Into the Wild - thoughts and reflections

Here comes another movie recommendation, this time it is a movie I recommend you to see with all my heart. It is the film “Into the Wild”, based on the documentary book with the same name, written by Jon Krakauer. “Into the Wild” tells the story about the top student and athlete Christopher McCandless, who after graduating from Emory University abandons his life, all of his possession, his family and gives all of his savings (24 000 $) to charity, in order to hitchhike to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way to the north McCandless meets different characters who have a greater impact on his life than he could ever imagine. You won’t regret watching this movie; it is a real eye-opener and has won many prizes, including Oscars. Another good reason for seeing this film is the music, which is exceptional!

The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences - Christopher McCandless

Christopher McCandless was what you would call a transcendentalist, he was sickened by the consumerism, the industrialised societies and the exaggerated material context which characterised his everyday life.  As a transcendentalist he believed in the purity of the individual, and thought that a man only could live out his goodness by experiencing the goodness of the nature. These thoughts lead McCandless out on a journey through The US, Canada and even Mexico. He had no money and lived each day as it came, and took advantage of every opportunity presenting itself. On his road to self-reliance McCandless, who renamed himself Alexander Supertramp, meets a hippie couple and joins their community for a while, he also meets a farmer named Wayne Westerberg and works at his farm. But most of all, it is the romance he has with Tracy Tatro and the incredible relationship he develops with Ron Franz, that influences him the most.

I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.  - Christopher McCandless

From the start you get the impression that McCandless was a stubborn person with powerful thoughts. He discarded his identity and past life without looking back. I think the reason for his determination, trading a bright future with the possibility of getting a well-qualified education to living in the wilderness, was that he found the life he was living meaningless. In a way I can understand the reason for his actions. Imagine living a life you truly hate, where all you see around you are fake people, living a lie and only caring about the things of economic value. It must be awful living like that. McCandless had the choice to live like that, or he could leave it all behind. Since he already had a complicated relationship with his parents, his sister was the only thing tying him to a world he had no desire being a part of. To McCandless the wilderness was everything, and he truly believed that he couldn’t be happy any other place. For many people McCandless decisions seem unthinkable since they have a totally different opinion of today’s societies, but sharing many of his thoughts his choices don’t become that unimaginable to me. I think that if I were in his place I wouldn’t just leave, but discussed my decision with my parents. I have a much better relationship with my parents then what McCandless seemed to have had with his. We share many opinions, and I think they would be far more open and positive to my choice than what McCandless’ parents would be. However, it is understandable that McCandless left without a word, I think it was easier for him that way. When he left without saying goodbye he didn’t have to face the fact that he was actually leaving his family. Also I think that if McCandless had told his parents they would have refused him to leave, making it hard for him to live the life he wanted to live.

 

If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed. - Christopher McCandless


I have mentioned the term transcendentalism earlier, many of you are maybe wondering what that is. By definition transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophical and social movement which developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures for this ideology. As earlier stated being a transcendentalist means that you are sickened by the consumerism, the industrialised societies and the exaggerated material context, believing in the purity of the individual and meaning that a man is at his best when living in harmony with nature. I think it is an interesting ideology as it becomes very essential in the discussion about global warming. Of course transcendentalism is quite an extreme philosophy, but I think more and more people share these opinions as the climate is changing, including me. 

 The movie reflects around many themes, transcendentalism and the consumer society being the most essential ones. “Into the Wild” makes you look critically at your life and reflect around the meaning of living. The movie takes a quite surprising ending when its message is revealed, it all comes down to happiness and that happiness is only real when shared.

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp May 1992  

I found so many inspiring photos that I couldn’t decide, so I am posting them all… enjoy!

 

Sources:

The movie "Into the Wild"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(film) 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/quotes