Have you heard of the movie Soylent Green?

[WhipperSnapper]

At another forum where I was engaged in a discussion about immigration and population explosion, a poster suggested to another (younger) poster that he watch the movie Soylent Green.

This makes me wonder, how many young people have heard of that movie or even know what it's about nowadays? It should be required viewing for everyone as part of their American education, IMHO. Sadly, you couldn't make a movie like that today because it would be too intellectual and too controversial; Hollywood would never permit it. Lots of youngin's probably don't know what's meant by the phrase "The scoops are on their way!" nor the special secret ingredient that makes up the food of the future.

This is the police. This is the police. I am asking you to disperse. The supply of Soylent Green has been exhausted. You must evacuate the area. The scoops are on their way. The scoops are on their way!

 

[dmcowen674]

"It's people"!!!

 

[WhipperSnapper]

The secret ingredient is supposed to be a secret, silly! Consequently, the movie does contain one of the most dramatic and memorable lines in all of cinematic history, shouted out to the masses by Charlton Heston. "Soylent Green is made of people!" The "scoops" are bulldozers that scoop up people at food riots and take them to the Soylent Green processing facility where...you get the picture.

 

[sandorski]

I don't recall ever actually seeing it, although I may have when I was really young.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
The secret ingredient is supposed to be a secret, silly! Consequently, the movie does contain one of the most dramatic and memorable lines in all of cinematic history, shouted out to the masses by Charlton Heston. "Soylent Green is made of people!" The "scoops" are bulldozers that scoop up people at food riots and take them to the Soylent Green processing facility where...you get the picture.

Er no, Soylent Green was made from the bodies of the people who decide to "go home" (commit state sanctioned suicide).

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Charlie was the late 60's-early 70's sci-fi god IMHO. Omega Man, Soylent green, Planet of the Apes, all among my favorite sci-fi flicks ever.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: K1052Er no, Soylent Green was made from the bodies of the people who decide to "go home" (commit state sanctioned suicide).

Well, yeah, but didn't they also use the people who were taken by the scoops? (Forgive me, I haven't seen the movie for a long time.)

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Originally posted by: K1052Er no, Soylent Green was made from the bodies of the people who decide to "go home" (commit state sanctioned suicide).

Well, yeah, but didn't they also use the people who were taken by the scoops? (Forgive me, I haven't seen the movie for a long time.)

No, just the people who decided to die. There seemed to be a pretty steady stream of them anyway.

 

[BoomerD]

http://imdb.com/title/tt0070723/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c25tTzGJmcs

http://video.google.com/videop...id=1296155071179146825

 

[Capt Caveman]

Soylent Green is made of yum!

 

[BigJelly]

Soylent green was suppose to be a movie of things to come--mass starvation. Think of the Day After Tomorrow and the man-made global warming crap where the temperature will drop >90F in seconds.

How wrong they were--we don't have a problem with mass starvation but with mass obesity.

In fact because of the eviromental nuts we are actually using food to fuel our cars. Which natually drives the cost of fuel AND food prices up.

 

[Moonbeam]

Where is TastesLikeChicken?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Where is TastesLikeChicken?

Maybe we ate him?

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Where is TastesLikeChicken?

Maybe we ate him?

( ... I think I'm gonna hurl ...)

:shocked:

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Where is TastesLikeChicken?

Maybe we ate him?

How did he taste?

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Where is TastesLikeChicken?

Maybe we ate him?

How did he taste?

Like rattlesnake... or was it rabbit... or was it frogs legs?

Or, as we used to say when mods were anonymous...

I killed and ate the Fun Mod with some jellybeans and a little Chianti.

AnandTech Mean Moderator

Wait a minute... We took turns. I was the Fun Mod and a bunch of others. :laugh:

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Where is TastesLikeChicken?

Maybe we ate him?

How did he taste?

LOL, I think I see where your going with this.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Futurama viewers have heard of it, since it was the required food element in the Iron Chef episode. It may have been mentioned in other episdoes as well.

I've also seen "it's people!" used across the intrawebs as the exemplar of a spoiler.

 

[ScottMac]

But ... this isn't politics or news.

This is discussion of a very old movie.

I'll pass on offering any of the collection of obvious Clinton jokes.

 

[Jeff7]

"Soylent Chow, because it's a dog-eat-dog world!"

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Futurama viewers have heard of it, since it was the required food element in the Iron Chef episode. It may have been mentioned in other episdoes as well.

I've also seen "it's people!" used across the intrawebs as the exemplar of a spoiler.

"Mmm, Soylent Green is my kind of people."

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Where is TastesLikeChicken?

It's the Matrix, man. The machines didn't know what things were supposed to taste like, which is why everything tastes like chicken.

 

[rockyct]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Futurama viewers have heard of it, since it was the required food element in the Iron Chef episode. It may have been mentioned in other episdoes as well.

I've also seen "it's people!" used across the intrawebs as the exemplar of a spoiler.

I'm pretty sure it was also mentioned and parodied in the episode where Fry tries to find out about the drink, Slurm.

 

[StageLeft]

Never heard of.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: BigJelly
Soylent green was suppose to be a movie of things to come--mass starvation. Think of the Day After Tomorrow and the man-made global warming crap where the temperature will drop >90F in seconds.

How wrong they were--we don't have a problem with mass starvation but with mass obesity.

The world and our nation's population are still growing. The U.S. is projected to have a population of about 450 million by 2050, so there's still plenty of time. One of the implicit points of the movie might have been that, in general, we can have a higher standard of living with a lower population density. It's an issue in China and India and it will become an issue here in the U.S. (which is, by far, the world's third most populous nation).

Also, if the "Peak Oil" people are correct and "Peak Oil" comes to pass, resulting in a collapse of our petroleum-based economy, all hell could break lose and we might start to see some aspects of Soylent Green come into play. If you go the http://www.PeakOil.com discussion forums, you'll find that folks talk about how to survive the anticipated mass die-offs, subsistence farming, building thatch houses, and how to fend off bandits. (Interestingly, the Peak Oil forums might have more activity than the Anandtech forums.)

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
This makes me wonder, how many young people have heard of that movie or even know what it's about nowadays? It should be required viewing for everyone as part of their American education, IMHO.

We watched it in my high school English class one week. That was around 1990.