Soylent Green: Kara Bir Film, Kapkara Bir Gelecek
Soylent Green: A Dark Film, an even Darker Future

Summary/Abstract: In order to prevent a third war, western countries pursued a state-sponsored economic development model leading to consumerism and population growth in the 1960s. A number of scientists argued that there would be a global catastrophe due to population explosion. In these days, while daily news about population growth in the media was ordinary, Hollywood, always with an eye on the society, produced only Soylent Green. Although the movie made conservative choices, it created a tragic eco-hero in a story told against a dystopian future. We examine the effects of the time when the movie was produced on the movie. The scientific era was dominated by the conviction in the link between population explosion and birth control and the book on which the movie is based also emphasizes birth control; however, conservatives who were against birth control led the producers to tell the story around a conspiracy about food produced from people. We also examine effects of the movie on audience. We believe this conspiracy intensified the effect of the movie on audience. Furthermore, producers filled the gap produced by ignoring birth control with environmental issues. Thus, the dystopian story of the movie could mentally time-travel audience to have catharsis at the end leading to an environmental enlightenment. We believe the audience can comprehend the problems of their own time, once they are environmentally enlightened and equipped with a future-to-past perspective. We also believe movies in general and dystopian ones in particular are excellent instruments to persuade people about environmental issues.

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