The relevance of the movie 2081 and the book Harrison Bergeron
The remarkable short story by Kurt Vonnegut “Harrison Bergeron”, and the short film adaptation by Chandler Tuttle “2081”, undoubtedly have a lot in common. The audience realizes that both stories reveal the same underlying message and concept. Both stories are depicted in a tomorrow where people will be equalized by having to carry their handicaps where they can exercise their power. Both stories feature the identical characters in the same environment under practically identical conditions. The short film adaptation might be slightly different in certain aspects, but in most respects, both narratives are absolutely alike. At the start of “2081”, the voiceover is precisely like the one from “Harrison Bergeron”. Chandler Tuttle used the same narrative directly out of the book.
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Consistent minor differences between the two artworks
There are a lot of distinctions between “Harrison Bergeron” and “2081”, but they are basically minor points and do not significantly affect the deeper meaning of the story. The primary distinction, which is clearly expressed during the initial sequence of “2081”, is that instead of carrying bags of lead balls at their necks, the characters carried futuristic digital gadgets with a blinking screen on them. Another nuanced element, which is also expressive, was that when George, one of the protagonists, heard a high-pitched noise while wearing his earpiece at the outset of the film, it was Hazel who assumed it was the sound of a milk bottle getting hit by a hammer, not George. But clearly one of the most significant points of difference between the two narratives is the discussion between George and Hazel at the outset of the plot.
The discussion about the primary distinctions between the two pieces
In “Harrison Bergeron”, when Hazel proposes that George put his handicap weights on his pillows to take a rest, George replies that they don’t bother him all that much, because over time the hero states that he has gotten used to them. He subsequently continues to reason and clarify to Hazel that if he attempts to break the law, other human beings will likewise attempt to break the law, and this will result in the world’s population turning against each other again and, in the end, in truly dark times. Hazel, in turn, replies that she would not want that to happen.
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However, when we watch the short film “2081”, we can note that when Hazel proposes to George that he take a break from his weight, George replies that he cannot be the equal of Hazel, to which she states that she would probably detest it. In addition, in the story, Harrison is imprisoned at the age of fourteen and runs away at fourteen, whereas in the short film, the events are set up six years later, following Harrison’s imprisonment. The last obvious and perhaps most striking difference between “Harrison Bergeron” and “2081” — is the “bomb”. In the short film adaptation, when Harrison breaks out of prison and breaks into the ballet, he states that he releases a bomb that is kept underneath the theater and has the detonator with him. At the moment when the H-G people interrupted the transmission of the event, Harrison pushed the detonator switch, proving to the spectators that the bomb was in fact a mechanism that put the television broadcast back on the air. In the story, the author makes no reference to the existence of such a mechanism.
Conclusion
Summarizing the above-mentioned similarities and differences between the short story “Harrison Bergeron” and the short film “2081,” we see that their number is reasonably large. However, we have to recognize that both stories share the same underlying message, which reveals the exact identical meaning to the audience, demonstrating the precise value and significance of being diverse.
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