Soylent Green 45481 224814473 2008-07-10T15:14:40Z Excirial 5499713 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/124.177.180.22|124.177.180.22]] to last version by For An Angel (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]]) <!-- Because of the wide use of "'''Soylent Green'''" in popular culture, the section "Cultural impact" was created as a "catch-all" of the cultural references to the film and its famous final line; very few specific references should be added; otherwise it will become a long, unmanageable list. Please do NOT add specific references to television shows/films/books/video games/etc which make a tiny, "one-off" mention of the movie or its famous "tagline", except for the most well-known, notable examples... Thanks. --> {{for|the metal band|Soilent Green}} {{for|the German punk band|Soilent Grün}} {{Infobox Film | name = Soylent Green | image = Soylent green.jpg| caption = Theatrical release poster| imdb_id = 0070723 | amg_id = 1:45839 | writer = [[Harry Harrison]] (novel)<br>[[Stanley R. Greenberg]] (screenplay) | starring = [[Charlton Heston]] <br> [[Leigh Taylor-Young]]<br>[[Edward G. Robinson]] | director = [[Richard Fleischer]] | producer = [[Walter Seltzer]]<br>[[Russel Thacher]]| distributor = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] | released = [[May 9]], [[1973]] | runtime = 97 min | language = English |not music = Score for soundtrack conducted by [[Gerald Fried]]includes works by [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], and [[Edvard Grieg]]. | awards = 1973 [[Saturn Award for<br> Best Science Fiction Film]]| budget = <!-- unknown --> | }} '''''Soylent Green''''' is a 1973 [[dystopia]]n [[science fiction movie]] depicting a bleak future in which [[overpopulation]], pollution, and the resulting severe damage to the environment have led to widespread unemployment and poverty. Real fruit, vegetables, and meat are rare, commodities are expensive, and much of the population survives on processed food rations, including "soylent green" wafers. The film overlays the genres of science fiction and the [[police procedural]] as it depicts the efforts of [[New York Police Department|New York City police]] detective Robert Thorn ([[Charlton Heston]]) and elderly police researcher Sol Roth ([[Edward G. Robinson]]) to investigate the brutal murder of a wealthy businessman named William R. Simonson ([[Joseph Cotten]]). Thorn and Roth uncover clues which suggest that it is more than simply a bungled burglary. The film, which is loosely based upon the 1966 [[science fiction]] [[novel]] ''[[Make Room! Make Room!]]'', by [[Harry Harrison]], won the [[Nebula Award]] for Best Dramatic Presentation and the [[Saturn Award]] for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973. ==Plot== Set in the year [[2022]], ''Soylent Green'' depicts a [[dystopia]]n future in which the [[population growth|population has grown]] to forty million in [[New York City]] alone. Most housing is dilapidated and overcrowded, and the impoverished homeless fill the streets and line the fire escapes and stairways of buildings. [[Image:SolyentGreen28d.png|thumb|left|240px|Processed "Soylent Green" ration wafers]] Food as we know it today–including fruit, vegetables, and meat–is a rare and expensive commodity. Half of the world's population survives on processed [[rationing|rations]] produced by the massive Soylent Corporation (from ''[[soy]](bean) + [[lentil|lent(il)]]''), including Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow, which are advertised as "high-energy vegetable concentrates". The newest product is Soylent Green - a small green wafer which is advertised as being produced from "high-energy [[plankton]]". It is much more nutritious and palatable than the red and yellow varieties, but it is in short supply, which often leads to riots. Robert Thorn ([[Charlton Heston]]) is a [[New York Police Department|New York City police]] detective who lives in a dilapidated, cramped one-room apartment with his aged partner Sol Roth ([[Edward G. Robinson]]). Roth is a former professor who searches through the now-disordered remnants of written records and books to help Thorn's investigations. Roth and his like are known as "books". He tells Thorn about the times before the ecological disaster and population crisis, when real food was plentiful, although Thorn is generally not interested in the "stories". Thorn is assigned to investigate the murder of William R. Simonson ([[Joseph Cotten]]). When he goes to the crime scene, he finds Simonson lying in a pool of blood from being struck multiple times in the back of the head. Instead of looking for clues, the poorly-paid detective helps himself to some of the wealthy man's food, [[liquor]], [[soap]], and books. He also romances Shirl ([[Leigh Taylor-Young]]), an attractive 24-year old [[prostitute]] (euphemistically known as "furniture") who comes with the luxury apartment. Thorn also meets Simonson's bodyguard, Tab Fielding ([[Chuck Connors]]), who claims that he was told to escort Shirl on a shopping trip when the attack took place. Returning to his apartment, he gives Sol two large books he took from Simonson's apartment, the two-volume ''Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015 to 2019''. Thorn returns to work and talks to the Chief of Detectives, telling him that he suspects it may have been an [[assassination]], since nothing was stolen from the apartment and the murder seemed professional. He finds it odd that the luxury apartment's sophisticated alarm and monitoring electronics happened to be inoperative on the night of the murder, and his bodyguard just happened to be out of the apartment at the time. Thorn waits for Fielding to leave his apartment and then questions his "furniture," wandering about and discovering numerous signs of wealth, including "$150 a jar" strawberry jam. He returns to his own apartment to eat a meal of the purloined food, where Sol tells him that Simonson was a member of the board of directors of the Soylent Corporation, one of the most powerful corporations in the world. He then goes to question, and seduce, Shirl, who tells him that Simonson had become deeply troubled in the days before his death, even taking her to church. Thorn later attempts to question the priest about Simonson's confession, but the priest is almost catatonic and does not reveal anything. Fielding later murders the priest to ensure he never talks. After Thorn begins to uncover evidence that Simonson may have been [[murdered]], [[Governor]] Santini ([[Whit Bissell]]) instructs Thorn's superior officer, Lieutenant Hatcher ([[Brock Peters]]), to close the investigation. However, Thorn refuses, and continues his investigation into the murder. Later, when Thorn is on riot duty during the distribution of rations, Simonson's murderer fires several shots at Thorn, wounding him, but Thorn is able to push his attacker under a riot control vehicle and he escapes. In the meantime, Roth goes over [[Oceanography|oceanographic]] reports that Thorn took from Simonson's apartment with other intellectuals at the "supreme exchange," a library of old books. By piecing together the information, they begin to suspect that the Soylent Corporation may be covering up a horrific conspiracy. Unable to live with what he has uncovered, Roth opts for [[euthanasia]] (euphemistically known as "going home") at a government clinic. There, he is taken to a comfortable bed, is given a poison-laced beverage, and is shown panoramic views of an unspoiled pristine Earth as he dies. Thorn tries to intervene, but he is too late to prevent Roth from dying. Nevertheless, during Roth's final moments, he asks Thorn to find proof about the horrible truth that he suspects about Soylent Green. After Roth dies, Thorn sneaks into the basement of the euthanasia facility, where he sees corpses being loaded onto waste disposal trucks. He secretly hitches a ride on one of the trucks, which drives to a heavily guarded waste disposal plant. Once inside the plant, Thorn sees how the [[corpses]] are processed into Soylent Green wafers. After Thorn escapes from the plant and heads for the supreme exchange with the information, he is ambushed by Fielding and several other gunmen. In the shootout, Thorn kills some of the gunmen, but is himself wounded and retreats into a cathedral filled with homeless people. After a desperate fight, Thorn stabs and kills Fielding. When police backup arrives, the seriously wounded and nearly hysteric Thorn confides to Hatcher the horrible secret behind Soylent Green and urges him to spread the word. ==Film production== The screenplay was based on a 1966 novel ''[[Make Room! Make Room!]]'', which is set in the year 1999, with the theme of overpopulation and overuse of resources leading to increasing poverty, food shortages, and social disorder as the next millennium approaches. While the book refers to "soylent steaks", it makes no reference to "Soylent Green", the processed food rations depicted in the film. The book's title was not used for the movie since it might have confused audiences into thinking it was a big-screen version of ''[[Make Room for Daddy]]''.<ref>http://www.iol.ie/~carrollm/hh/soycann.htm</ref> The director [[Richard Fleischer]], who began by shooting [[film noir]] thrillers after WWII, learned to do special effects in the 1950s and 1960s when he did a number of [[Walt Disney]] films such as ''[[20,000 Leagues Under the Sea]]'' and ''[[Fantastic Voyage]]'' (1966). In the years before and after ''Soylent Green'', Fleisher did films centering on famous serial killers and capital punishment (1968's ''[[The Boston Strangler]]'' and 1971's ''[[10 Rillington Place]]'') and the controversial and provocative Che Guevara biopic ''[[Che!]]''