"Into the Wild"

It's been a while since last time we watched a movie in class, and since last time I posted a blog entry. However, today we watched "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer, a movie based on the real story of Christopher Johnson McCandless. He lived with his mother, father and sister in West Virginia. His parents were very materialistic, something that didn't match Chris's idea of a simple life. His parents frequently fought and argued, and it seemed to me as they tried to clear their conscience by buying stuff for Chris and his sister.

Alexander Supertramp in front of the bus 

After graduating college, he decided to live out his dream of a simple life, he became a hitchhiker. As a hitchhiker he adopted the name Alexander Supertramp, and set out on a life changing trip.  With nothing but a back pack and some clothes he left his material life with Alaska as the final goal. Some time later  he was in Alaska, on his own, with nothing but the nature to provide him. However, knowledge was not enough to survive, and he starved to death.

You may wonder why he would trade a bright future for death by starvation in an abandoned bus in Alaska. I think that a part of it was his need for self-realization, and the fact that he couldn't stand his parent's lifestyle. He describes that what he was looking for was "ultimate freedom", which to him was living completely isolated with only the laws of nature to follow. By this, he wanted to obtain happiness too. However, he realizes that "happiness is only real when shared".

Alexander Supertramp - freedom

Romanticism and transcendentalism are two concepts we get to know in the story of the remarkable man, "Alexander Supertramp". Romanticism focuses on emotions and individual feelings over knowledge. These are ideals familiar to Supertramp, because he leaves everything to his own free will, and does not use his knowledge to do the right thing. For example, he kayaks down the Colorado River without a license, even though he knows that this is forbidden. And he leaves his family because that's what he feels like, not thinking of the hard time his family is about to experience. Transcendentalism is quite familiar to romanticism, except from the driving reason behind the act. This ideology says that your acts should be inspired from something external, like the nature. Since Supertramp is inspired to find his answers in the nature and decides to do it, I would say that he follows this ideology.