I doubt we'll get through this on Wednesday, but let's read it and talk about it. Do you see any similarities to Frankenstein/his creation in this story, or is my imagination just overactive?
link to Harrison Bergeron
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Clark College Science Fiction class with Nancy Thompson
This class...
CBS Mystery Theatre - "The Outsider" (H.P. Lovecraft)
Weekly Top Ten: This week, animation
- Electric Earthquake
- The Underground World
- Dodo in Japan
- The Hole
- Duck and Cover
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Mulan
- The Corpse Bride
- Yellow Submarine
10 comments:
I can see that harrison's appearance could be similar to that of the monster in Frankenstein but his personality is very different. The monster was kind and loving hut turned malicious when his creator abandoned him. While harrison, as far as we know has been this way and wish nothing but death upon the HG's. On the other hand harrison may have been just like the monster in the beginning and had a caring personality, but it does not says so.
I think there arw some very abstract parralels between the two, for example bergeron picking his dancer and how they are both killed is a parralel to the creature and his bride in that they are both destroyed also
That's a very interesting story. Not to mention the various questions that came to mind. How would they make different races the same? Or had races by the time intermingled so much that everyone was now "mutts"? "...due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments..." How many new amendments were added and what would they be? And then another question that I think of when reading this - what were the side effects of the various "equalizers" that people had? Did people go deaf from the ear pieces that sent out sharp sounds? I also find it interesting that Harrison calls himself "Emperor" rather than "President".
Anyway, the only thing that I can think that sort of parallels with Frankenstein, is as Grand Moff Tarkin mentioned, the appearance of Harrison. Though in some ways I had more of an image similar to Edward Scissorhands in my mind than Frankenstein. Frankenstein at least seemed to have a bit more... mobilty and could do things on his own. Edward Scissorhands ended up having to have others help him to do anything usually.
In a sense, there are vagueish similarities between Frankenstein and Harrison Bergeron. The creator of the monster- Victor- could be likened to the government with its experiments in equality resulting in horribly disguised as disfigured people with heavy burdens. The monster could be likened to those who suffer the weight of the governments folly. What i noticed was that in spite of the attempts by the government to level the playing field- people were aware of the differences between them. Instead of seeing others as normal the extreme amount of disfigurement marked some victims as people who must be extraordinarily beautiful- and by noticing this the government lost their battle to make all of their subjects equal.At least thats how i saw the possible similarity, but my imaginations on overdrive today-lol. What do you think about this?
I think that Harrison and the Creature do have some similarities. I think they are a little different thought in some big ways. Harrison wasn't something they created from scratch and wasn't something that they intended to be big and larger than life. He was big and great and the brought him down to what they thought he should be. I think where they do line up is in that they both try and rebel against their creators. The people that made them look the way they did. It is rather interesting though.
Well, I completely agree that there isn't a complete parallel. Here's what I'm thinking. Like the creature (who we must now think of as Jorge), Harrison is a "monster" created by society, especially one human's drive for control. Harrison is prevented from fully expressing his humanity; he is made to be unattractive to others (although in this case the others accept the unattractiveness, because they are too handicapped to do otherwise). When in frustration he breaks out of his constraints, he must be killed. Harrison in many ways is as created as the creature is, and as outcast. In both stories, technology helps achieve the outcome, but isn't the central facet; it's human nature, including the desire for godlike power, that creates the "creature." Of course, "Harrison Bergeron" is a satire, and Frankenstein isn't, and in fact the stories have more dissimilarities than similarities, but that aspect does intrigue me a bit.
they are both parallel in the aspect that they are both kind of thought of from a far as being weird and different.
I loved Harrison bergeron. There are some similarities in the stories, such as the "outcast" (harrison, and the creature), but they are entirely different. Harrison speaks out against the norm, while the creature just goes around killing people to get a wife. I suppose there are abstract similarities, but not something that jumps out of the page at you.
Has anyone ever wondered why dystopian societies in stories are always super strict authoritarian style societies with overbearing governments?
How come I never get to read about dyspotias that are anarchistic?
Am I just missing them somehow?
James, have you read the TAZ by Hakim Bey (aka Peter Lamborn Wilson)? Or, oh my gosh, Lord of the Flies; there's an anarchic dystopia....
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