. Currently, this fear of human overgrowth is a reality, as stated by World Hunger Education Service, “1/8 of the human population has suffered from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012.” Though we are able to create enough food to feed the current world population, lack of fine-tuned distribution, war and various other causes continues to leave too many of the world’s population in a food desert. This relates directly to the advertised “Soylent Green Tuesdays”, which reduce the population’s access to this “energy supplement” since everything in the society is a considered to be a luxury.

There is a large gap between the rich and the poor in this film which demonstrates the differences in quality of life. Most disturbing was how many of us watching this film resonate with the ‘rich” as we have real fruits and vegetables, we have meats, we have air conditioning. This film is less about a future dystopia, but a current one that we are living in that will only continue to become worse in the future. It can be seen that like many of us, the rich take much of what they have for granted. Though we may not consider ourselves rich in the sense of someone without running water does since we see those things as never ending, and considered to be provided for everyone, when the reality is, most people don’t enjoy these commodities.

Though a growing concern that is similar to one we face now was mentioned in this film. Fears against our carbon emissions and how badly we actually damaging our planet. Though it is no longer a question that our global temperatures are increasing, it has been begging the question:

            How do we feed the masses?

Currently, we have been genetically engineered crops, altering them to grow large, to extend shelf life, even to reduce bruising. We use pesticides, and mono crop plantations for our food. All things that may have negative effects in the future, and disturb our ecosystem.

In this film, they are reduced to creating nutritional supplements, since their irreversible damage of global warming has deemed vegetables, fruits and meats a luxury, something only those very few are able to afford. It was mentioned a jar of strawberry jam was $150. Compared to the price of a jar today, if our food prices are ever that high, we will be living in a much darker world.

So again begs the question, if we aren’t feeding them food, what are we feeding them?

 

Easy! People! In a world where life as we know it ended, ecosystems collapsed, most life forms extinct, not even able to have basic necessities, it makes everything a luxury including human remains. In this collapsed society, the population still continues to increase, as demonstrated by the “rations” of soylent green, deeming even human remains to be a luxury. It only shows the disturbing realization of this film, that they all may not have a choice in the matter. The film ends with Detective Thorn wishing to spread the word that soylent green is made out of people, but what use is there in doing so? Everything else is this dystopia is gone, with humans being the only possibility of food to even keep the poor alive. Even if everyone knew, it would not change the fact that fields are not farmable, that fruits and vegetables are scarce, and it wouldn’t revive the wildlife.

It is a disturbing dystopia, considering most of us consider ourselves “civilized” with the thought of eating anothers human being remaining appalling, and at the same time beginning to comprehend that is your only choice.

 

 

Fahrenheit 451

 

 

Francois Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451 is an empowering film that exposes humanity’s current reality of reliance on objects, technology, and mass thinking. It also negates the importance and necessity of human interaction, free thinking, and free doing. These firemen, using flamethrowers instead of fire hoses, search suspected homes of any books, which are then compiled together to be burned down along with the houses that contained them.

Books are burned for they are considered to be seductive, illusive, and dangerous as they may provoke citizens to think and question themselves. Therefore books are a threat to this dystopia’s enforced conformity, and must be destroyed.

As seen in Booker’s “Compare and Contrast” essay On Dystopia, the ability to use mass media to influence people’s thoughts is a reality. Currently, a strong industry which billions of dollars are poured into to influence the things we buy, the things we like, and the things we eat. By using media to be an aspect of this dystopia, it forces a dehumanizing effect on consumer capitalism. In this film, media is controlled by few outlets, while books have the potential to be written by numerous writers, in the same way so many different people are able to express their opinions on blogs. By having only a few outlets of media as shown in this film, it easily manipulates the information that is broadcasted and not only removes the different perspectives, but lies to manipulate the feelings and thoughts of those watching it.

This was best seen when Montag had escaped the city. In order to continue this regime of total control, television sets had to broadcast his capture, regardless of this being the truth. It is seen as entertainment, and important to provide “justice” to the black sheep of this society.

Though by removing books, it removes another outlet that can provide information and have an effect on society’s opinions and thoughts. By burning these books, it discourages independence and becomes favorable to social tranquility.

Compare/Contrast in Fahrenheit 451 by Booker exemplifies that this future dystopia does not require firemen. The majority of the population prefers media as it is more entertaining than books and thus stopped reading books to their own accord. In turn, these book burnings are more symbolic than literal, since the books are already deemed ineffectual by the general population. Although to the minority of the population whom are hiding these books there is still a benefit to acquiring their knowledge through text which in turn provides these members of society with power by having free thought and swimming against the current.

            The success of this film is brought on due to the realistic possibilities of such a dystopia occurring, and even enough to make the audience want to prevent this from occurring. Similarly, book burnings occurred in Nazi Germany which demonstrated the negative effects mass media plays, as well as force those who were captured to be dehumanized and lack any outlets of expression.

 

Overpopulation and Social Breakdown in Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room!

 

            This essay illustrates what an overpopulated world with 344 million people in the United States looks like. Overpopulation and ecology are dystopian nightmares, due to the long standing fears of a world worse than our old one, and the present danger that we are altering our world. One of the most prominent points that were addressed was Rachel Carson’s 1962 Silent Spring. A possible dystopia where she writes of the long term detrimental effects of pesticides on birds, fish, insects, and plants. This idea of dystopias and their realistic possibilities due to their nature has allowed for actual responses. At the time Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published, National attention was focused on the effects of Strontium 90 in baby milk. There was fear that it could have detrimental effects. This made Silent Spring more receptive, and popular as a realistic solution to a real dystopia. This sparked the outlaw of DDT, an extremely harmful pesticide that though can kill flies with malaria, they  interfere with the plasma membranes of all organisms which can cause death.