Living in a space ship would be cool, and living in a more equal world would be beneficial, but when portrayed in “Wall-E” and “Harrison Bergerson,” only pain and suffering can come of it. The two societies compare because they are set off in the distant future; filled with advance technology of robots and intricate machinery involved in day to day lives. Both of these tales have the same back bone of their different types of dystopia: break down.
In Wall-E there is a robot designed to clean the inhospitable earth in order for the human societies to come back. In the waste land, trash fills the streets and oceans completely dry up. The land is so hostile that the all the other robots break down and Wall-E is the only robot left. During
…show more content…
the 700 years where Wall-E is working and cleaning up planet Earth, he develops a personality. With his fun loving and charismatic personality, he takes the audience through his job of crush trash into cubes and stacking them hundreds of feet high. Through this walkthrough, the lifeless Earth is revealed; obvious overconsumption of resources, leaving the earth bare and broken, forcing humanity onto a ship and leaving. That demonstration is a mockery of us today, because we are polluting and that could become us. In Bergerson, the earth is not the extreme focus. The focus is on a family living in a completely equal society. Equal not only in the lack of rights, but the equality of looks, intelligence, and strength. Everyone is brought down to the same dull level of living, and can be seen when George and Hazel are watching dancers on T.V. The dancers were weighed down and made to look ugly so no one “would feel like something the cat drug in.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Pg. 1) This wit is suggested that something beautiful, like a dancer, shouldn’t be beautiful because it would make the audience sad. But the audience, or should, want to watch the dancer because they are a beautiful dancer. It doesn’t’ make any sense, so the confusion of the purpose creates dark humor and makes it a little bit sad that they can’t enjoy beautiful things. In the eyes of both of the societies, it’s how it’s supposed to be. At first glance at the Axiom in Wall-E, it’s a utopia. Everyone is well fed and stress free. The only problem is complete and udder boredom. For example two passengers were contemplating what they should do that day, “Well, I've been in my cabin all morning, so let's hover over to the driving range, and hit a few virtual balls into space.” “Nah, we did that yesterday. I don't want to do that.” “Well then what do you want to do?” (Andrew Stanton, Pg. 27) The commodities of hover chairs and “Mmmmm! Time for lunch… in a cup!” (Andrew Stanton, Pg. 30) makes life too easy, where they don’t know what to do with themselves. Wall-E doesn’t fit the dystopian description at first because nobody is in a misery, but if the robots failed, then there would be chaos. These people have been living like that for generations and actually don’t know anything else. To them, they have never known sadness or struggle. But to them, they have never known happiness or triumph. And that is why they are dystopian. For the Bergerson’s they have the same situation, but they know they are being handicapped. George has to wear headphones that put off high pitch sound waves so he loses his train of thought but he doesn’t even question the rules because as he claims “If I tried to get away with it then other people'd get away with it, and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again…The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?” (Kurt Vonnegut, Pg. 2) It breaks down, is what he claims. But what he doesn’t know is that it already has. When people’s lives are lived wrong, because they are convinced that if they don’t they will return to “the dark ages,” and they are convinced it is right, then there is no possibility for change. He is one of the people who think it’s great, and there are many more people believing in their dystopian society. Finally, like any good Pixar movie, Wall-E saves the day.
