I feel as though I was not able to explain my point of view on the film Into the Wild. Majority of the people in class agreed on the fact that Chris was "being one with nature" and I feel very different. In the film Chris killed some animals, which in my opinion would be him trying to be the dominant being in nature; instead of him treating all beings as one and letting them animals live their life, in nature. I also feel that he could have made an even bigger impact if had used the resources he already had--college education, money, status etc.--to better the society that he already was apart of.
I still feel that his act of "going into the wild" was a sense of rebellion. If he had hippies for parents, or if he had parents who valued their relationship with their children, or if he had parents who totally abandoned him, he would not have gone into the wild and taken such drastic measures to be on his own.
I also remember someone in class saying that Chris was trying to find happiness. My opinion on that is, if he were trying to find happiness he would have found refuge in at least one of the people he meet on his journey. The fact that he wanted to do all of this "journeying" on his own shows that he is not trying to be one with nature nor is he "Ecologically Thinking."
One more thing, a lot of people in class said that he "did much better than I would have done"; honestly, he did not. He was too educated to not already know that going into the wild alone would end up fatal if he went completely alone (or he could have simply researched the deadly berries found in Alaska). He's death, in fact, was a sign of nature being smarter than humans (showing us that we don't stand a chance when up against nature). If Chris, being the "highly intelligent" person he is, could have took an extra hour to read the book on berries, in it's entirety, he would have known not to eat those berries. If he would not have ran to a set of berries, flipped through the book to see that exact berry, and reading only that part, he would not have died. In the book he realizes, after the fact, that the two berries look exactly alike; all of these other wild things that he had done and experienced, something as simple as him rereading (something he should have been accustom to already) was the result of his death.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your opinion about people saying “he did much better than I would have done.” If you look at all of the devastating mistakes that Chris/Alex made throughout his journey, then people would realize that he really did not do better than many people would do. Granted, many people may not be the outdoorsy type, however, if you are setting off into this kind of environment, it wouldn’t be something that you just do on a whim. Experience and research need to go into these kinds of endeavors. You don’t just wake up one day and say, “I think I am going to climb Mt. Rainier today.” These things take planning, gear, experience, and knowledge to survive in harsh conditions that are not things you experience in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. Chris did not have intentions on dying so he did not think that he would end up dead. His goal was to return home and possibly write a book. If anything, he was trying to find himself and escape from society. He was transitiong into the person he wanted to be; his journey was every bit necessary for himself. He was not trying to be selfish; it was obvious that he really needed to get away. He touched people's lives along the way. Someone in class or myabe Professor Bell said soemthing about him becoming a martyr and I totally think that is a theme for the film. About him getting poisoned, he made a mistake; he over looked what the book said by accident and if you notice, he was in a rush to get nutrition. Also, the book said that you could get the two plants mixed up because they look a lot alike. I did not like the fact that he died, but if you think about it, if he would have returned to his family, it would not have made as great of an impact on viewers.
ReplyDeleteObviously Chris didn’t have the intentions on dying, most people don’t plan on going on an adventure and dying; but if you plan on putting yourself in a completely new place that is so unlike your own, you need to know how to survive in those situations to avoid death. I do agree that the journey helped him discover himself, and the love of others (though he may not have recognized that right away). Also, Chris most likely wasn’t intending on being selfish, but the fact that he did what he did without the thought of the worries of others (his sister, family, friends along the way) is a selfish act (he thought only of what he himself needed and wanted. In reference to the berries, that wasn’t the only thing that Chris made a mistake on. He obviously didn’t consider the fact that come Spring, snow and glaciers would be melting, causing the river he was planning on crossing to get higher and the rapids more intense. Another thing he did wrong was when he was kayaking. Chris wasn’t wearing a helmet when he was in the white water (which is THE cardinal rule of white water sports)- not wearing a helmet can easily cost you your life while you are in the middle of a bunch of rapids- you flip (which often happens), your head hits a rock, you get knocked out, you then can’t flip your kayak back over, and then you drown. With the food, he was in a rush to get nutrition because of his earlier inability to properly hunt and save his meat, putting him in a frantic mode (which is also when the most accidents happen), and then he ended up dying. So no, this was not just AN accident, it was a series of accidents, which proved that he was not prepared for this kind of “adventure,” which in itself is kind of a death sentence.
ReplyDeleteI disagree Jana. The movie is true so there technically is no "if he were to go home, it would be bad for the viewers". The smartest and best decision he could have EVER made was PREPARE himself for the wild, which would have included him reading that book entirely. Also, if his point was to "get away from society" or "find himself" he failed tremendously! Like i said before, if he really wanted to make an impact he could have used the resources he already had to better his society. If he were trying to get away from “his society” he could’ve went to Africa and helped better their world. If he REALLY wanted to go into the wild, he would have prepared himself much better for his journey instead of just packing up and leaving—without researching or having prior experience of the wild. Therefore, this was an act of rebellion.
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