I was recently informed that Soylent Green was on PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) top ten list of movies that will make you want to go to a vegetarian diet and stay away from eating meat, such as there is a lot of on the Atkins Diet. Even though these are the people that have nothing better to do than lobby and get in people’s way when they don’t agree with their point of view, I found this no meat/vegetarian diet only list to be a good idea and quite entertaining. So I thought I would have a little contest.
Soylent Green is a good one to make you want to eat a vegetarian diet, I’ll give them that, but there must be some better movies to make you want to avoid meat. Let’s review the list and add some commentary:
* Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2008).
I have no idea what the hell this movie is but it sounds pretty darn ridiculous to me. Desperate addition to the list. They probably paid to have this one created. Vegetarian Diet - 0, Atkins Diet - 1
* Soylent Green (1973). Overpopulation and environmental devastation have led to a world where food is scarce and prices have sky-rocketed (sound familiar?), and the only way to survive is by eating a mysterious food called “Soylent Green.” But the real food for thought is when Chuck Heston discovers that “Soylent Green is people!” (Please, pass the veggies!)
I can’t believe they posted the spoiler! WTF? There are a lot of people that would have had no idea if they didn’t see that post. Sort of takes away from the impact of Soylent Green. And its Charles, not Chuck. Vegetarian Diet - 1, Atkins Diet - 1
* Babe (1995). This film has turned legions of people into vegetarians—including its star, James Cromwell—because who could “pig out” again after watching that cute little piglet charm Farmer Hogett?
Are you kidding me? This movie makes me hungry. Seeing that smokehouse… Mmmm, I’m going to go make a BLT right now… Vegetarian Diet - 1, Atkins Diet - 2
* Delicatessen (1991). As if foie gras weren’t disgusting enough, this post-apocalyptic comedy gives new meaning to “French cuisine” when a landlord serves cannibalistic meals to his tenants.
Didn’t see it but it sounds gross if there is liver in it. Vegetarian Diet - 2, Atkins Diet - 2
* Fast Food Nation (2006). This film takes a compelling look at the destructive impact that eating meat has on animals, people’s health, and the environment. Bruce Willis’ “tough talk” scene about the suspect ingredients found in meat—while chomping on a huge burger—is priceless.
Didn’t see it. ounds a little earthy-touchy-feely more than than making you want to stay away from a burger, especially if Bruce is chomping one down in the flick. Vegetarian Diet - 2, Atkins Diet - 3
* The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Leatherface and his family members really know how to throw a dinner party: blood, gore, and all the human flesh that you can eat. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons calls The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a “vegetarian” movie. “The way that woman was screaming, ‘Aaaahhh,’ and she’s running away—that’s how every animal you eat is running for his or her life,” he says.
Just pathetic. I saw that movie at least a few times and never even had the thought cross my mind to go vegetarian. Vegetarian Diet - 2, Atkins Diet - 4
* Super Size Me (2004). Morgan Spurlock documents the ill effects that his 30-day, McDonald’s-only diet has on his body, giving new meaning to the phrase “Big Mac attack.”
This was a good movie, and while I was watching it, I wanted a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. As it went along I could see that eating nothing but McDonalds was clearly unhealthy. At the same time, french fries are potatoes and they are vegetables. If you fry anything in oil and eat it every day, you will be unhealthy. So, my conclusion to that movie was not that it was meat, but that it was crappy meat and crappy preparation. Vegetarian Diet - 2, Atkins Diet - 5
* Chicken Run (2000). That’s right: Laying hens don’t “retire”—they get turned into “Mrs. Tweedy’s Homemade Chicken Pies.” This movie is the best that celluloid (and clay) has to offer in making the case for scrambled tofu.
Again, here PETA is trying to say that chickens in some way actually have mionds like people do and they think thoughts and have feelings. Just not true, plus…it’s animated and there was no blood or anything even resembling gross-ness. Vegetarian Diet - 2, Atkins Diet - 6
* Sweeney Todd (2007). This tells the story of a demon barber who conspires with a woman who uses human flesh in her meat pies. The only thing yummy in this blood-splattered spectacle is Johnny Depp.
Didn’t see it, but now I know the list was written by a woman or a gay man. Human flesh in meat pies, hmmm, well okay. Vegetarian Diet - 3, Atkins Diet - 6
* I Am an Animal (2007). Showing everything from undercover video footage shot inside a turkey slaughterhouse to a rescued turkey singing along to classical music, this documentary about PETA founder Ingrid E. Newkirk is one of the best cases for a Tofurky Thanksgiving.
Yes, this is the type of film that makes me want to avoid eating anything that was once alive. At least for the moment. Vegetarian Diet - 4, Atkins Diet - 6
You need to go and rent Soylent Green the next chance you get. Here is a quick summary:
The story line is lilke this… In the year 2022, the starving masses depend upon government manufactured food items called Soylent to exist. There is Soylent Green, Red, and Yellow with Green being the most nutritious. But in the midst of a murder investigation, a cop named Thorn (Charlton Heston) uncovers the chilling secret of the green product.
Good stuff. This is a classic movie that does deserve to be on the PETA list. On the other hand, does eating people when there is no other food supply qualify as Ethical Treatment of Animals?