By bringing back a healthy growing plant to the Capitan they finally have the ability to return to earth. But not without fighting the automated captain (Auto) first. The Capitan researched the computer and learned all about earth and fell in love with it, and desperately wants to go back. Auto wants to keep the ship on its course because its previous orders from 600 years ago were to never to return. During their battle Auto says “On the Axiom you will survive.” Meaning only they will have food, water, shelter and comfort. But after the Captain learns that there is so much more he yells “I DON'T WANT TO SURVIVE! I WANT TO LIVE!” He not only physically but metaphorically, took the power back from the robots. He decided that it was time to break free from the ship, and head home—ending the dystopia. Unfortunately, all didn’t end well for Harrison Bergerson. As the most handsome man alive, and the son of George and Hazel, he is the most handicapped out of all the citizens. And by being the most handicapped, he is the one who wants to be the most free. He breaks into the dancing hall, grabs the most gorgeous women, and they begin to dance. They danced so beautifully and it almost looked like they were flying. So majestic, so free. This was all on live TV so George and Hazel were watching too, but as quickly as it started it was ended with a gunshot. But because of the control of all the citizens, the show was changed and wave sounds were sent out. George and Hazel witnessed their son being killed, but due to the equality of the society, they shortly forgot because Hazel said “It's all kind of mixed up in my mind" with George responding “Forget sad things.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Pg. 6) This dramatic and devastating event couldn’t even be comprehended let alone remembered by his parents, making this dystopian depressing and very
creepy. Having a society is the only thing that makes us humans different. Yes there are other similar animal groups and yes we are on top of the food chain, but what really makes us different is that we are more than just a part of the society we are living in. We have stories that can be brought down and passed down for hundreds of generations. We live more than our own time because we will live in the future with our decisions of what we do now. And as in people of our own time we know that our story is going to be passed on to the next generation, and that’s why we want ours to be good. One without killing the earth or diminishing our rights to be individuals; we want our story to top the previous one. If as a race we keep trying to outdo the people before us, we will never turn into a dystopia. When we keep telling the good stories and top those, and remembering the bad ones and not letting them repeat, we can never fail. And that is why we will never break down.
One similarity between “Harrison Bergeron” 2081 is that George had a mental handicap. This is important to the story because since the transmitter sent a sharp noise “to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains”, neither he or Hazel could think about Harrison for very long or even remember that he had been killed seconds after it happened. This was also important to the film because it showed us pieces of what happened the night Harrison was taken away and gives the audience an idea what the handicaps feel like for the characters.
Kurt Vonnegut, a modern American writer, composed stories about fictional situations that occurred in futuristic versions of today’s world. His stories included violence, both upon oneself and one another, and characters who sought out revenge. In “2BR02B” and “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction.
In all aspects a utopian society is a society that is place to achieve perfection, and that is the society that both the “Uglies”, by Scott Westfield and “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, was striving for. In both of these stories, the government had control over the people’s choices, freedoms, and their natural abilities. Yet both government strive for a perfect society, the methods they use to achieve this goal were different from each other.
The theme of the “meaning of freedom” is a common theme between the two stories “A&P” by Updike, and Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut. In both stories, the characters are take different routes to rebel from the standards of society. In A&P, gender roles are heavy, and Sammy is expected to conform, but he does otherwise by leaving his job. Harrison Bergeron takes place during a time where the human population is expected to be equal, but Harrison steps beyond these limits. These characters show that conforming to society truly does not make you free, in fact it holds you back from your full potential.
In M.T Anderson’s, Feed, and the motion picture, Wall-E, multiple parallels show. Feed takes place in a dystopian Earth some 200 years from the present time. Everyone has a machine in the back of the head, called a feed, which allows the user to access the internet or text other friends directly from their head. The omnipotent corporations control what people wear, buy, or learn about. When Titus meets Violet, they engage in a romantic relationship. They struggle to be together as a couple, and eventually Violet’s malfunctioning feed takes over her body, causing her death. Wall-E depicts a trash compactor, named Wall-E, in future, too. Wall-E is stranded on a pollution filled Earth, where all the humans have gone to space many years ago. When Eve lands onto Earth, Wall-E falls immediately in love with her. Wall-E and Eve start connecting when Wall-E ends up showing her a plant, possibly the only one on Earth. Eve shuts down, and both of them end
Harrison Bergeron is a short story that has a deep meaning to it. To begin with, the short story Harrison Bergeron was made in 1961 and is written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The whole short story is set in the far future of 2081. 2081 is a time where everybody is finally equal and when the government finally has full control over everyone. If you aren't equal you would have to wear handicaps to limit your extraordinary strength and smarts. As the story progresses, Harrison Bergeron is trying to send a message about society.
