2081

Transcript

See my main
2081 page here

See the
official site here

Buy the
DVD here

Watch the
short film here

Read excerpts from
the movie here

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

The Handicapper General, played by Tammy BruceNarrator:

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.

The strong wore weights to make them weaker.  The intelligent wore earpieces that kept them from taking unfair advantage of their brains.  Even the beautiful sometimes wore masks in situations where their beauty might simply be…too distracting.  It was the Golden Age of Equality.

Some things about living were still not quite right, though.  April, for instance, continued to drive people crazy by not quite being springtime.  And it was in that clammy month that the H. G. men came to take George and Hazel Bergeron’s son, Harrison, away.

Hazel Bergeron:

You were fixing the T. V., dear.

Hazel Bergeron:

I bet that was a real pretty dance, that dance she just did.

George Bergeron:

Huh?

Hazel Bergeron:

That dance—I bet it was nice.

The National BalletGeorge Bergeron:

Oh.

Hazel Bergeron:

Ooh, what was it this time?

George Bergeron:

Loud.  Same as last time.

Hazel Bergeron:

Sounded a little like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer from here.

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.

Hazel Bergeron:

Only if I was the Handicapper General, you know what I’d do?  I’d have chimes on Sunday—just chimes.  Kind of—kind of in honour of religion.

George Bergeron:

Yeah, I could think straight if it was just chimes.

Hazel Bergeron:

Well, then—maybe I’d make them real loud, then.  I think I’d make a good Handicapper General.

George Bergeron:

You would.

Hazel Bergeron:

Boy! that one was a doozy, wasn’t it?

George Bergeron:

Yeah.

George Bergeron is trying to remember his son, Harrison, being taken away by the H. G. men.Hazel Bergeron:

You seem distracted, hon’.  Wha-wha—what are you thinking about?

George Bergeron:

I don’t know.  Can’t, uh, get it straight in my head, but, uh—something.

Hazel Bergeron:

You must be tired.  Why don’t you stretch out on the sofa so you can rest your handicaps on the pillows.

George Bergeron:

I’m fine.

Hazel Bergeron:

You’re always so worn out, if there was just some way we could lighten

George Bergeron:

There isn’t.

Hazel Bergeron:

I’m not saying all the time, I’m just saying maybe when you’re sitting around the home.

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.

T.V. News Announcer:

We interrupt our broadcast of the National Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty for important breaking news.

Title:

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST TO
BRING YOU BREAKING NEWS

NNS

NATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

Hazel Bergeron:

Now, I don’t understand why they’d interrupt such a nice ballet just to tell us the same old news.

George Bergeron:

Well, what does it matter if they’re just showing the same old ballet?

Stuttering T.V. Anchor:

Goo-good—  Goo-goo-goo—  Goo-goo—  Goo-good evening.  We’ve just received a warning from the Handica-ca-ca-ca—  the Handicappuh-puh-puh-puh—  the Handicappuh-puh-puh-puh—  the Handicapper Ge-he-ge-gen—  the Hand

Title:

PLEASE STAND BY

NNS

NATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

Hazel Bergeron:

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

Well, I think I’ll get started the dishes.

Hazel Bergeron:

(hums)

Anarchism is the ideology that holds that no person or group is fit to rule over another person or the justly-acquired property of another person.  Anarchists also believe that <i>true</i> equality, as opposed to coerced homogenisation of ability or outcome, can only be achieved in anarchy, <i>i.e.</i>, the absence of rulership.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.

Hazel Bergeron:

(continues to hum)

Replacement T.V. Anchor:

If you see this man, please contact your local authorities, immediately.  Thank you.

Title:

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO OUR
REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

NNS

NATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

George Bergeron:

Harrison.

Harrison Bergeron, played by Armie HammerHarrison Bergeron:

Quiet!!  Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests from around the world, may I have your attention please!?  There’s a bomb beneath this theatre, and there’s a detonator in my hand.  So, I strongly suggest that you remain in your seats!

Now.  My apologies for interrupting this evening’s entertainment.  Hopefully I can provide you with some of my own.

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.

They…had hoped to destroy in me any trace of the extraordinary—and in time I came to share that hope.  But the extraordinary, it seems, was simply out of their reach.

So now I stand before you today, beaten, hobbled, and sickened—but, sadly, not broken.  And I say to you, that if it is greatness we must destroy, then let us drag our enemy out of the darkness, where it has been hiding.  Let us shine a light so, at last, all the world can see!

H.G. Man (Unit B):

Unit B in position in the Northeast corner.

H.G. Man (Units A & D):

Units A and D in position in the Northwest stairwell.

H.G. Man (Unit F):

Unit F holding position outside the Northwest balcony.

H.G. Man (Unit C):

Unit C approaching the catwalk.

Lead H.G. Man:

Copy that.  Unit E, what’s your status?

H.G. Man (Unit E):

Stand by.

Um, we’re gonna need a little more time.

This quote comes from General John Stark, July 31, 1809.  It is similar to a statement made by Patrick Henry in March of 1775:  “Give me liberty, or give me death.”Painted on side of bomb:

LIVE FREE
OR DIE

Harrison Bergeron:

And now, for my next trick, I’m gonna need a volunteer.

No one!?  Come, now,…perhaps one of you.

Harrison Bergeron:

Music.

H.G. Man (Unit E):

Unit E reporting.  The bomb has been disarmed.  Repeat.  The bomb has been disarmed.

Lead H.G. Man:

Copy that.  Central, kill the broadcast.

Harrison Bergeron:

Enough.  Just you.

Title:

PLEASE STAND BY

NNS

NATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

H.G. Woman (Central):

This is Central.  Confirm, we are broadcast dark.  You are clear to proceed.

Lead H.G. Man:

Copy that.  All units, stand by for entry.

Painted on side of bomb:

LIVE FREE
OR DIE

From the original short story:  “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun.  She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.”Unused portion of stencil:

FOR DEATH
IS NOT
THE WORST
OF EVILS

Title:

PLEASE STAND BY

NNS

NATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

Blinking on screen:

ON AIR

Title:

PLEASE STAND BY

NNS

NATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

George Bergeron:

Uh.  Uh.

Hazel Bergeron:

That one sounded kind of like a gunshot.

George Bergeron, played by James CosmoHazel Bergeron:

Hon’?  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.

Hazel Bergeron:

Gee, I could tell that one was a doozy.

George Bergeron:

You can say that again.

Hazel Bergeron:

Gee, I could tell that one was a doozy.

Hazel Bergeron:

(hums)

Copyright © 2009 by Volume XLVI.

All rights reserved.