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As I remember it, Into the Wild was a pretty clear suggestion that blindly trying to turn to nature with no background, experience and knowledge was a really ea
by setr 7y ago
As I remember it, Into the Wild was a pretty clear suggestion that blindly trying to turn to nature with no background, experience and knowledge was a really easy way to die... even if he managed it for a few months.
So this seems particularly dumb if thats the inspiration
- nekopa 7y agoThe book makes the point you make. But I also saw the movie and it kinda glorifies McCandless making him more hero like. I was quite surprised how different the feel of the movie was from the book.
- mruts 7y agoI mean, heroic is always a subset of dumb.
- exclusiv 7y agoI understand where you may be coming from but I disagree. If you have an economic perspective for the hero, yes, most of the time heroic is dumb (standing up for what's right to your own economic detriment, fighting a patent troll in court, risking your life for a stranger, etc). But being heroic is not about economics. It's almost precisely the point. Generally speaking, heroic is not dumb, but almost always requires a lot of risk. We consider people heros or heroines because they take on risk to do the right thing, which is often the thing the masses are unwilling to attempt and/or unable to accomplish. It certainly helps to accomplish, but most people will consider heroic acts those that take on a lot of risk to do the right thing despite the outcome.
- ekianjo 7y agoI don't think the movie makes him look like a hero. Rather, it tries to tell the story from his viewpoint, and it's far from heroic when he contemplates the mistakes he made and its inability to escape his adventure in Alaska.
- scott_s 7y agoI felt the book made that point quite well. I saw the trailers for the movie, and never saw it because I felt it would do exactly what you said. For the book's author, Jon Krakauer, the story is a personal one because he himself did stuff just as dangerous when he was younger. He tells a story of solo ice climbing when he almost died. I think Krakauer is fascinated by McCandless because he could have ended up the same way, and he's grateful that he didn't. Krakauer lived and adjusted to being an adult in our society. He grew up. That's what I find tragic about McCandless and the people idolizing him, and dying trying to follow his footsteps. I think that if McCandless had lived, he would have eventually adjusted to society as well.
- Nelson69 7y agoPeople seem to interpret it a few different ways. The idea of "checking out of society" really appeals to some and he's heroic for doing it. Fight Club has a similar, almost cultish, following.
- jacquesm 7y agoI would hope we're a ways away from underground boxing clubs brewing home made plastic explosives to blow up banks and credit card companies.
- setr 7y agoI mean, both ideas exist in the movie; the idea itself was naive idealism and the lack of preparation gets him killed.. but what little time he had there was great. The lesson: its a good idea, but don’t run in unprepared, and don’t think nature is without danger The apparent takenaway: it’s a good idea
- cal5k 7y agoIt takes a long time to die of starvation. That can't have been a pleasant 4 months by any stretch of the imagination.
- setr 7y agoAs I remember the film, it was death by poison mushroom, risked due to starvation — I feel like it was a death depicted over maybe two weeks. I remember the overall stay being quite bearable.. until the winter hit, and everything went wrong; and death came swiftly and without mercy But regardless the movie depicts it as a fairly slow, very painful, and a fairly pathetic death (alone, weak, with lots of regret and little to show for it), but still 90% of the movie was him running around in gorgeous nature shots and small towns.
- _underfl0w_ 7y agoActually, I believe (at least in the movie) it came from eating a type of poisonous berry that he naively mistook for a very similar-looking nonpoisonous berry.