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The Temptation of Equality: Envisioning Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"

The Temptation of Equality: Envisioning Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"

by Corinna Contreras of the Harrison Bergeron Project Team

 

 

Introduction

 

     Screams of rage, chants of peace, people held arm in arm, the 1960s tamed no beast. Across the Unted States a swelling from below began bubbling to the surface in wild fury, consuming the nation's public, sweeping it into a rush of new anthems proclaiming peace and equality. While the seeds of a mass movement lay ready to sow, a short story constructed around a twisted notion of equality manifest from the mind of writer Kurt Vonnegut. "Harrison Bergeron," published in 1961, offers one the chance to glimpse into the future of 2081 where after a series of Amendements to the Constitution of the United States of America everyone lives as an equal. However, complete equality comes at no small price for to maintain such equality is to impose handicaps on those considered too intelligent, too beautiful, or too althletic. Such handicaps restrict the abilities of those with "unfair" advantages with enforcement carried out by the United States Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers and her lower rank enforcers, know as H-G Men. Appropriately, "Harrison Bergeron" was republished in Vonnegut's 1968 collection of short stories, Welcome to the Monkey House. In the winter of quarter of 2009, the Harrison Bergeron Project was created by a three member team enrolled in the University of California, Santa Barbara's English 149 course to realize the journey society would take from a history shaped as it is today to one imagined by Vonnegut in his short story, "Harrison Bergeron." With a strong desire to incorporate the spirit of the 1960s into the proposed progression of equality, the voice of this time period bellowing equality, chaos, and absurdity rests as the foundation of the project. To fulfill the vision of the Harrison Bergeron Project, various formats and media were considered as small pieces of the larger picture, all necessary to paint an accurate portrait of the team's adaptation of Vonnegut's 2081 vision.

 

Chaos and Clamor: The 1960s

 

     Having written the story in a time of uncertainty and chaotic civil disobedience, the 1960 zeitgeist was left in place as an important building block and launching point of the story. Apparent to those versed in even basic history of the 1960s era, the emotional weight of this time spills forth from the beginning to end, enhancing the frame of the story with a brilliant connection to displaced sentiment. It was during this time that issues of equality surfaced disruptively, generating tension between those who believed that such inherent equality should be granted to all American citizens and those who fought vehemently in opposition to this equality. The fight for sameness sets this time-period and the people of this generation apart, creating part of the "magical" qualities of this tremendously important historic era filled with images of violence, drugs, protests, mass media, and unforgettable assassination. Undoubtedly the troubles of this time find refuge in the text of this short story. Taking the idea to novel and extreme frontiers, Kurt Vonnegut toyed with a more sinister and humorous idea of equality.

 

Absurd Equality

 

     In reading Kurt Vonnegut's story, the members of the Harrison Bergeron Project could not help but sense in unanimity, a colorful, light, comical, and absurd tone to the short story "Harrison Bergeron." Imagery of clown like people wearing junk as handicaps, of idiot performers, and trapped minds easily flutter off the text. Completely absurd is the notion that geniune equality would take the shape of dictatorial doctrine. Enforced and mandatory handicaps hide and hinder "advantageous" abilities, effectively disabling the population fo the United States of America. Not even passive resistance has any real ground in this story, for the people accept the handicaps as part of a new society where the absence of competition offers the prospect of leveled quality beyond that ever experienced by any actual society. From this imagery, the tone draws forth, playing within a boundary of feelings between dark and despair and comical and absurd only to linger more on the latter.

 

     Understanding that such a conscious awareness of tonality permeates deeply in the comprehension of the story, the project was put forth on the wheels of strict adherence to such tone; in doing so, an interesting texture enveloped the creative processes and outcomes of the Harrison Bergeron Project. When researching the short story, the Harrison Bergeron Project team stumbled across various interpretations of the text, most of which differed greatly from the team's vision; these other projects had lingered sincerely on the darker tones of the story, concealing or ignoring the vast absurdity of the story. Not wanting to disregard the gloomy and menacing aspects of the story, the Harrison Bergeron team decided to meld these tones delicately into the project in various ways, placing it into the mix in small amounts. Tucked behind a more vibrant absurdity, this almost despondent nature found more of a home in the short introduction to the full feature documentary, "Hail Equality: The Long Road to Freedom."

