Wonderful Sci-fi!
Added 8/16/2009
I've been looking for this for years. I remember seeing it on tv when I was younger. It is extraordinary. :) A must see!
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Everyone cannot be average
Added 5/20/2009
HARRISON BERGERON (1995)
directed by Bruce Pittman
approximately 1 hour 39 minutes
In the future there isn't any envy or hate. There is no competition, so people don't feel bad when they don't do as well as their peers. In fact they don't feel anything at all because their thought patterns are regulated by an electrical band that must be worn at all times. There are very strict rules about what can be shown on television since people may have different reactions to the same show. Therefore the official culture of the day is aimed at the lowest common denominator. Sitcoms are bland and unoriginal and sports players are deliberately handicapped so as to skew the results into something close to a tie finish.
One young man born into this world can't seem to get it. He likes learning and wants to do better for himself. He is on his way to marry a pretty girl but laments the fact that they have nothing to talk about. He does well in school in spite of his teachers who encourage him to get a special surgery that should take care of his intelligence "problem". The doctor who is to perform the surgery recommends that since Harrison will only have his special brain for one last night, that he should check out a "head house". These are places where people meet illegally to challenge themselves and learn for the sake of learning. Our protagonist checks into a local head house and is impressed with this intellectual underworld. This marks a major turning point in his life. It turns out that Harrison has been monitored all his life by a group of elite bureaucrats - the same group who help to craft the mediocre culture that Harrison cannot relate to.
Harrison is recruited into this group because of his brilliant mind. He takes a job in television, thinking it doesn't have to be the uninteresting schlock that it has become. Best of all, he has access to real culture - Orson Welles radio plays, 'Its a Wonderful Life', Mozart - things all banned to the general population. These are the kinds of things that fascinate Harrison, but they could inflame a civil disturbance amongst the citizenry. When Harrison presents an idea for an exciting show to his supervisor, his proposal is swiftly rejected. As he spends more time in the central planning process, he understands the secrets known only to the inner elite of the bureaucracy. Even the president doesn't have a complete grasp of how the world works. It becomes clear that the planners hold themselves to a a different set of standards than the rest of the population who doesn't even know that they exist. Nevertheless Harrison sees their objective as a noble one. After all, who wants to live in a society of turmoil and conflict? Harrison must decide if he can reconcile the apparent benefits of the system with the double standards of the central planners.
This is a very good movie, especially since culture seems to be getting closer each year to the shows depicted in the movie. It is of course based on the story by Kurt Vonnegut. There is another Harrison Bergeron movie being made with the title '2081'. I hope it is as enjoyable as this one!
"You haven't made everyone equal,
you've made everyone the same..."
-Harrison
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Things of not literally to come
Added 5/3/2009
I had seen this movie many years ago and thought it was an interesting movie. I didn't see it as a comedy but as a "1984"-type movie... a possible things to come. I never thought that we'd get physical electric bands on our heads but that (mind numbing) TV would be promoted as an important part of a human's being, Ritalin is a valid cure, teaching towards self-esteem versus self-sufficiency would be promoted, and the news media using a certain slant would get people to not think too much on their own so that politicians would have an easier job of managing than to implement societal problems that may require "political suicide" meaning that the best solution would be the possibility of a one term.
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Illustrates where we are headed
Added 11/16/2006
with the continued dumbing down of the population and we just might be past the point of no return.
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The Truth doesn't hurt, unless it should
Added 11/9/2006
This production never received the recognition it deserves, perhaps because it is a mirror to politicians, leaders. and the movie industry.
Harrison Bergeron shows us a world in which we see social convention (currently called "political correctness") taken to its final extreme, where the Government shuts down the brains of smarter individuals in order to insure that no one feels bad about being below normal. Everyone is reduced to average stupidity.
The film is very well done, with examples again and again of why such a "solution" is something no sane person would wish.
Perhaps Harrison Bergeron should be required viewing in high school government classes, to open students' minds as to the proper role of government.
At any rate, watch this movie for an experience that will broaden your mind, as you see smart young kids sneaking into what might be called "intelligence brothels," where they go in to have free speech and the free exchange of ideas. It's a memorable experience.
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