Writing

Into the Wild (2007) is a drama based on a true story narrated by the main character, Christopher McCandless a recent graduate who abandons his American suburban life for the wilderness of Alaska. Telling the story through flashbacks and flashforwards which gives a sense of McCandless’s unstable nature and contradictory philosophy.

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McCandless is heavily influenced by Thoreau’s (2000) ideas on wilderness and transcendentalism. Especially his ideas of living simply, being anti-institutional. However, McCandless mistakes these philosophical ideas around nature as a call for him to go into isolation in the wilderness. Whereas Thoreau (2000) never rejected civilization to the extent McCandless does.

I will critically analyze McCandless's journey throughout Into the Wild (2007). And how the film seeks to expose the flaws in America's idea of freedom through themes of romanticization of wilderness and individual freedom.

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The romanticization of the wilderness is rooted in the frontier myth that saw the expansion of colonization in Northern America. Before the 19th century, there was no appeal in the wilderness. However after the Civil War and removal of native americans. Romantic notions of the wilderness being a place to escape society became popular.

The frontier myth saw white settlers see the wilderness as a place for them to reinvent themselves, and justify the colonization of the ‘uninhabited’ wilderness. While ignoring the forced removal of Native Americans who already inhabited the area. Cronan (1996) explains “the removal of Indians to create an ‘unhabituated wilderness’ reminds us how invented the American Wilderness is”.

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McCandless’s journey fits into the frontier myth over his desire to find himself in the Alskan wilderness where throughout the film he shows no concern over the land he sought to inhabit in Alska which was once Native Americans before the trail of tears.

Post-war saw a crisis in masculinity, where men sought the wilderness as a way to reclaim dominance and control. Cronan (1996) goes on to say “the mythic frontier individualist was almost always masculine in gender: here in the wilderness, a man could be real man, a rugged individual he was meant to be before civilization sapped his energy and threatened his masculinity.”

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McCandless ideas of masculinity are rooted in independence. Which compels him to abandon relationships. An example of this is his relationship with his sister, who he cut ties with to escape emotional bonds with others. He becomes enlightened to his flawed beliefs of manhood during the end of his life when he writes “Happiness is only real when shared”

McCandless’s journey to the wilderness fits into the frontier myth the idea of the freedom and empowerment that the wild promises. However, it is always at the expense of others' freedom.

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McCandless’s ideas of individual freedom is explored through the mythic idea of self-sufficiency. His beliefs are often contradictory, he seeks independence but he is unprepared and naive. A kind stranger in Alsaka gives him his boots because McCandless fails to be prepared for the snow. Even his shelter for his wilderness exploration is a man-made bus. His survival has always relied on interventions by others. His illusion of independence is broken when he dies slowly of poisoning.

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Cronon (1996) explains the illusion of self-sufficiency “The dream of unweilded land is very much the fantasy of people who have never themselves had to work the land to make a living”.

McCandless rejection of American society could be seen as a rejection of capitalism in pursuit of individualism. However, he is completely blind to the systematic inequities others face. Instead focusing on how it constrains him in his pursuit of Individual freedom.

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Ultimately McCandless's freedom was never truly achieved and even the possibility of it was rooted in white male privilege.

Into the Wild (2007) criticizes the idea of the frontier myth in America. Through Mccandless views of individual freedom and his romanticization of the wilderness. McCandless sees Alsaka as a way to reinvent himself, while he constantly ignores structural inequlities that allow him to achieve this dream of freedom, on the backbone of others' suffering.

The film highlights that the mythic ideas of masculinity and isolation will not achieve happiness. Happiness is found through human connection.

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Bibliography

Cronon, W (1996) “The trouble with wilderness: Or Getting back to the wrong nature”, American society for Environmental history, 1 (1) pp. 7-28

Into the Wild (2007) Directed by S.Penn (feature film), America, Paramount Vantage

Thoreau, H. (2000). Walden and other writing, New York: Atkinsons Brook