Dystopian Month - Soylent Green and Logan's Run

Dystopian movies are some of my favorites. Social commentary wrapped up in a foreboding package that tells us the path we are on is not a good one. Our protagonists live in an outlandish future world or alternate reality and eventually question the equilibrium that is making that particular system operate. The outcomes can range from bleak to slightly less bleak.

Charlton Heston plays Detective Thorn in 1973's "Soylent Green." In 2022 the world population has exploded and resources are slim. This is a story that takes the theories of Thomas Malthus and gives it an insidious twist. The lower classes are forced to live on this substance called Soylent Green and sleep wherever they can, in some cases piled on top of each other in staircases. The rich on the other hand live in swank high rises and have female live-in companions/prostitutes called 'furniture.' Heston investigates the murder of a wealthy businessman which leads him on the trail to the origins of Soylent Green.

I was a bit torn on this movie. I thought it was pretty good, but really wanted to see a wacked out version of the future. Instead it was like looking at a cracked reflection; the future was highly recognizable to our own world now, but at the same time distorted. If you made it this far in life without somehow hearing the twist of the movie I don't want to be the one to spoil it for you, but it is pretty bleak. Heston uncovers a horrible truth and tries to expose the powers that be. Even if people do get wind of this secret (it is not really clear that they do), exposing it could cause widespread unrest and result in the deaths/starvation of millions.

So it goes.

"Logan's Run" delivered on the bizarro future reality that "Soylent Green" didn't. Set in 2274 where overcrowding is a concern in this movie too, the society limits peoples life to 30 years. People voluntarily die in a ceremony where they are promised to come back in a process called Renewal. It takes place in a ritual called Carousel in which people gather in a circle and start to float in the air, not unlike the fizzy lifting drink in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," but instead of almost getting chopped up by a fan, the people explode. Citizens are free to do as they please for their 30 years.

Every now and then someone tries to escape their fate and are chased down by Sandmen, who kill the runners. The title character is one of these Sandmen who is chosen to infiltrate a group who assist runners, in order to do this he must become a runner himself. He meets up with a female member of this underground group and together they escape into the outside world. During this time he learns that the Renewal process is a lie. Farrah Fawcett makes a fairly useless cameo and there is a robot somewhere in there too.

The question that came up here was why are they so worried about overpopulation then why are they living in this gigantic complex when there is a whole world outside? Maybe I missed that part.

Anyway they find this crazy old man who has a bunch of cats and talks the same backwards riddle speak as Yoda. This old man is crazy and the pair decide they must show him to everyone back home. After fighting with Logan's old Sandman friend they get the old man back to the complex, but no one will listen to Logan. The whole place starts to burn down for some reason or another and everyone flees to the outside world. There they see the old man and gather around him to touch his old face.

The rub is that now everyone must fend for themselves in the outside world that they are totally unprepared to deal with. They have had everything provided for them their entire lives and now that is all gone. What seems like a hopeful ending (no longer having to die at 30) winds up being just as bleak as "Soylent Green."

Is one more hopeful than the other? What do you think? Either way these are both pretty enjoyable Science Fiction flicks. There have been talks of remaking "Logan's Run" with Ryan Gosling as the lead...so there's that.