(1969). This was the 101st and last movie in which [[Edward G. Robinson]] appeared. He died from cancer nine days after the shooting was done, on [[January 26]] [[1973]]. Robinson had previously worked with Heston in ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'' (1956). The female lead character, Shirl ([[Leigh Taylor-Young]]), is briefly seen playing a ''[[Computer Space]]'' [[arcade game]], an early depiction of the 1970s [[pop culture]] phenomenon of [[videogame]]s. ===Music=== In the film, after the aged Roth learns the truth about Soylent Green, he decides he can no longer deal with the world, and states that he is "going home". By this, he means that he is going to sign up for government-provided [[euthanasia]]. When Roth arrives at the clinic, he is asked to select a lighting scheme and a type of music for the euthanasia chamber. Roth selects orange-hued lights and "light Classical music." When he goes to the euthanasia chamber, a selection of Classical music plays through speakers and films are projected on large screens. The "going home" score in this part of the film was conducted by [[Gerald Fried]] and consists of the main themes from ''[[Symphony No. 6 (Tchaikovsky)|Symphony No. 6]]'' ("Pathétique") by [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]; ''[[Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)|Symphony No. 6]]'' ("Pastoral") by [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]; "[[Morning Mood]]" and "Åse's Death" from the ''[[Peer Gynt Suite]]'' by [[Edvard Grieg]]. As the music plays, scenes of majestic natural beauty are projected on film screens: "deer in woods, trees and leaves, sunsets beside the sea, birds flying overhead, rolling streams, mountains, fish and coral, sheep and horses, and lots and lots of flowers — from [[daffodils]] to dogwoods". Amidst the music and the scenes of nature, Roth remembers the world as it once was, and peacefully takes his last breath. ==Analysis and impact== ===Thematic analysis=== In the film, police detective Thorn is a "prophet of doom" who learns of the "most horrifying results" of the overpopulation and environmental disaster. In addition to being a prophet, "Thorn is a pioneer, a tragic hero willing to speak up and resist homogenizing forces as an individual." In the film's depiction of corporate corruption and police complicity in the cover-up, Thorn's "morality transcends all those around him" as he becomes the "sole voice of reason" as he "stands alone". After Thorn learns of the use of cadavers to make food rations, his main concern is with the future implications: that the Soylent food company will eventually "raise humans like cattle". After Thorn is shot by Soylent Corporation gunmen, he appears to be dying, and so his warnings about the horrors he witnessed in the Soylent plant "seem to be his last", making him a classic "tragic hero".<ref name = "Jumpcut">{{cite web | title = Soylent Green's population explodes | url = http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/inconvenTruth/3.html | accessdate = 2008-03-27}}</ref> In the film, Thorn's assistant Roth "serves as the reminder of better times." The aged researcher, a former professor, tells Thorn about the past, when "'real' food was plentiful and the natural environment thrived." Real food is a symbol of the past; as a result, when Thorn investigates the murder of Simonson, a Soylent board of directors member, Thorn takes "lettuce, tomatoes, apples, celery, onions, and even beef" from the wealthy man's luxury apartment. These rare and expensive luxuries were out of reach for all but the most powerful members of the society. When Thorn shows Roth the red filet of beef, Roth weeps at his realization of how much society has lost due to pollution and overpopulation. Now that most humans subsist on processed ration wafers, when Roth sees the "real" food, he asks “How did we come to this?”<ref name = "Jumpcut"/> After Sol discovers that Soylent wafers are made from human flesh, and decides to end the horror by signing up for government-assisted euthanasia, Sol is shown a montage of beautiful natural images in the euthanasia chamber: flowers, deer, mountains, and rivers. When Thorn rushes to the euthanasia clinic to try to stop Sol, he is too late to save his friend, but he is able to share Sol's final moments. In Sol's last minutes alive, "Thorn shares Sol’s nostalgic moment" as Sol asks “Can you see it?” and “Isn’t it beautiful?”, which helps Thorn to realize "what he and the rest of the world has lost."<ref name = "Jumpcut"/> ===Critical response=== Scfi.com film reviewer Tamara Hladik calls the film a “basic, cautionary tale of what could become of humanity physically and spiritually" if humans do not take care of the planet. She points out that “[t]here is little in this film that has not been seen” in other films, such as the film's depiction of “faceless, oppressive crowds; sheep mentality; the corrosion of the soul, of imagination, [and] of collective memory.” While she notes that the director has a "tendency...to overuse Charlton Heston” in scenes depicting this beleaguered, futuristic dystopia, she admits that the film “often succeeds despite [the missteps of] its director". Hladik argues that the “most powerful moments do not belong to Heston['s]" police detective character Thorn, who she calls a “dubious, ambiguous hero”. Instead, she claims that Robinson’s characterization of the aged police researcher Sol Roth are the “most moving passages”, which give the film “conscience and soul.” She acknowledges that the film has “imagery [that] is powerful and haunting”, such as the scenes in which riot control vehicles scoop up protesters with metal shovels, as if they were garbage. Overall, though, she states that “[m]ostly, though, the profundity of humanity's transformation [in the film] is dealt with in less than a masterful manner.”