A few weeks ago Brian and I rented 'Into the Wild,' a film directed by Sean Penn, based on the book by Jon Krakauer. The story is about Chris McCandless (AKA Alexander Supertramp) and his experiences following graduation from Emory University, in 1990. You're going to think I live under a rock (and maybe I do), but until I watched this film, I had never heard of Chris McCandless. In fact, when we started watching the film, we were mistakenly under the impression that it was a movie about Timothy Treadwell, the guy who lived with and was eaten by bears.
Weren't we surprised when halfway through the movie we still had not seen any bears?
"Where the hell are the bears?" I asked Brian, speaking through a mouthful of dry popcorn, so it came out like "mova hewahhvahbaaahs?"
He shrugged and reached for the remote, threatening to fast forward in search of the bears. I shook my head nervously. I don't know which makes me twitch more: channel-up/down, fast-forward, or the remote control in the hands of my trigger-happy husband.
Anyway, I was initially enchanted (as many are) by McCandless' story . . . until the credits rolled and I realized that the story was over. REALLY over. I looked at Brian and said, "No. That doesn't make any sense. Something doesn't ring true, here."
And Brian responded, "Didn't you buy chips and French onion dip today?"
Love him or hate him, the story of Chris McCandless tends to give rise to powerful emotions from most people. Alaskans think he was an uneducated, uninformed, ill-prepared youngster who wandered off into the wilds of Alaska on a suicide mission. Others look at him as an American hero, a young man filled with wanderlust, on a solitary quest to find personal fulfillment. He ate a heaping bowl of "I don't give a shit" for breakfast, took adventure by the balls, and that's what we love about him. He didn't talk about it, he did it. It's enviable. It's the stuff blockbusters are made of.
Or is it?
Who was Chris McCandless, really?
The next day I picked up a copy of Krakauer's book. It was riddled with unnecessarily large words and more information about Krakauer than I cared to read, but I eagerly read the story in under 24 hours and was still left with more questions than I had answers. It was frustrating me to the point of obsession, so I did what all normal Americans do: I obsessively Googled the story.
According to this site, one of the theories regarding McCandless' death has already been proven to be untrue, the other seems highly unlikely. I don't like it when a "true story" movie turns out to be untrue. Seriously. Made of suck.
Which leads me to my own personal thoughts and theories about what happened to Chris McCandless. I'm questioning the absolute truth of several "facts" presented by Krakauer and Penn. Of course, the Internet is overwhelmed with a multitude of theories and opinions about what really happened on Magic Bus 142. Bear with me a moment while I add my .02:
I do not believe McCandless set out to commit suicide. McCandless was starving, and from what I understand, starvation is rather unpleasant. He left a note and a self portrait indicating he was aware of the fact that he was dying. If he was suicidal, he had the means to end his life immediately. He did not. He held out until the very end, recording notes in his journal. I believe he hoped that he might be rescued right up to the moment of his death. His final actions are not the actions of a man who wants to die.
From the information I've read in the book, and from the way McCandless was portrayed in the film, he was an incredibly kind, sensitive, caring individual. He was a humanitarian. After reading the book, you either really admire this guy or you think he's a brat. I put the book down and felt he was overwhelmingly compassionate, and thoughout the movie, we see McCandless portrayed to be the kind of guy who really - I mean REALLY gives a shit about the the people with whom he came in contact. Yet, this man, capable of such extreme kindness, had completely abandoned his entire family.
It didn't make sense to me.
I understand that his family was relatively dysfunctional, but in today's society, dysfunction is the norm. I've seen kids endure far worse trauma at home and still be capable of deep love for family members who have treated them terribly. McCandless' abandonment of his family, without any previous warning, did not align with his personality as portrayed in the book and on film. Any individual capable of McCandless' level of kindness for his fellow travelers would not logically detach himself from a family who unconditionally loved him, without a reason greater than typical American dysfunction.
Would he?
