I didn't know it when the movie was new, but now I can see it as a kind of alternative to Marvin Harris' view of the way that pre-capitalist societies allegedly dealt with "Malthusian" population growth. In Logan's Run, an underground city was originally built to save some people from [nuclear?] holocaust. The land outside has long since recovered, but the powers that be in the city insist that the city is the only habitable place on the planet. Since the city had limited resources, it could support only a limited population. Rather than let anyone outside or practice birth control, everyone is convinced that those over thirty must die. Everyone is drugged with luxury and sex and most go unprotesting to their deaths. There is a cult of youth and beauty, only slightly more than in US culture now. [Logan starts out the story as a cop who chases down those that try to "run" or avoid death, but he turns and joins them.] A bit of morality tale, I'd say. Harris claims that pre-cap, pre-state and pre-class societies all practiced female infanticide in order to keep pop growth rates down. I disagree with him, but that's a story for another list. You can catch it on "marxism2", a new list provided by the Spoon Collective. Come to think of it, some of you may be interested in M2, as it is called for short. It's presently low traffic, it's a closed list, moderated in a way, as needed, and it's available for wide-ranging, inter-disciplinary, creative discussion [we hope]. For more info, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with message content: info marxism2 or email me. Lisa
