Rough Mix said:
What if the guy cheated on his wife, and it was true?
Cheating on your wife is not a crime, but it is something that you would not want everyone to know.
In this case, Supertramp's misgivings were showcased in print and on film.
Into The Wild
- Thread starter Frank_Ridgeway
- Start date
What if the guy cheated on his wife, and it was true?
Cheating on your wife is not a crime, but it is something that you would not want everyone to know.
In this case, Supertramp's misgivings were showcased in print and on film.
funky_mountain said:
I was just curious, because in 99.999999 percent of the cases you would never write a story about a boring person who does break the law, etc...
But he was a missing person. Good point. I had not considered that.
R
Rough Mix
Guest
93Devil said:
A book about Babe Ruth's life would sell more copies than the womanizing hot dog vendor, but both could be written. I'm thinking the Ruth book would sell more.
funky_mountain said:
Having read the book (yet not seen the movie), I didn't get the McCandless -> Kaczynski vibe at all.
Never got that vibe either. He just never found his place in this world. If we were alive today, I think he'd be living on a small farm and selling organic veggies at the Farmer's Market.
Brooklyn Bridge
Well-Known Member
I just saw this for the first time a couple weeks ago and thought Supertramp was really self-absorbed. I get the whole wanting to get away and find yourself thing, but he was super-talented and seems he excelled at everything he did. He could have moved to a foreign country, far away from his parents, and did his thing on his own and help mankind out at the same time. And for someone who was smart, he made some bad decisions....Kayaking into Mexico, not finding an alternate way back to town before the winter.
ServeItUp
Active Member
Inky_Wretch said:
Spot on. Read the book, then saw the movie Sunday night. The movie played up his ****ed up home life and portrayed him as damned selfish, while I never got that from the book. Regardless, I find it a beautiful story and envy anyone who lives (or dies) on their own terms. Into this conversation we can bring Thoreau and maybe Bison Dele.
Some people just have trouble fitting in and McCandless was one of them. He had to do his own thing at whatever the cost. Good on 'im.
93Devil said:
What do you mean by "disregard for his own life?"
It's been a few years since I read the book, so I might be forgetting some instances.
Inky_Wretch said:
Not having a decent map of the wilderness he was traveling into.
Ignoring his shrinking rice.
Not even having waterproof boots to cross a river.
Not getting a simple helmet for running the rapids.
Not thinking about how he was going to get back into Mexico.
Not realizing that the car could start again.
Not realizing he was in a dry river bottom.
Possibly eating the wrong type of plant.
Maybe I am nitpicking, but people die in the wilderness. I thought he would have realized that.
I chalk that all up to being unprepared for the wilderness, not a willful disregard for his own life.
Rusty Shackleford
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I still maintain that had he lived, he would have wound up Kascyznski. He just seemed, in the movie portrayal anyway (didn't read the book), like the kind of guy who had these grand visions for a human utopia. Once he slowly came to realize that kind of world would never happen, he'd start taking it out on people.
Then again, as somebody else said, he could go the opposite way and begin a successful organic fruit and vegetable chain, since he did seem to be very intelligent.
But my gut says he would have been the latter.
Then again, as somebody else said, he could go the opposite way and begin a successful organic fruit and vegetable chain, since he did seem to be very intelligent.
But my gut says he would have been the latter.
I think, Rusty, the difference in our perceptions are based on the differences between the book and movie. You've not read it, and I've not seen it.
R
Rough Mix
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The National Geographic article linked on the first page is interesting.
funky_mountain
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i'll need to re-read the end of the book ... but the impression i got was that mccandless figured it out for himself at least somewhat, before he started to starve/poison himself/die. remember, when he left the bus to return, he wasn't sick. he was healthy. he ran into a raging river. he was ready to rejoin some sort of social environment. he put away that idea of a solo utopia. in the movie and the book, i recall he got along with most people he encountered -- especially holbrook's character, the hippie community and the farmer.
W
WaylonJennings
Guest
No one has really mentioned what seemed to be the overriding message of the movie. Chris thought he didn't need other people. He hated his parents. He was almost ashamed of his college degree. He was going to live in Alaska all by himself, just him and the wild.
Meanwhile, he treks across the country meeting all these great people who help him. He's completely oblivious, though, to how much he really does need others and how much joy he shares with them. Like the scene when he's shouting about "society" with Vince Vaughn. Yet "society" is doing nothing but accepting him with open arms all the way to Alaska.
He doesn't realize it.
I believe there's some indication in the movie before his death, in something he writes or reads aloud, that he finally appreciates friendship. But I can't recall exactly. I saw it a few weeks ago.
But that was clearly, to me, where Penn took the story.
Meanwhile, he treks across the country meeting all these great people who help him. He's completely oblivious, though, to how much he really does need others and how much joy he shares with them. Like the scene when he's shouting about "society" with Vince Vaughn. Yet "society" is doing nothing but accepting him with open arms all the way to Alaska.
He doesn't realize it.
I believe there's some indication in the movie before his death, in something he writes or reads aloud, that he finally appreciates friendship. But I can't recall exactly. I saw it a few weeks ago.
But that was clearly, to me, where Penn took the story.
ServeItUp
Active Member
Waylon, he wrote in his journal "Happiness is best when it's shared," and with that in mind he headed back to his river crossing, ready to rejoin SOCIETY! That's why finding the river so big and fast, too much so to cross, was such a downer. That's the only point where he really panicked during his two-year odyssey because he had enough provisions and general wherwithal to spend three months out there, and he had to go another month beyond that... which he wasn't ready for.
And it's why the story can be seen as a tragedy. He was ready to rejoin society, but died before getting the chance.
