All dystopian literature has one thing about its world in common: that the government has rule over everyone. They obsessively control people of these societies, restricting their freedom, practically stalking them making sure they don’t do anything rebellious. The worst part is the people of these societies are completely fine with it because they believe that the government is right, though there is always somebody who thinks the complete different. In the film Antz, the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand there is always one who breaks free of the chains the government has put on them, and stops trying to kid themselves that the government is great when all their lives they knew that all the government itself was really like a dictator; only now do they take action.
In “Harrison Bergeron” everyone goes about their lives, trusting their government and being equal. Exactly equal; the government makes sure of that. Everyone must be the same weight, must be equally strong, equally fast, equally smart, equally good-looking. And if somebody tried to hide the fact that they weren’t-wait…nobody would because the government knows this stuff. In this society Albert Einstein, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Michael Phelps would all be considered handicapped.
Albert Einstein was amazingly intelligent, Leonardo DiCaprio was in the Titanic, and nominated for many awards including the Oscars, and Michael Phelps is the Olympian with the most medals won by a person. The problem with these three people? They are smart and talented; they rise above others and they are dangerous. This is what the government doesn’t want. They want no competition, no inequality that could lead to rebellion. And that way they make sure everyone is equal. These three would each have to wear a handicap, which makes a new and surprising noise every twenty seconds to get their thoughts off track. Leonardo DiCaprio would have to also wear an ugly mask because let’s face it: he’s another one of Hollywood’s examples of good-looking. Then Michael Phelps would have to wear extra weights to slow down his swimming speed and Einstein would have to wear a headset instead of an earpiece since he is was so incredibly intelligent. See, the government watches people like this. And it’s as though they can read a person’s thoughts because whether twenty seconds or not have passed and someone who is handicapped starts to think I wonder if the government controls the weather, instantly a new sound will explode in their ear and just as quickly they would forget.
Harrison Bergeron is one person. To the government he is a threat. He might as well be Einstein and Leonardo DiCaprio mixed into one. A lot of weights to slow him down, big ugly glasses to make his amazing vision not so amazing, and a huge headset to re-fry his incredible brain. Though he is still the only one who rebelled. Somehow he overcame the noises; somehow he did what he did. He saw what they were doing as wrong, and tried to overtake them. Yet somehow he lost. He lost because the government is powerful. It didn’t matter what he did or that it was shown on live television. No, because the average forgot and the smart were interrupted by a brand new sound.
Antz is a film in which every ant works and lives for their society. Nobody questions anything and they learn to like their life. The whole colony itself seems to be the government and the soldiers and admiral are just there to keep it that way. Ants even have the same dance routine, and if one is dancing out of the routine a soldier is there to make sure that they start to. Only as newborns, the ants are assigned a job. Therefore their freedom is limited, seeing they get no say or choice in what they do with their entire life. They either become a worker or a soldier. The ants never think for themselves for they are brainwashed into believing that they are alive for their colony and if it came to it they would rather die for it. The colony is so into what they are, and what they do, and they are desperate to keep it that way, that they never see what really is going on. The last thing colony the wants is change.
Z is the only ant that feels different. Who wants to be more than a simple ant being forced to enjoy his job and his life. He thinks about himself, though tries to think for his colony instead. Because he simply wants to be different the colony believes this is strange and Z is seen with a therapist at the beginning of the film. He wants to leave the colony and go to Insectopia; he wants something different.
In Anthem things are a lot more complex. Equality is taken so far it seems as though the people in Anthem are robots. They are assigned a name that is a word and a number. The government or The Home of Leaders make sure their jobs are also assigned. Like in Antz, everybody lives for their brothers, and more like “Harrison Bergeron” the government fears the smart ones. They go as far as separating the genders only to meet in The Home of Eugenics. All the people in this society have a routine. When to eat, talk, work, sleep, wake, bathe, everything! People make no choices for themselves. And nobody is allowed to be alone, and all decisions take a lot of time. It’s as though they are stuck back in time.
When they see that Equality 7-2521 has potential and is full of questions he is given a job that will make him useless: a street sweeper. He breaks the rule of being alone and the worst part is that he feels no remorse and actually enjoys spending some time in solitude. When he makes his invention the scholars are disgusted to find out he did it alone and despise him. Still, Equality 7-2521 is the only to learn the damage The Home of Leaders have caused to people’s individuality.
Everything the government has done in each of these societies including propaganda leads the people to believe that they are right, and that anything anyone believes besides that are wrong. But the truth is that the government is wrong. They don’t allow inequality, don’t allow people to make their own choices, and to make sure it stays that way they watch people, they restrict their freedom. However there is always somebody who breaks free of his or her chains. A lesson is taught to us of the modern world telling us, urging us what our world is becoming. But truly, this is serious. Do you think authors write dystopian literature for fun or entertainment? No, because this could really be us in the future for we human beings are unpredictable. So, would you break free of your chains; would you stand up for what’s right? Because honestly, who wants their government stalking them?
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