 

Grounding the Vision: The History Network Documentary

 

     As a synthesis of the various elemental features extracted from "Harrison Bergeron" by the Harrison Bergeron Project, the History Network documentary, "Hail Equality: The Long Road to Freedom" aims to capture the progression of equality from the turn of the century to the year 2081 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxaGDTo5HUA). Of the elements of the project, it is in the pseudo-documentary short that the darker tones of "Harrison Bergeron" manifest. Failing to ignore the desperation and anguish behind the lively illocicality of the shorty story would not serve the ulitimate goal of the project. However, to dwell on this point in other parts of the project would stress this aspect beyond necessity, effectively taking from the more animated aim of the project. Thus a delicate balance between its parts as a whole and the individual nature of its elements found the team on a tight rope of sorts. The desire to articulate within the boundaries of fun absurdity, a darker world, created a small complication that deserved much attention.

 

     To achieve such a balance the team decided to undertake such an attempt in more concentration withing the documentary instead of the other parts of the project. To do so, parameters were set in place to keep the train on the right tracks. To begins with, the images and footage used were selected to further the feel of the original shorty story. The selected images needed to stay true to the tone of the "Harrison Bergeron" but also needed to advace the more gloomy texture of the story. Imagery stands alone in "Hail Equality." Played silently, the short evokes the feel of the shadowy aspects of "Harrison Bergeron;" here subtle chaos and distress echo lightly as a backdrop to silly antics. Holding close to heart the need to establish an original interpretation of the text, the documentary short develops a story such as the sole fight for just equality by the title character Harrison Bergeron. Harrison's ambush of the government's tight control on media and samenss came to fruition in the documentary by amplifying the "terrorists" aspect of the pretend history. The mention of terrorism and terrorists in the short documentary contrasted and added to the equality element of the story line. This "terrorism" was then echoed in other parts of the project to a lesser degree.

 

To Serve and Protect: The U.S. Handicapper General

 

     As a crux to the story and the maintenance of quality, the United States Handicapper General stands as the center spoke of the adaptation of Vonnegut's short story. The connection between equality and the Handicapper General has no room for separation. The sole duty of the Handicapper General is to control the population by enforcing the handicaps worn and the need to wear handicaps. Strict implementation keeps the population at bay, trapped in a world of absurd equality. To best envision the project as the team desired, the Handicapper Heneral needed a dominant place in the project; for this reason the Handicapper General has a share of focus in all creative aspects of the project, whether directly or indirectly.

 

     Most evident, is the website created by the Harrison Bergeron team to explain and provide a platform entirely for the elements associated with the Handicapper General (www.harrison2081.webs.com). As the chief enforcer of equality in the United States, it was absolutely necessary for the Handicapper General to have a solo piece in the project. This website allows for a more complex explanation of the Handicapper General as imagined by the project team. Formatted in repects to actual United States' department websites, this website outlines not only the contrete pices of the Handicapper General such as what the position entails and the more personal aspects such as who the current general is and her brief background, but it also has a more intangible aspect. By taking a quick glimpse at what the website has to offer, one can more easily imagine the tone of the time; the backdrop fo fear and the urgent push to amintain the establish mentality surrounding this form of equality effortlessly enters the consciousness of the viewer. This vital component of the project offers a more in depth preview of the fictional history the Harrison Bergeron team attempted to produce.

 

 A Lesson for Childer: Stop-Motion Clip

 

     Building on the vision for a "slice of life" during the times and progression towards the year 2081, the Harrison Bergeron team decided to create a stop-motion animation short to visually fashion a school-like lesson targeted at both a young and intellectually challenged audience as such would be in the history of a Vonnegut United States in the year 2081 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0fj4z_wo). An agreed upon degree of effervescence was set as the creative tool to shape the piece of the project. An intended audience of children and handicapped adults directed the stop-motion towrds more water-down stimulation where bright colors flicker in excitment and words dance around, grabbing the attention of Vonnegut's numb minded citizenry. The stop-motion short repeats the reasons behind an absolute sameness and brief messages of such equality. Agaon, in this piece of the project a strong adherence to absurd equality remains.