It was important to keep Harrison’s death being broadcasted on TV because it shows the side of the government people don’t see. If it wasn’t broadcasted then the people wouldn’t have seen how the government killed a man who was just trying to prove to the people that the handicaps weren’t helping anyone. According to the movie 2081 Harrison tries to prove that handicaps aren’t helping anyone, so he takes his handicaps off and shows the citizens what he can do without them. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” the Handicap General ends up killing Harrison and his empress causing Hazel to cry.
Science fiction stories are a very effective way of conveying a strong point. In “Harrison Bergeron” the strength of this short story is its ability to make you think. Not just about the societal structure, but also the abuse of power, and repression. The intentional significance of this story is if people accept oppressive measures in the name of fairness. No one really benefits from these foolish attempts to enforce equality. The tyranny of the majority stifles any sort of freedoms, gifts, individualities, and strengths. If an action must ...
Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction, short story, “Harrison Bergeron” satirizes the defective side of an ideal, utopian American society in 2081, where “everyone was finally equal” (Vonnegut 1). When you first begin to read “Harrison Bergeron”, through an objective, nonchalant voice of the narrator, nothing really overly suggests negativity, yet the conclusion and the narrator's subtle description of the events show how comically tragic it really is. Vonnegut’s use of morbid satire elicits a strong response from the readers as it makes you quickly realize that this scenario does not resemble a utopian society at all, but an oppressive, government and technology-controlled society. “A dystopian society is a
Harrison Bergeron is a hero to society. He is a hero because he was the only person willing to take off his handicap. Bergeron was a brave person. No one else was brave enough to try to be unique. Everyone was following what they were told to never questioning it, but Bergeron wasn't. He wants to discover new things. Yes he might have been scaring people, but they had no reason to be scared. They could have been helping and joining instead of being scared and rebelling from him.
Although the comparisons are well hidden, both today’s society and the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ share similar qualities. They both deal with equality, which leads to problems and consequences. A second similarity is the struggle of competition and trying to prevent it from occurring, which also leads to problems. Lastly, both struggle with normality, and the fact that it’s hard to accept that different is okay now.
Never would I thought that we have a dystopian-like society in our world. Don’t know what a dystopia is? It is a society set in the future, typically portrayed in movies and books in, which everything is unpleasant. The novel Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a dystopian story of a fourteen-year-old boy named Harrison who grows up in a society that limits people’s individuality. When he is taken away from his parents, because of his strong idiosyncrasy, his parents do not even recall his presence because of the “mental handicaps” that the government forces onto them. Harrison eventually escapes from his imprisonment and tries to show others that they can get rid of the handicaps and be free. Though the government official, or Handicapper
Science Fiction is one of the most action packed genre’s out there. Portraying fears and informing people and entertaining people at the same time, no wonder it's a favorite of many. Authors that write these books always put in some type of concept of fear. Fears like advanced technology taking over, fear of war and controlling governments, fear of the unknown and even the fear of space, just to name a few, are the common concepts of Sci-Fi. Science Fiction however always raise a few brows when it's about controversial topics like controlling governments. Many people believe that controlling governments are good but controlling governments are actually very cruel, unfair, and they abuse their power.
Some advanced classes are being eliminated or criticized at some schools. People think they are elitist or undemocratic. Advanced kids need some work that is their level but at the same time the lower kids will feel like they’re not smart. I know this from personal experience. In elementary school, there was a program called SEARCH where the “smart” kids would go off one day every week and do things like dissect small sharks or play games. I felt as if I was not smart because I wasn’t in SEARCH. My best friend was in SEARCH and she would say things like “we need work that is our level”. Now I realize that even though I’m not in SEARCH that I’m still smart. I think advanced kids should have their own work in the same classroom so the other
“‘Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out’” wrote Vonnegut (103). This statement portraits the unjust punishment for being unhandicapped, but is this punishment better or worse than death? In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” and the movie “2081” there are many differences and similarities. One similarity is that both the short story “Harrison Bergeron” and the movie “2081” has Harrison Bergeron getting shoot. In contract with Harrison getting killed is that the short story and movie differ in the aspect on how they prove that Harrison is dead.