Harrison Bergeron

Ever since the idea of "Political Correctness" became stylish, I've warned that it was just the beginning. Such manipulation only leads to an increasing loss of individual freedom. It's a stealthy process that takes over the political organism the way a cancer takes over a physical one. The end result of such a "politically correct" process is clearly illustrated in Harrison Bergeron. The plot is simple, yet chilling in its display of cavalier inhumanity. Watch the movie for its unhidden message; enjoy it for its plot and turn of (tragic) events, but above all, learn from it – ideologies such as political correctness and its first cousin, affirmative action, are inhumane at their foundation, insidious in their progression, and decidedly real in their ultimate danger.

....it would ´ve fitted much better into the actual legislation period of this clown Bush jr. The similarities between the behavior of Mr. Bush and the behavior of the "president" in the movie are frightening. This "haahoo- we are the leader of the free world" arrogance bullshit driven to the top..... The dumbness of American TV programs isn´t something which must be discussed-it´s a fact. And people electing someone like G.W.Bush as president shouldn´t be considered to be too clever as well. So especially under current circumstances a film definetly worth watching. Excuse my bad English....... BTW In the German TV the movie ran under the title "I.Q. Runner" which is quite typical for German TV Stations to rename movies to dumb titles similar with big titles, so i guess IQ Runner was aimed to get people thinking "oh, sounds like Blade Runner, must be a big thing".

Harrison Bergeron is a movie that illustrates something most people don't realize. People are ignorantly happy entertained and their lives controlled for their "safety." Transgressions against our freedom for better protection against ourselves are consistently voted in. The Bill of Rights has torn apart by democracy and "for the children." In the movie, victimless crimes deserved capital punishment... for the protection of the people. The Romans managed a large populace not with armies but with bread and circuses. The people were fed and entertained. Today we have Welfare and TV. Harrison was in control of the all powerful Television... and the minds of the viewers. The average person prefers reruns of "Seinfield" over the Opera. "Wag the Dog" was a perfect example of political control through stimuli and news. Wag the Dog is today, Harrison Bergeron may be tomorrow. "Nostalgia by proxy."

I read the short story for which this film is based on in my English class, and then we proceded to watch the movie. Well, since it's rated R, the teacher shut it off as soon as she heard the first usage of that dreaded F word!! So, I had to rent it to finish the rest of it. Not bad. They took a seven page short story, added about a hundred additional pages and created an entirely new story. The short story is really just a plot outline that the writer used to write his story around. The ending was changed and I did not like the way it was. I was hoping for the ending told in the story, but I was sadly disappointed here. But, not much you can do. The cast was pretty good, Sean Astin (ENCINO MAN), Christopher Plummer (DRACULA 2000), and Eugene Levy (BEST IN SHOW) in a very small role as the president who likes to swear a lot (I thought his scenes were hilarious). There is not much to HARRISON BERGERON, the story is good, but the whole being made for TV thing didn't help this film much. If you are a fan of sci-fi then this film is a must. Not the best film ever made and certainly not worthy of anything special, it is still worthy of your time and is definetly worth the watch. HARRISON BERGERON: 3/5.

If you want to know what the future of political correctness will be like? You MUST see this film. The first time I saw this on Showtime I was stunned for 10 min. While this is not the greatest film of all time you should see this film. This presents the logical implications to the entire PC movement. What is desired is not equality in the original sense of "everyone being treated equally", but the current demand for "equality of outcome". IF one takes a trip to Europe you see 20 years of advancement for the notion. They do not care what the ultimate cost to society is, just that you are not better than me. While I am not as good as Lance Armstrong in bicycle racing, I must be "made" to be "equal. Harrison Bergeron demonstrates what it costs the society to agree to this myth.

I saw this movie more than a year ago by chance. I didn't even want to watch it first, but somehow I just got stuck in front of the TV. It was late at night after the Olympics, so i don't think a lot of people saw it. Though I have always loved Sean Astin this movie is certainly a good reason to love him all the more. The "utopia" idea is no new thing in a movie, and usually it's quite interesting how they figure it out eventually. Let's admit: making a good future movie is like walking on eggshells, but I think the cast and crew of this small movie has nothing to be ashamed of. They did really well. It is very impressive how the story of Harrison and of his pure heart and mind talks about life, the equality of men, the lies, the love and of course the arts. I think this movie had become a shiny little secret of the soul of the relatively few people who is lucky enough to have seen it.

I remember my high school made us read this story and watch this movie, the whole time presenting as some shining example of free thinkers winning out against oppressive blah blah blah. At the time, I thought the dystopia society was so ridiculous and baseless that it was hard to take seriously as any kind of cautionary tale. Then, years later, I was doing research on Vonnegut and guess what? Turns out his story was actually meant to be a satire of America's reaction to socialism. Then it suddenly all made sense. The future society was intentionally so over the top and not grounded in any kind of reality that people would see how utterly ridiculous the end game logic of the "red menace" propagators was. Unfortunately, satire is always lost on reactionaries, and this story was taken at face value as a cautionary tale of what happens when Americans stop believing in Jesus and John Galt and embrace the evils of equality. Over time, the original meaning was forgotten and it is now presented as such a tale. I'm willing to overlook the background history of a movie, but even on its own this movie betrays the original intention of Vonnegut's work. Gone is the message of unfounded hysteria and in its place is some generic "wake up, sheeple!" message subscribed to by every teenager and conspiracy theorist. Poor Kurt.