 

An Audio Delight: The Sound of "Hail Equality"

 

Using the information from the text analysis tool by Taporware, the Genders Genie provided the shaping tool of choice to construct the direction the audio work of "Hail Equality" would take. By running the text of the story through the Gender Genie, the results stated that the author of the text was femal by a score of 2596 to 2593 respectively (http://english149-w2009.pbwiki.com/Harrison-Bergeron). With the slim difference between the use of "female" to "male" words only three, the gender of the author seems to lay more in the grey area between male and female. The results leave less room for polar opposites and guide towards a more gender neutral quality. Complete androgyny as with a simple male/female separation did not connect with the tone of the story adequately enough; therefore, using the results to channel the route the audio would take, the Harrison Bergeron Project decided to manipulate the audio of the pseudo-documentary to fit a female bases almost androgynous sound. This would then utilize the results from the Gender Genie in the most effective manner possible. With the results from the text analysis coming out almost entirely inconclusive, creative direction was set around these parameters.

 

     To ensure that the audio used in "Hail Equality" fit within the set parameters, an initial recording was created for further manipulation using the audio program Audacity. The initial recording was produced and performed by project member Corinna Contreras. With the elemental foundation set by a female voice, the use of various filters and effects then played with the recorded audio to direct it towards a more neutral or androgynous sound with a distinct female twist. The outcome of using this text analysis tool set well with the direction the Harrison Bergeron Project had initially decided to venture towards; the tone and theme of the story are clearly illuminated by this tool only enhancing the soldidarity between the various media and elements of the Harrison Bergeron Project.

 

Synthesis

 

     From inception, the Harrison Bergeron Team took on Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" under the impression that the project would center on the main theme of equality infused with the spirit of the 1960s and the energetic feel of a strange notion of equality without completely disregarding the more sinister edges of the story. The task was daunting, for a delicate balance between the various elements proved difficult at times. However, this balance was entirely necessary to translate the emotional feel of the short story into a full fledge project. Using various text analysis tools such as Tapor's Visual Collocator, Wordle, and the Gender Genie, among some, the Harrison Bergeron Project team successfully extracted the structure of the short story holding the notion of equality as the crux of the project. From this crux, the elements undeniably connected to this sameness were expanded and tinkered with to create the various pieces of the project. Not wanting to tred entirely on the backdrop of darker tones, the team felt that focusing on the amusing and vibrant elements while leaving a slight backdrop of gloom intact would best realize the short story within the results of the text analysis tools. In doing this project, the Harrison Bergeron team realistically synthesized the imagined characteristics of Vonnegut's short story into a "slice of life" that illustrates a progression from contemporary history towards Vonnegut's imagined history in the year 2081. Equality should not equate with restriced creativity, for when it does, the end of progress has drawn close.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

 

 

Contreras, Corinna. "Hail Equality: The Long Road to Freedom." Youtube.com. 13 Mar 2009.

 

     <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxaGDTo5HUA>.

 

Corinna Contreras, Valerie Liu, Diance Phan. "Harrison Bergeron Project." PB Wiki. 12 Mar 2009.

 

     <http://english149-w2009.pbwiki.com/Harrison-Bergeron>.

 

Corinna Contreras, Valerie Liu, Diane Phan. "My Little Equality Video." Youtube.com. 13 Mar

 

     2009. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0Fj4bz_wo?

 

United States Handicapper General. Webs.com. 14 Mar 2009

 

     <http://www.harrison2081.webs.com/>.

 

Vonnegut, Kurt. "Harrison Bergeron." West Valley College. 14 Mar 2009.

 

     <http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html>.

 

 

 

 

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