Have you heard of the of Harrison Bergeron? The short story1 from Kurt Vonnegut Jr2 that is satire within a dystopian setting. It’s very short and an easy read but leaves you feeling beautifully bleak for it’s characters. Harrison Bergeron is all about equality. Specifically one definition of equality that leaves all of humanity safe yet eternally stunted. I don’t think I will do a synopsis of the story because is short and free to read online: link is here. This is not Vonnegut’s most popular work but my goodness it prepares you for what you’re in for when you decide to pick up Cat’s Cradle or Slaughterhouse-Five.
Now there are two adaptations of Harrison Bergeron. One TV movie released in 1994 and a short film released in 2009. Both adaptations seemed to get average coverage and relatively good reviews but which one is more faithful to the short dystopian satire? As always with my articles, spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.
“THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal.” - Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Harrison Bergeron
Harrison Bergeron
This TV film premiered in the Showtime channel in 1994. It stars a young Samwise Gamgee; Sean Austin, Christopher Plummer and Jayne Eastwood. Because of the length of the film, we get to see if fleshed out and filled in this TV movie. We see the more of the systems behind everyone having to be forced to handicap themselves. We see the use of eugenics with an arranged marriage dinner between the Bergeron family and the Starbuck family. We are shown the “Head Houses” for men to have high-intellectual conversations with equally intelligent women. A strange evolution of prostitution yet still the same; men paying for service from females. Through the main character we see the workings of the government which is implied in the short story while here it is served on a plate to the viewer.
The fleshing out and filler is good, yet the climax and ending differs from the original. I feel that they took the line in the first paragraph of the story and ran with it. The line refers the equality being enforced by “the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General”. The climax of the movie is where Sean Austin’s Bergeron commits suicide on live TV. The last defiance of a man who cannot escape his societal and potential weighted shackles. The audience is left with some hope in Bergeron’s child he has a result of his visit to the “Head House”. We get to see that he’s got a son who’s quite intelligent.
It starts strong and in line with the source material but breaks from the bleakness to be a feel-good adaptation of the short story.
"I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" - Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Harrison Bergeron
2081
This adaptation is a more artsy short film that premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2009. The film stars Armie Hammer, before he was socially ostracized, Julie Hagerty and James Cosmo. This film’s cinematography is great doing quite a bit of lifting in the first half of the film. We get so much from the sharp cuts, flashing and music changes to piece together this world. The movie is put together well but it’s held up by James Cosmo’s acting. We see more of him as his character as the father and learn about the world from him just sitting in a chair. The main character and event start about halfway through the 26 minute film. Completely loyal using word for word dialogue in the short story. The perspective of the short story is all from the living room of the mother and father. This adaptation did it well in keeping with that perspective for most of the film. After the climax we’re left with the bleak outlook for humanity and we are shown why that is all through Cosmo’s face through the slow-moving lens.
It’s extremely loyal to the story to where if you watched this, I’d say you have the story down. And it’s free to watch on Youtube, link here.
"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"- Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Harrison Bergeron
Opinion
I found it interesting that both adaptations chose the father of Harrison Bergeron to deliver the visceral emotional reaction to seeing their son die on live television. In the original it’s the mother, who’s not too bright that cries seeing her son die in the TV screen. I feel that in the TV movie that was lazy whereas in 2081 the choice was made because James Cosmo’s ability to convey the internal anguish was top notch.
Fin
It’s clear which adaptation comes out on top: 2081. It’s put together well, actors are excellent and it’s a more appropriate length in relation to it’s source material and the main point is reflected better in 2081. The main takeaway from the short story is the dangers of hindering and dumbing down the populous. A totalitarian state of control where there is no respite nor escape from the governmental controls. Another delicious bite into the dystopian genre of stories.
https://archive.org/stream/HarrisonBergeron/Harrison%20Bergeron_djvu.txt
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2778055.Kurt_Vonnegut_Jr_