Soylent Green Essay, Research Paper

Our life and the lives of the people we love is, and always will be the most

important part of our existence as human creatures. We are mammals, we are

animals just like the tiger that wonders through the pasture, the elephant who

stampedes a heard of zebra, and the whale that gracefully glides though the

ocean. We have characteristics of all these and many other mammals that we see

and encounter everyday. What would happen if books were band? Or we were watched

every day by a camera, or were forced to eat our own species without us even

know it. In the three movies that were adapted from novels the authors have

changed the perfect world that we know of and brought to the forefront the grim

reality of what our beautiful lives are really like. Although the measures taken

in the novels are very drastic many of the same themes can be found in our

present society. The authors have tribe to bring to our attention what lives are

like if for on day one aching minute our lives are not in our hands but in the

hands of a greater power. The basic theme of the novel 1984 is that if we don’t

watch out 1984 will find us. We need to realize, when we are being intruded upon

by the government just a little too much. If the government proposes a new chip

to be placed into all telecommunications devices so that it can tap into them.

We have to stop it. (This is not hypothetical, the government proposed "The

Clipper Chip" which would be used to listen to our encoded conversations,

and to see our data communications. We would be safe from our neighbors, but not

from our government.) The author’s predictions of the future are really advice,

"Don’t let the government control every aspect of your private lives."

If we allow this we will be turned into robots of the system. Perhaps it is also

a look at what is already. In many ways we are controlled, we are robots. In

kindergarten we are taught how to be that way. "Stand in a line, don’t

talk, hands out of pockets, fire drill, bells ringing." We are truly

controlled by words and bells. Nine-teen-eighty-four has come and gone, however

that doesn’t mean we are safe. The author’s view of the future is no longer even

close to accurate. It will NEVER happen that way. No, today we have far BETTER

ways of this happening. With computers containing almost all data, which can be

quickly erased in large numbers at the touch of a but-ton, information is much

easier to "rectify." With new technology we could hide micro-phones in

the fabric of clothing. Video cameras are smaller today. They could be worn

about people. Maybe in the future be implanted in them. Orwell’s future is dead.

The reality is that it could be even worse. Orwell should NOT be discredited, he

should be listened to and praised. There are measures going through congress now

that will inhibit our rights in the future. Our own congress makes measures to

give themselves raises. They won’t vote yes on such bills as term limits. It is

not inconceivable that a bill could pass to law saying that the president and

congress shall stay in power forever. They could even convince us to allow it to

happen. Hitler did it when he became leader. This is the future Orwell

predicted, he just didn’t have it exact. Perhaps it is closer than we think only

being shaded by conspirators. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about men and women who

are torn away from the reality of life and told what to do and when to do it. I

suppose they really would have nothing else to do with their lives if they’ve

all thought the same. They’re pretty much out of touch with reality. But if

people get out of touch with reality, how can they have the ability to think

intelligently? To avoid reality and conflict, the people in Bradbury’s book have

al-lowed themselves to be diverted by technological entertainment. The

entertainment, like TV, has provided a distraction or diversion for this

society. As a result of this distraction, they have quit reading anything

complex or insightful. Hopefully, our world won’t meet Bradbury’s predictions.

Of course it won’t, will it? Well, at least we know that to avoid the

consequences the society of "Fahrenheit 451" faced, we must keep in

touch with individuality and continue to express different opinions. We must

continue reading and expanding our minds so that we are able to make intelligent

decisions. That way, we can work with technology so that it is beneficial to our

needs, not so that it overpowers our lives. And to think, we thought a world

without conflict would make us perfectly happy. Soylent Green takes place an

overpopulated world, it’s only to be expected that life is cheap. People crowd

like refugees, living from hand to mouth; attractive young women are rented out

with apartments and referred to as `furniture’. The future is not only crowded

but also polluted, economically repressed, striped of all natural resources, and

suf-fering from the Greenhouse effect. We the viewer get the sense of a future

by focusing on elements of daily life that have no changes as a consequence.

Robinson’s Sol, who is pointedly the `soul’ of the film, is our emotional and

philosophical connection to the unspoiled past – his memories are supposed to be

ours – and provides the film’s only touching moments. It’s a rare film that

makes death a pleasant and more preferable alternative than living, but in

SOYLENT GREEN humanity has reached a dead end: it posits that at a certain

level, there are no solutions. In fact, the climax at the film’s end, is not the

act of evil and exploitation you’ll first think, but the only viable plan left

for survival – it make you wonder about the lengths humanity will go to in order

to remain on the planet, and whether it is even necessary if the more noble of

human qualities be projected as essential part of our lives. The three films

that we have watched have all taught us something very import about our society

and the human culture. The characters all have endured great obstacles to be

where they are in society. We can learn from all of them many lessons of life

and hopefully teach the ones that we love how to excel in a world of such chaos.

A world that our government has the power to run our lives without us even

knowing it. A world where we are not the hunter but the hunted!

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