EERIE sci-fi movie Soylent Green gave us a terrifying view of 2022 – but how many of its shocking scenes became reality?
The film was released in 1973 but set in 2022, revealing a world where overpopulation and climate change caused the forests, animals and natural food sources to fade away.
1
Frighteningly, some features of the dystopian film are visible today.
In the movie, the world’s resources are too scarce to feed the global population of 7billion.
In real life, Earth has 7.9billion people on it and the United Nations predicts the global population will increase to 8.5billion by 2030.
It’s a scary omen that the book the film was based on is called Make Room! Make Room!.
Most read in Tech
Charlton Heston was cast as the leading man and his character navigates a rugged New York City.
Impoverished people are forced to eat government issued “soylent green”.
It’s a wafer supposedly made from ocean plankton but–spoiler alert!–its actually made of people.
The movie was made as a warning against pollution and resource depletion.
Today, IQAir reports that New York City’s air quality has “consistently fallen” and gasoline’s scarcity is being felt at the pump.
In Soylent Green, the city is divided by class and the wealthy live comfortably, isolated from the danger in luxury skyscrapers with amenities and service people.
Meanwhile, civil protests line the streets and are met by an edgy police force during a stretch of brutally hot and humid years.
Conflicts between police and protesters were common these last few summers, which were also some of the most humid months on record.
The Soylent Corporation produces food for two-thirds of the global population and the company’s presence is so overbearing they largely control the government.
Though the film came out over 20 years before Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, trippy parallels can be drawn with the global supercompany and the Soylent Corporation.
The movie also predicted the onset of “impossible meat” where nutrients don’t come from cattle and livestock but are artificially grown.
There was a hot rumor that Christopher Nolan collaborator David S. Goyer would lead a remake, but it never came to fruition.
For a movie made almost 50 years ago, it withstands the test of time–will humans do the same?
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
