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What 1973’s Soylent Green Accurately Predicted about 2022
National Review ^ | 01/16/2022 | Wesley Smith

Posted on 01/16/2022 4:37:14 PM PST by DFG

Ihave always loved science fiction. So when Soylent Green was first released in 1973, I immediately headed to the theater. I remember clearly being shocked by the depictions presented but assuaging myself with the comforting thought that nothing like any of that would ever actually happen.

The story takes place in 2022 — 50 years from when it was filmed. Now that 2022 has actually arrived, I decided to view the film again to check how well the writers did at predicting the world of today.

Unsurprisingly, the movie got several of the details very wrong, as Kyle Smith recently pointed out in a tongue-firmly-in-cheek takedown of contemporary liberal-hysteria culture. On a more macro level, the film also completely missed feminism, one of the most powerful social revolutions in history. In its dystopia, no women are in positions of power, and the main female characters are high-priced courtesans, known by the truly objectifying term “furniture.”

The tech revolution was also absent. There are no computers or cellphones in Soylent Green’s 2022. And, as Kyle also noted, the film erroneously depicts the world as riven by an overpopulation crisis so profound — New York City stuffed with 40 million people — that foods such as steak and fruit are in critically short supply, and most people are reduced to eating synthetic food chips.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: dystopian; euthanasia; heston; soylentgreen
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1 posted on 01/16/2022 4:37:14 PM PST by DFG
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To: DFG
Pay wall. can't read. But I. heard that Soylent Green is
.. people
2 posted on 01/16/2022 4:41:42 PM PST by samkatz
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To: samkatz
I loved "Brazil" where Terry Gilliam had people using old phone dials to enter info into computers.

Socialism is AWESOME!

3 posted on 01/16/2022 4:43:05 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
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To: DFG

“It’s People!” Is the Target of the Year 2022.


4 posted on 01/16/2022 4:43:40 PM PST by Big Red Badger (Make His Paths Straight!)
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To: DFG

I wonder if the absence of tech could be explained by the overwhelming problems depicted in the movie. Seems like society was just barely hanging on.


5 posted on 01/16/2022 4:47:39 PM PST by ealgeone
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To: DFG

Don’t forget the sequels;

https://vimeo.com/541196478


6 posted on 01/16/2022 4:54:02 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: DFG
The movie's "hits" are not so profound when you consider they are and have been leftist scare tactics for 50 years, or are directly cause by leftist policies.

"Global Warming" is a profound leftist scare scam.

The problems with shanty town California are entirely self inflicted, as are the lawlessness, disorder, and income distribution. President Trump showed these are inflicted on us, not intrinsic, natural occurrences.

7 posted on 01/16/2022 4:56:21 PM PST by marktwain (Amazing people can read a persons entire personality and character from one photograph.)
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To: DFG

Sorry, but SG is one of the least accurate SF movies I can recall.


8 posted on 01/16/2022 5:10:14 PM PST by rbg81
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To: DFG

I think they predicted $15/lb beef steak.


9 posted on 01/16/2022 5:16:19 PM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: DFG

Human Tofu?


10 posted on 01/16/2022 5:33:55 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

OH YEAH...
Brazil is one of my favorite movies. Sadly most people today can’t focus long enough to understand it. I call it ‘Art Deco Retro modern’.

The Deep State envisioned by Terry Gilliam. Anyone with the attention span that hasn’t seen the movie should definitely check it out.


11 posted on 01/16/2022 5:38:54 PM PST by Samurai_Jack (This is not about hypocrisy, this is about hierarchy!)
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To: DFG
It wasn't literally meant to be a prediction of what life would be like in 2022. That was just a convenient date they thought was close enough in time to be like our world and far enough away to be different.

There are some similarities to the world of today, though on a smaller scale, local and temporary rather than universal and permanent -- shortages, brown-outs, civil disorder. The novel, written in 1966, could be read as a prediction of the 1970s as much as of the 2020s.

The main prediction of incredible overpopulation, didn't come true yet and probably won't, but sooner or later we may be running down the street like Charlton Heston screaming out some truth that people don't want to hear.

12 posted on 01/16/2022 5:53:02 PM PST by x
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To: DFG

I am pretty sure I walked to the theater to see this movie. Yes, it scared me.


13 posted on 01/16/2022 6:02:00 PM PST by NetAddicted ( Just looking)
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To: Samurai_Jack

I saw it when it came out, but I don’t remember it.


14 posted on 01/16/2022 6:03:17 PM PST by NetAddicted ( Just looking)
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To: DFG
In its dystopia, no women are in positions of power, and the main female characters are high-priced courtesans, known by the truly objectifying term “furniture.”

Probably true in the private offices of the Klaus Schwab, et al. If the Epstein/Maxwell incident taught us anything it is that the picture painted for public consumption is very different from the private reality.

15 posted on 01/16/2022 6:09:16 PM PST by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: samkatz

16 posted on 01/16/2022 6:12:37 PM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
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To: DFG
Wait, wait, hold on there....Who says we don't have food made from people?


17 posted on 01/16/2022 6:15:03 PM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
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To: marktwain
Missed feminism? sorta, but maybe not... nowadays male females are in effect, better than female females. "Woke" feminism seems to produce that result.  





18 posted on 01/16/2022 6:28:22 PM PST by FiddlePig (The greatest threat to our sacred liberty is to not value it!””)
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To: DFG

How can Soylent Green happen in NY when everyone knows it was turned into a prison in 1997 and Snake Plisken had to escape from it?


19 posted on 01/16/2022 6:30:17 PM PST by The MAGA-Deplorian ( 2022 - VOTE THE BUMS OUT —— ALL OF THEM! RE-ELECT NO ONE!)
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To: Samurai_Jack

One of the best. More difficult to understand since u.s. release had “happier” ending.


20 posted on 01/16/2022 6:41:37 PM PST by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and diamonds, and harder to find.)
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