<ref>{{cite web | title = Review by Tamara I. Hladik for scifi.com | url = http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:QbPDkPeCz1UJ:www.scifi.com/sfw/issue55/classic.html | accessdate = 2008-03-27}}</ref> Reviewer Jeremiah Kipp claims that the plot of the film "trudges along" as the Heston's police detective character pursues the murder investigation in a meandering fashion.<ref name = "Kipp">{{cite web |title = Jeremiah Kipp | url = http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Soylent-Green | accessdate = 2008-03-27}}</ref> ===Impact on popular culture=== ''Soylent Green'' was influenced by the environmental movement<ref name = "Jumpcut">{{cite web | title = Soylent Green's population explodes | url = http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/inconvenTruth/3.html | accessdate = 2008-03-27}}</ref>, which still influences popular culture films in the 2000s, such as ''28 Days Later'' (2003) and ''The Day After Tomorrow'' (2004). The term "soylent green" and the last line "[[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes|Soylent Green is people!]]" became [[catch phrase]]s in [[English language|English]], in part due to a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' parody where comedian [[Phil Hartman]] mocked Heston's acting in the final scene of the movie.<ref name = "Kipp"/> ''Soylent Green'' is referred to in a number of television series and other media, either for dramatic or comedic effect. The [[animated television series|animated]] [[United States|American]] [[sitcom]] ''[[Futurama]]'', which is set in the year 3000, makes a number of references to the fictional "soylent"-based foods. The show, created by [[Matt Groening]], depicts billboards that advertise a variety of "soylent" foods, including "soylent cola" (the taste of which, according to Leela, "varies from person to person"). Groening also makes references to soylent green food in several episodes of the animated comedy show ''[[The Simpsons]]'', including in an episode which parodies the film by depicting a food shortage in an overcrowded elementary school detention hall. The animated series ''[[South Park]]'' parodied the "Going Home" euthanasia scene of ''Soylent Green'' in season 4, episode 414 "[[Helen Keller! The Musical]]" by depicting turkeys in a 'humane slaughter house'. Before the turkeys are killed, the lights are dimmed and calming visions of nature are shown, set to light classical music. In 1997, the "[[NewsRadio_season_3#Space|Space]]" episode of ''[[NewsRadio]]'', set in the future as a science fiction spoof, included a newscast which is purportedly sponsored by Soylent Green. The 1999 [[dark comedy]], [[mockumentary]] format movie ''[[Drop Dead Gorgeous (film)|Drop Dead Gorgeous]]'' depicts a beauty pageant competitor using an excerpt from the film as a dramatic monologue. The catchphrase was also used in the ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' TV series, in a 2001 episode of [[Disney]]'s ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'', and in an Australian comedy/variety series [[Micallef Tonight]]. Several songs refer to the movie. Rudy Ratzinger of the German [[electro-industrial]] band [[Wumpscut]] created a song in 1993 named after the movie which contains [[Sampling (music)|audio samples]] from the German-dubbed version. In the 2000s, [[folk rock]] [[singer-songwriter]] [[Jonathan Coulton]], whose quirky satirical songs often refer to science fiction and technology, penned a song entitled "Chiron Beta Prime" which refers to the film. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==See also== *[[Twist ending]] *[[Megacity]] == External links == {{wikiquote}} *{{imdb title|id=0070723|title=Soylent Green}} *{{rotten-tomatoes|id=soylent_green|Soylent Green}} *[http://unlikelystories.org/schneider0107.shtml Review of Soylent Green] *[http://www.sciflicks.com/soylent_green/ SciFlicks.com review] *[http://datacore.sciflicks.com/soylent_green/sounds/soylent_green_people.wav SciFlicks.com "Soylent green is people" sound clip] *[http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue55/classic.html SCIFI.com review] {{start box}}{{s-awards}} {{succession box | | before = ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five (film)|Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' | after = ''[[Rollerball (1975 film)|Rollerball]]'' | title = [[Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film]] | years = 1973 |}} {{end box}} <!--Split film/book article intentional - Please do not remove this comment--> [[Category:1973 films]] [[Category:Dystopian films]] [[Category:Environmental films]] [[Category:Fictional foods]] [[Category:Films based on science fiction books]] [[Category:American films]] [[Category:Nebula Award winning works]] [[Category:English-language films]] [[Category:Tech-noir films]] [[Category:Procedural films]] [[Category:Cannibalism]] [[de:Jahr 2022… die überleben wollen]] [[es:Cuando el destino nos alcance]] [[fr:Soleil vert (film)]] [[it:2022: i sopravvissuti]] [[nl:Soylent Green]] [[ja:ソイレント・グリーン]] [[no:Soylent Green]] [[pt:Soylent Green]] [[fi:Maailma vuonna 2022]] [[sv:Soylent Green - USA år 2022]]