Blog #4 - "Metaphorical Meaning of Food" Presented in Soylent Green

Image result for soylent green
Behind every piece of food, can be metaphorical meaning. Do you want to know what this means exactly? Let’s start off with a textbook definition. Well...the metaphorical meaning of food relates to the interpretation of the world in a larger sense, coming from a political, social, technological, and/or historical context. Food and science fiction films work together to provide this meaning. The “metaphorical meaning” of food draws on existing meanings, while also suggesting new understandings of futuristic new worlds. It shapes the main storyline and supports the general structure. It also provides a focus for memories, personal histories, regrets, and the end result of technological process.    

Some of the ideas behind the “metaphorical meaning” of food can relate to some of the ideas presented in the film, Soylent Green. Soylent Green takes place in the year 2022, in New York City. The city is experiencing overpopulation and many shortages, including food shortages due to the issue of global warming. This food shortage represents something bigger. It works as a metaphor to help represent all the problems that this city is experiencing. With the food, water, and housing shortages, there is a lot of contrasts happening. There is a large contrast shown between the ideas of order and disorder. There are also contrasts shown between harmony and chaos, and a ritualized meal (ex. the meal that Sol prepared for himself and Thorn) vs. those fighting over food remains. This represents a strong metaphor for the future social chaos that is bound to happen.   

Another way that this film shows the “metaphorical meaning” of food is of course through the soylent green itself. It is discovered towards the end of the film that the soylent green is mass-produced from human corpse. Thorn finding out this information about one of the major food products worked as a closure to the film. This closure is achieved through personal knowledge rather than “saving” the society from itself, because we do not really know what was done after Thorn screamed this information out. This idea of cannibalism presented helps depict the society as “symptomatic of a corrupt and divided society,” where social and moral codes no longer really hold any value. The overconsumption of these soylent products, specifically soylent green, has led to self-consumption...literally.   


  
What would I do if I were in this situation? I honestly don’t know. I feel like in this type of situation, I would not be in the mix as much as some of these people were. I would be focused on trying to find a solution for my family and I to what we were experiencing. I am not exactly sure how I would do that, but I definitely would be trying. Is there not an option to move? Once I found out that the food that I was eating (soylent green) was made of dead human bodies, I would be utterly disgusted and confused. This is crazy that this was happening.  I would never trust another soylent green product again, and maybe no soylent products at all. What would you do?  

                                                        Image result for question marks
 



Sources:
Bower, Anne L. ed. Reel Film. Routledge, 2004. p. 251-266
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zAFA-hamZ0
https://www.pngitem.com/middle/hTbJox_question-mark-png-computer-graphics-transparent-  background-question/

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