I kept coming back to the identity of 'Alexander Supertramp' which McCandless created once he was on the road. From what I understand, anytime he used this identity, he referred to himself in the third person. I am certainly not an expert in human psychology, but these facts, as presented, made me wonder if perhaps McCandless was suffering from undiagnosed mental illness.
I re-Googled, (and invented a new word: re-Googled) hoping for some answers, and was suprised that others had already established a theory of mental illness. In fact, many have theorized that McCandless was likely experiencing the onset of schizophrenia at the time of graduation.
With this scenario, I have to admit I'm a little annoyed with Penn and Krakauer for not at least offering it as a possible explanation for his behavior, especially when they so intensely focused on the importance of TRUTH.
Excluding the very real possibility that my theory is entirely wrong (although, other folks - folks smarter than me - have wondered the same thing), is the reason they ignored this possible scenario because of the stigma attached to mental illness?
I guess we'll never know, because the author never presented his readers the option to even consider mental illness.
What I do know is that people with mental illness deal with a lot of insensitivity on a regular basis. Our culture needs to accept the fact that mental illness is a disorder from which 1 in 5 people suffer. The only way our society will become more accepting and understanding of mental health issues is if they are educated about them, and we can't do that if people continue to sweep the discussion under the carpet.
Mental illness not a sign of weakness. It's not a character flaw. It's not a reason to avoid someone.
It is, however, very misunderstood and the stigma attached to mental health issues in our society is often tragic.
Assuming that those who theorize McCandless was experiencing the early stages of schizophrenia are accurate, I can't help but wonder if our society had been more accepting of mental health problems and if people had been regularly educated about the signs of mental illness, would McCandless still be alive today? He encountered so many kind people during the two years he was on the road, and all of them cared for him greatly. If mental illness wasn't such a taboo topic, perhaps someone would have put two and two together and sought help for him.
One thing for sure, Krakauer and Penn aren't doing much to further understanding and tolerance for people with mental health issues.
In the end, though, despite my disappointment with Penn and Krakauer, I think Chris McCandless was an amazing, brilliant, foolish, young, strong-willed, stubborn, brave, compassionate, deeply moving individual. I can't help but envy him for those two years he spent living on his own, seeing our beautiful country. What an adventure it must have been. My heart goes out to his family and friends. He, no doubt, made an enormous impact on the lives of those he touched. At the age of 22, had I been just slightly more self-confident and an ounce more foolish, I believe I probably would have set out to find my own Magic Bus 142 in the wilds of Alaska. . .
Although, anyone who knows me also knows that I would not have ventured off without making 14 lists, checking, re-checking, over-checking and checking one last time before checking to make sure that I had over-packed, overdressed, overdrawn my bank account, over-analyzed the potential for disaster, need for food, need for medical supplies, need for toilet paper, need for beer, need for waterproof mascara (I am a girl, after all), underestimated the amount of food necessary, called forty-three more people than I needed to call, called for back-up, called mom once, twice, three times, oh, wait - what was I doing? Was I going on a trip somewhere? Good grief, this is more work than it's worth. I'm going back to bed. . .
NOTE: While my blog entries are always riddled with humor from my daily life, it's certainly not my intention to make light of this topic. It's a serious story with a terribly tragic ending, and it took me almost three weeks to write this entry - the longest it has ever taken me to write a post. The story of Chris McCandless deeply moved me. Had he survived, he would have been exactly the same age as me, likely dealing with annoying foot problems, raising a family and suffering heart failure when his child told him to "stand the eff up." I'm certain that the world would have been a better place had he survived his adventure "Into The Wild."
if you would like to read other articles about him, I am including some links for you to look through. I encourage you to read them and form your own opinions. I welcome comments and discussion.
Chris McCandless from an Alaska Park Ranger’s Perspective
A controversial article about Chris McCandless
Another article by Craig Medred
Photos of Chris McCandless
Portions of articles written by Chris McCandless while he was in college
Comments
Wow...what an interesting subject. I will see if I can find the film when I get back, and it gives me much to think about...
Posted by: Ambie | April 18, 2008 08:31 AM