Harrison's intelligence comes from Hazel, not George.
- And Hazel's overblown ditziness is just a way to avoid being handicapped.
- Alternatively, she was a genius, and a schoolfriend of Diana Moon Glampers. Then Hazel came to grips with the fact that Diana's vision of a world with absolute equality was wrong. She told Diana, "If you want to handicap anyone, you'll have to go through me first." Diana responded, "Works for me!" and bashed Hazel's head against the wall so as to inflict permanent brain damage.
Diana's reason for her equality-crazed dystopia: Her own cripplingly handicapping guilt at having been a child prodigy, while her sister was mentally retarded. Her sister's name: Hazel Glampers-Bergeron.
- Well, it is mentioned that Hazel looks a lot like Diana.
- Except Hazel isn't mentally disabled. Just...well, dull-normal. Utterly unexceptional.
The original short story is a Future Imperfect retelling of the film.
The hyper-equality of the world eventually breaks down, due to a generation of people growing up with the legend of Harrison Bergeron. The constant praise of his actions lead to his becoming an immense Memetic Badass to the point where the fable of Harrison Bergeron more resembles the fantastic events of the story than the (relatively) mundane events of the movie. Harrison Bergeron is not a Stealth Parody
Vonnegut was actually very right-wing. Everything else he ever wrote, said, or did was a Stealth Parody. This is the same universe as The Screwtape Letters
Screwtape Proposes a Toast to a trend that looks to end with the scenario in HB. Harrison is so strong because he's had to carry those weights all the time
That's it, really. Harrison "flying in the air" was just a misunderstanding by the viewers.
Since the story's world is based around the idea of bringing everyone down to the lowest common denominator, what would be considered "normal" abilities would be very minor in real life - Harrison may have only jumped several feet in the air. Though, this does leave the mention of "kissing the roof" out of the picture... This story is the future of The Sirens of Titan.
Coming after the institution of Rumfoord's religion and the associated handicaps, society eventually gets its hands on one of the mind control devices implanted in the surviving martians' heads. Unable to perfectly replicate the technology, the US Government designs the ear radios in their place. The chrono-synclastic infundibulum might have something to do with the younger Bergeron's abilities.- The beginning of The Sirens of Titan states that mankind has come to understand the meaning of life. But, since that novel also implies that mankind has always been guided by aliens to supply a replacement part for an alien ship, it's not a stretch that this meaning of life cited is really just to stop thinking.
All the versions are canon in some way.
The original short story, as stated above, was a Future Imperfect retelling. The movie tells the real story- however, Harrison’s attempted suicide fails, and he is somehow saved by doctors (thanks to future technology or whatever). He is then taken into custody and, for six years, tortured Ministry Of Love-style to make him love “equality”. He eventually escapes and the events of 2081 occur. As a result of his endless torture, Harrison has become significantly more... unstable. No wonder though...<<|Wild Mass Guessing|>>
