ipl-logo

Compare And Contrast Harrison Bergeron Vs Mean Girls

1775 Words8 Pages

Courtney Foster
Professor Arneson
ENG-105
October 5, 2015 Harrison Bergeron vs. Mean Girls Movie We all know what conformity is right? It’t not always something people speak very highly of, and certainly never seen as a really good thing. The dystopian society in Harrison Bergeron and the high school society in Mean Girls don’t particularly see it that way at all. Harrison Bergeron story implies it believe conformity is the best thing for people. Mean Girls shows the opposite, that conformity is more of a personal preference for people who don’t have their own ideas. Therefore the two societies show conformity is not a good idea in any sense. Harrison Bergeron is the first society we are going to look at. It’s a story written …show more content…

Hazel, Harrison’s mother was crying, but couldn’t recall why in that moment. She thought it was the beauty of the dance performed that made her feel that way. Her husband, George could only particularly notice the way the dancers looked. They has masks on their faces to cover their beautiful faces, and they were weighed down to kinda off balance how good and pretty they could actually dance. Shortly after this, they are interrupted by a man with a speech impediment trying to make an announcement on TV. He can’t successfully do it, so hands the bulletin off to one of the ballerinas standing close by. She at first spoke with a very beautiful voice, until she soon realized what she was doing. She apologized and switched over as quick as possible to a very deep voice. Then she read the bulletin out loud as she told everyone “Harrison had escaped from jail”. They showed a picture of him with all his handicaps, making him no longer look very attractive. He ended up breaking into the studio where the broadcast was taking place and made an announcement. He informs everyone that he is going to be the new emperor and that the first woman to stand up will have her handicaps removed. Not long after a ballerina rises to her feet. Harrison removes her handicaps and mask, revealing a beautiful woman. Not long after this the handicap general comes in and shoots Harrison dead as well as the ballerina. Both his mother and father witnessed this and just as they had time to get upset they both forgot why they even were. Their handicaps took that away from them. There own son was just killed and they don't even know what happened or why because of the handicaps being on

Show More
Related
1515 Words | 7 Pages

Books and movies have been around for many years and lately movie directors have been making more and more movies based off of books. Most people do not know that around 50% of movies are based off of books. Although, it really depends on what people mean when a movie is “based” off a book. Some directors say a movie is based off a book, but has a different plot and seems totally different. So, in order to keep true to the book, directors keep the plot relatively the same, but there are a few times they decide to change the message entirely by changing just a few key events.

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

“Repent Harlequin Said the Tictockman” by Harlan Ellison wrote in 1965 is about a time keeping government trying to achieve complete efficiency. The 1961 science fiction short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., is about complete equality, disabling humanity from success. By examining elements of character analysis, tone, plot, setting, and diction, readers can see that these two dystopian stories can be compared and contrasted. “Repent Harlequin…” and “Harrison Bergeron” take place in alternate futures where the government has either taken control of everyone’s schedules or removed things that would make them unequal. Both stories are led by an antagonist and by someone who rebelled against them, but eventually, the rebellion fails and as far as we know the oppression goes on.

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

Collectivism is the idea that a group 's needs must be put before the needs of oneself and the society functions as “we” rather that “me”. Throughout the stories one sees how each author portrays the use of a collectivist society though uniqueness, equality, and transgression. There are many similarities between the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand and the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In Anthem and “Harrison Bergeron” one could see that a similar theme is that going against the grain causes consequences. According to “Harrison Bergeron” a ballerina states that “ ‘Harrison Bergeron age fourteen,’ she said in a grackle squawk, ‘has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

Harrison was so strong that he was able to easily shred away the incredible amount of handicaps he was given. He began to rid other people of their handicaps as well to show the beauty of the full potential of the people and their talents, the musicians played beautiful music, Harrison and the ballerina began to dance and began to fly. It was a showcase of complete freedom, however, sadly it came to an end that was all too soon. The Handicapper General came in with a dual barrel shotgun and shot down Harrison and the ballerina in two shots. She then threatened everyone else to put their handicaps back on or they would get the same treatment.

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

Harrison Bergeron is a novel where the author is expressing what he thinks society is leading to and what the problems are. Harrison Bergeron is the main character and his points of view and thinking matters are interesting to investigate. This author made everyone the same. Societies are pressuring people to become the same and making people think that if they don 't look or act some sort of way, they don 't matter or serve to our world, causing many people to go to certain limits and even causing suicide as a solution. In the story, everyone thinks the same, everyone walks the same, hears the same.

