Into The Wild

[chitwood]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
His character also grew over the course of the film, and if you'll notice, at the beginning he was very much into getting far away from everything, later in the film he had actually decided that 'happiness is only real when shared.'

He was pretty universally liked by the people who met him on his journey, and seemed to bear no ill will towards anyone.

Agreed. I love the way he affected everyone he met with such positivity.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Feneant2
I thought it was retarded. The guy was unhappy with mommy and daddy so ran from all his problems. Great motivator for all the youngsters out there- Don't face your problems, just run away as far as you can.

Wow, way to simultaneously miss all nuance and detail, while also making wildly terrible interpretations of supposed morals (motivator?).

My take : Chris McCandless was a gifted student, very bright, but socially awkward. He almost certainly had some mental health issues that seemed to fuel his general dissatisfaction with his life. He had issues with his childhood, but that didn't seem to be the motivator for him to leave. He had larger issues with society in general, and being tossed into a mold where everyone is basically the same as everyone else (in his eyes), as well as attachment to property/wealth (the things you own, end up owning you).

His character also grew over the course of the film, and if you'll notice, at the beginning he was very much into getting far away from everything, later in the film he had actually decided that 'happiness is only real when shared' (possibly paraphrasing there). So in a sense, that realization somewhat invalidated the origins of his journey, and simultaneously serves as a cautionary tale towards anyone who would carelessly follow in his footsteps.

In terms of our modern society values, Chris McCandless was a stubborn, tragic figure who lacked (or willfully ignored) basic common sense when making decisions. As an experiment in personal philosophy and adventure, he is something else entirely. He was pretty universally liked by the people who met him on his journey, and seemed to bear no ill will towards anyone.

If any kid watches this, and takes a simplistic message out of it that it's cool to run away into the wilderness to die, then they deserve to be that stupid. This film was anything but simplistic.

I like how you summarized it.

 

[Buck Armstrong]

Good movie. It made me want to sell everything and hit the open road. I had to admire the kid, but if he just would've had a decent map and a compass, he could've walked right out of there.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

I loved the movie. No comment on the real-life guy but as far as the reel McCandless character goes, I saw him as a dude that subconsciously set up his own death ("Helmet, man!"). We all get mildly jaded or disillusioned with life at times - the character in the movie took it as far as it could possibly go. The message I got from the movie is that Chris was a stubborn dude who would rather do something incredibly crazy (complete isolation from society) rather than attempt a simpler resolution (resolve family disputes).

To make a long story short, I thought the movie was a commentary on how people sometimes like to overly complicate matters when simpler resolutions aren't as far off as they might think. It made a great case against escapism (something that a lot of us antisocial - or is it asocial? - geeks can relate to) and Vedder's 'Hard Sun' deserved an Oscar nod.

And I would definitely pick it over something like Atonement.