Harrison Bergeron 2081 Film Techniques

2081 Film analysis

The film 2081 directed by Chandler Tuttle is an adaptation of the short story 'Harrison Bergeron' by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. which looks into a dystopian society where everyone is finally equal. Vonnegut wanted to show us how absurd the world will become when everyone is equal and Tuttle has conveyed that perfectly in his adaptation. The story is told from George Bergeron's perspective as he watches his son Harrison perform his act of rebellion and his own requiem. Tuttle uses Harrison to criticise how absurd perfect equality is and uses George to show how the media can control our lives and dictate how we view of our society.
Tuttle uses various film techniques to emphasise character emotion and their view about the society

they are in. In the scene where George was starting to remember the day where the H-G men took Harrison away. The overall effect of the scene is to create a sense of uneasiness and establish the story background. Tuttle started the scene with George looking at the door and the camera zooming in.

As the camera zooms in the scene cuts to parts of George's flashback and continue to do so. At the third jump cut the flashback is then shown clearly. The use of jump cuts combine with zoom in creating the effect of fragmented memories which tells the audience that George has forgotten some of his important memories. Tuttle also wanted to convey that in this perfectly equal society, the government controls the intelligence’s memories. This fits into the dystopian criteria of totalitarian government. In the flashback, lead lines are used to emphasise the door in which the H-G men entered. This is also emphasised before the flashback as it creates suspense. Tuttle wanted us to feel that the H-G men are on the other side of the door and could storm in at any moment. The composition of the frame also makes the right half of the shot dark and cover. This is to show confinement of George to his space. Both effects work together to show constant surveillance of the government and how George is confined to his space as he did not attempt to stop the H-G men. Tuttle uses this to symbolise George’s view of the current society. He knows that the government is controlling him, but as he

says “nothing we can do about it then” to Hazel’s suggestion of taking of the handicaps. This tells the audiences that George realises that he is being controlled but feign ignorance which makes him slowly giving in to the handicaps. Tuttle also uses diegetic sound which works with jump cuts to show how the headphones that are worn by the intelligence interrupt their thoughts. The scene is shown not long after the audience is told the society is perfectly equal which is contradicted by this scene. The controlling element still exist. Wearing restraints is not a sign of equality. The government is not the only one doing surveillances, we are too. By indulging in media, we are shown personal lives of others. Globally, quickly and easily.
Next, in the scene where Harrison enters the opera hall.

The overall effect created is the sense of awe. First, the scene starts with Harrison walking in and dragging a guard along the way. The use of Steadicam and swish pan combines to show how fast and intimidating Harrison is. Also the Steadicam makes the audience feel like they are in the hall themselves as Harrison walks in and feeling the ripples that his heavy handicaps caused. The Steadicam is used throughout Harrison’s speech and alternating with medium close-up shot which shows Harrison’s handicaps. With the use of medium close-up shot and costuming, we are shown how awful and absurd Harrison’s handicap is. Tuttle also convey a symbolism with the focus on Harrison’s handicap which alludes to Jesus on the cross same as Harrison’s plank on his neck. This is also to foreshadow how Harrison will play a role like Jesus in the film. Jesus was the sacrifice for all human sin and Harrison also sacrifice himself for the greater cause of raising awareness about absurdity of the current society. As Harrison took of his restrains, the use of cuts and medium close-up shots show many faces in awe from Harrison. We see the people in the theatre amaze and George at home suddenly sprung up from his chair. In addition to the effect of awe created, Tuttle also shown a subtle hint towards his important message to the audience. We are told how much pain Harrison has been through and we are to sympathise with him. However that is

Vonnegut’s original intent to tell us that perfect equality does not exist and no matter what way we try to achieve it, the absurdity of the method will still leads to inequality. Why did Tuttle choose Harrison to appear on a regular scheduled television program? Why did he not choose a protest or terrorist attack instead? This is because; Tuttle knows that media can affect our lives. They can change how we think or limit our view of things.
From the two scenes, we are shown the absurdity of the movie’s society, but the most important message Tuttle wanted to convey to us is how the media has influenced our view of society. In the film, all of the main events are being broadcast on television. George also saw his son shot death and even the face of the killer, but George forgot all of these in a matter of seconds. Even though he is wearing the headphones, the emotions and impact of someone close to you get kill is not something you can forget with just some noises. He could not tell Hazel what was sad on the television and got on with his life to get another beer. This idea of our propensity to forget things that are irrelevant or sad for us are common at the present time. When we tune into news either from television or other media platforms, we are presented to the crisis around the world and how horrible they are but the day after you wouldn’t even remember half of the crisis around the world nor thought of how relevant it is to you. Media is designed to tell the public what to think about the current issues around the world. They can give us the full story or hide some facts from us to persuade us to the way they want the mass to think about their stories. As much as the irrelevant news that people forget in between commercials, people usually forgot someone who passed away after a while and carry on with their life. It is in human nature that we want only happiness but sometimes sadness is important to our way of life. As Vonnegut wants to convey how absurd true equality is, Tuttle has reinforced that and also criticise our propensity to forget and sway by the media. Everyone has done it once. As the saying “history repeats itself”.