2081

Excerpts From the Movie

See my main
2081 page here

See the
official site here

Buy the
DVD here

Watch the
short film here

Read the full
transcript here

Read the
original short story,
“Harrison Bergeron”
by Kurt Vonnegut,
here

Quick-Jump

These nine words are lifted verbatim from the original short story by Kurt Vonnegut.Equality of Outcome

Narrator:

The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.  They weren’t only equal before God and the law, you see.  They were equal every which way.  Nobody was smarter than anybody else.  Nobody was better looking than anybody else.  Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.  And all this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of the United States Handicapper General.

In the original short story:  “I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,” said Hazel a little envious.  “All the things they think up.”To Hear All the Different Sounds

Hazel Bergeron:

You know, it must be very interesting to hear all the different sounds—all the things they think up.

George Bergeron:

It isn’t.

In the original short story:  “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?”Inequality

George Bergeron:

Hazel, if I take them off, I’m gonna want to keep them off.  And we both know how we would feel about that.

Hazel Bergeron:

I’d hate it.

George Bergeron:

So, nothing to be done, then.

In the original short story:  “That’s all right—” Hazel said of the announcer, “he tried.  That’s the big thing.  He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him.  He should get a nice raise for trying so hard.”What Counts is That You Try

Hazel Bergeron:

Well, that’s all right—he tried.  That’s the important thing.  I think he should get a nice big raise for trying so hard.

In the original short story:  “Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen,” she said in a grackle squawk, “has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.  He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous.”Bergeron Has Escaped

Replacement T.V. Anchor:

Good evening.  We’ve just received warning from the office of the Handicapper General that suspected-anarchist Harrison Bergeron has escaped from custody.  Arrested six years ago for propagandist vandalism, broadcast piracy, refusal to report for his quarterly handicapping evaluations, and for the blatant removal of his handicaps in a public place, Mr. Bergeron had been awaiting trial in a maximum security prison here in Washington, D. C., when he, miraculously, disappeared from his cell earlier this evening.  Please be advised that Bergeron is a genius and an athlete, is underhandicapped, and is considered extremely dangerous.

Bergeron’s Introduction

Harrison Bergeron:

My name is Harrison Bergeron.  I am a fugitive, and a public threat.  I am an abomination of the able.  I am an exception to the accepted.  I am the greatest man you have never known.  And for the last six years, I have been held prisoner by the state—sentenced, without trial, to torture without end.

In the original short story:  “Even as I stand here—” he bellowed, “crippled, hobbled, sickened—I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived!  Now watch me become what I can become!”

In the original short story:  “I forget,” she said.  “Something real sad on television.”  “What was it?” he said.  “It’s all kind of mixed up in my mind,” said Hazel.  “Forget sad things,” said George.  “I always do,” said Hazel.  “That’s my girl,” said George.Ignorance Without the Bliss

Hazel Bergeron:

Hun?  You look upset; what’s wrong?

George Bergeron:

(all choked up)  I don’t know.  Something, uh…sad…on the television, I think.

Hazel Bergeron:

Oh, well, you should forget sad things, anyway; I always do.

Copyright © 2009 by Volume XLVI.

All rights reserved.