Into the Wild
Watched this last night - based on the true story of a young man who is tired of the facade that so much of civilization and society as we've constructed it depends... So he sets out for the road, determined to do things differently, determined to find meaning, and himself. Great stuff - but not for the kiddos.
Into the Wild recounts the true story of Christopher McCandless, a student-athlete at Emory University, as told by his sympathetic sister. In rejection of a materialist, conventional life, and of his parents, whom McCandless perceives as having betrayed him, McCandless sets out on a cross-country drive in his well-used but reliable Datsun towards his ultimate goal: Alaska and, alone, to test himself and experience the wilds of nature.
"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
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless
Into the Wild recounts the true story of Christopher McCandless, a student-athlete at Emory University, as told by his sympathetic sister. In rejection of a materialist, conventional life, and of his parents, whom McCandless perceives as having betrayed him, McCandless sets out on a cross-country drive in his well-used but reliable Datsun towards his ultimate goal: Alaska and, alone, to test himself and experience the wilds of nature.
"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
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by chris on -
Great story. One could argue that he escapes from the problems of our contemporary society rather than working to solve them. Nevertheless, I admire his ability to call us out on our complacency and hypocrisy. It's easy for many Americans to enjoy the benefits we've garnered from global capitalism, colonialism, exploitation, and oppression, rationalizing or even ignoring those costs. Here we see someone who is willing to give up those supposed benefits for others that may arise from living a life that is both simpler in some ways and harder in many.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on -
I just read a book from the seventies called Assault on Eden written by a woman who was part of a hippie commune that failed to take root in New Mexico. It follows the familiar pattern since Brooke Farm of Americans wanting to sluff off the rusty framework of civilization but finding they can't reharmonize with the natural world. Intruders we are, or "splinter[s] in flesh" as Sartre put it. The really helpful insight in Assault was to identify nature's rejection of us with the angel with the flaming sword that guards the gates of Eden.
Peter
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