Thomas Malthus - References in Popular Culture

References in Popular Culture

• Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, represents the perceived ideas of Malthus, famously illustrated by his explanation as to why he refuses to donate to the poor and destitute: "If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population". In general, Dickens had some Malthusian concerns (evident in Hard Times and other novels), and he concentrated his attacks on Utilitarianism and many of his proponents, like Smith, and Bentham, whom he thought of them, along with Malthus, as unjust and inhumane people.
• In Robert A. Heinlein's novel, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, the character Bernardo de la Paz says to Mannie: "This planet isn't crowded; it is just mismanaged ... and the unkindest thing you can do for a hungry man is to give him food. Read Malthus. It is never safe to laugh at Dr. Malthus; he always has the last laugh."
• In Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World, people generally regard fertility as a nuisance, as in vitro breeding has enabled the society to maintain its population at precisely the level the controllers want. The women, therefore, carry contraceptives with them at all times in a "Malthusian belt".
• Urinetown, a musical about a world torn by drought, ends with a shout of "Hail Malthus!" after explaining that nearly all the characters in the show die.
• Green Lantern #81, released by DC Comics in December 1970 in the heyday of Paul R. Ehrlich's theories on population explosion, featured a story called "The Population Explosion" that presented the home planet of the mysterious Guardians of the Universe: a world named Maltus or Malthus where overpopulation forced many of its inhabitants to flee into outer space.
• Bioy Casares's novel La invención de Morel makes frequent mention of Malthus.
• The ideas of Malthus play a key role in the Xbox Live Arcade game Hydrophobia, released in 2011.
• In the popular television show Wiseguy, Kevin Spacey played Mel Proffitt, a self-professed "Malthusian" who quotes Thomas Malthus and keeps a bust of his likeness on display.
• In David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, there is a statue to the "Prophet Malthus" in the future corpocratic society of Nea So Copros.