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

Themes can be found in all sorts of places, in novels, movies, television shows, etc. Themes are lessons that can be learned throughout a story, usually ones that can be related to real life situations. In the dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury there are various themes, themes like conformity, censorship, and reliance of technology. All three of these themes can be found more than once in the novel, conformity can be found within Clarisse and Montag, and even the hobos. Censorship can be found in the society, and it not giving its citizens information.

Read More
936 Words | 4 Pages

Books and movies have been around for many years and lately movie directors have been making more and more movies based off of books. Most of the time, directors keep the plot relatively the same to ensure the movie stays true to the book, but sometimes they decide to change the message entirely by changing just a few key events. An example of this is the short story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut and the film 2081 directed by Chandler Tuttle. Although the short film if based off of the short story, there are significant changes to the tone, plot, and characterization that creates a more sympathetic mood then what is set in the story.

Read More
743 Words | 3 Pages

A famous businessman Mark Hopkins once said "Religion without morality is a superstition and a curse, and morality without religion is impossible." Mark Hopkins suggests that without God and set goals, morals are not possible and cannot be achieved without a religious background. Therefore, both works lack God and morality, leaving the people involved to have no purpose in life. Throughout the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, unlawful and unjustly actions are taken by the corrupt government. People such as Harrison and George are being abused by the government in the name of equality.

Read More
843 Words | 4 Pages

Conformity is present in every group situation with adolescents. Adolescents are always looking to be a part of a group, usually conforming to the standards of the group. Adolescents often conform because they want to have the approval of the peers that are well liked or “popular”. A great example of adolescents and conformity is in the chick flick ‘Mean Girls’ through the different cliques in high school and how it affects the peers themselves. Caty, the main character, is faced with several difficult situations where she decides to conform with her high school peers getting her in trouble that becomes hard for her to escape.

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

Debate-written Assignment, Conformity The idea of conformity is to eliminate individualism and to unite the society together, making it a safer place for the citizens to live, and develop in. A place that has no war, no hunger and no pain, where citizens create strong bonds between each other. The Giver written by Lois Lowry represents the idea of conformity in the society where they try to keep everyone the same as each other by following the same rules and trying to avoid having people stand out by receiving daily pills to lose the feeling of inclination between each other.

Read More
103 Words | 1 Pages

essica, I totally agree that in the movie, Mean Girls, conformity is expressed. Do you agree that conformity is also very popular in not only Mean Girls, but in high schools today? Young high school girls and boys that are undecided about what they want to be, who they are, and wonder how to fit in, conform to fit in with who they think that they want to become. In a way this is not good because being someone who you really aren’t doesn’t allow you to express your true inner self. It's better to be the leader rather than a follower.

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

The movie Mean Girls is a perfect example of many social-psychological principles. Three of the major principles that are seen in the film include: conformity, in-groups and out-groups and prejudice. Cady Herron, a naïve sixteen-year-old who has been homeschooled her entire life, is forced to start as a junior at North Shore High School because of her family’s job relocation. Throughout the movie, you see Cady struggling to maintain acceptance in the school’s in-group known as The Plastics. The Plastics, who represent popularity, high economic status and the acclaimed standard of beauty, are one of the meanest cliques at North Shore.

Read More
1823 Words | 8 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut uses characterization to describe how the characters act in this society. Vonnegut also uses style to show how he uses science fiction and dystopia in “Harrison Bergeron”. The theme demonstrated in “Harrison Bergeron” is equality is not meant to make one person better than another. Kurt Vonnegut in “Harrison Bergeron”, demonstrates that equality based on characteristics is not a good thing for society. Harrison Bergeron is a short story based on the year 2081, where everybody is equal.

Read More
349 Words | 2 Pages

In this short story, everything has to do with equality. No one can be more intelligent, stronger, or more attractive. Handicaps are making people unequal. People in this short story isn’t equal because the most intelligent people have to suffer because of the handicaps. “Every twenty minutes or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantages of their brain” (page 2).

Read More
596 Words | 3 Pages

The short story “Harrison Bergeron”: by Kurt Vonnegut and the film 2081 are alike in many ways. One similarity is that one of the ballerinas went up on the stage next Harrison. In the movie the ballerinas description and appearance matched how they described her in the book.. The book also matches the visual appearance of Harrison as his handicaps looked as if they were just welded together after they had been pulled out of a yard full of scrap metal. The actions in the movie and the book where practically synchronized.

Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Harrison Bergeron Vs Mean Girls

Related Topics

Open Document