The
film Soylent Green by Richard Fleischer deals with issues that every modern
western society has to deal with, feeding and housing people. Traditional
indigenous people only have to deal with this because they live under western
rule. The concept of ownership destroys the relationship between us to the
planet. We should be able to walk up to a space and put a tent, hut, or
dwelling on that land, but we cannot because someone will come along and say
that it belongs to them, they own it. We should be able to eat what grows out
of the ground, but someone claims that they own the ground and what come out of
it. These owners can destroy the lands if they want because they own it. In
Soylent Green the planet is so polluted that hardly anything can grow. Soylent
is rationed out to people once a week. People are sleeping on stair cases and
out in the middle of the street while the wealthy still live in plush homes
with multiple rooms. The movie also shows that in this environment slavery
rises up as an option to suffering. Soyle Green is a classic that is always
useful and if things keep on their current economic tracks may be a prophetic
film.
