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In Reply to: Grizzly Man: a brilliant document posted by njjohn on December 31, 2005 at 11:45:29:
The only thing this man "accomplished" was miraculously staying alive for as long as he did. Attaching some sort of psuedo-scientific connection to his "research" is extremely dangerous and amounts to projecting human qualities on a non-human species.
I certainly believe almost all higher order animals have unique personalities (for lack of a better word) that distinguish individuals from each other, but promoting an obviously disturbed and delusional young man's obsessive behavior as legitimate science is foolish. His and his girlfirends unfortunate ending was not ironic,unexpected, or even tragic. It was only inevitable. BTW, I have no disdain or disrespect for this man; just my opinions.
Follow Ups:
Staying alive as long as he did was a record acomplishment. He spebnt more time unarmed and close to grizzlies than anyone before in history.I think his death is related to his continuing to push the envelope until he finally put himself in harm's way. Although all along the way, he could have been killed at any instant.
What did the man accomplish? In my opinion, first, there is incredible grizzly footage. Second, the man accomplished something for himself. He learned to understand these wild animals and others. He lived in a very interesting way in a very interesting enviroment. Then his life took on some sort of artistic achievement. He bacame an artist in the true sense of pioneering understanding.
The locals did not understand this man's achievement. There perspectives are grounded in a certain way, and useful, and itneresting to Herzog, but that is about it. What is interesting is the way Herzog shows an interesting validity to all the individual perspectives in the film.
To call the man "disturbed" in any way is to attack the inherent quality in man to rebel and fight for better. The quality in man to question, to find fault in the way things are and to seek better.
Treadwell had some deep insights into the way things are. He reached a deep understanding about the way civilization is functioning. Perhaps he could not handle it. He just got too angry about it.
There is incredible humor and absurdity in what Treadwell did, and Herzog brings this to an incredible fruition. In a way, Treadwell was an incredible jerk.
But there is way more to it than just that.
Says him.He also said that he was an orphan from a small town in Australia and emphasized how alone he was when his girlfriend was with him and made statement after statment about how his work, his mission, his reason for being was "protecting" the bears when they lived in a protected sanctuary... and, in fact, the only time he saw people threatening his bears - with stones and cameras, not guns - he hid. The reality is that in that sanctuary he probably did more to endanger the bears - including getting one killed - than most anyone before him.
There's no doubt he was sincere about loving the place and the life he was living but he was either deluded or a liar and there's no doubt that he was, at the very least, disturbed. Fascinating and passionate and brave but very, very disturbed.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
I understand everything you say except that.What makes him "disturbed"?
Psychiatry, of course, along with everything else is to enforce the status quo and comdemm anything different.
What makes apparently regular American folks come out disturbed. Upbringing didn't seem all that bad.
and I would say it is a good word. I see him quite a bit differently than you do. It was explicit in the movie that he had problems with drinking and drugs and went so far as to go to courthouses to see criminals sentenced- his girlfriend of the time said she thought it was to remind himself what could happen to him.At any rate, I believe he was disturbed in the following ways. He had a very grandiose view of his own role in protecting the bears. How many bears did he actually protect from hunters or poachers? I would guess none.
He was very openly courting death. Many of his words in the movie were of the danger he was in. When you engage in life threatening behavior for year after year, and when you obviously intend to do this for the rest of your life, it is very close to suicide.
It seems that you admire him for taking these risks and living close to the dangerous animals. I find it fascinating, but I don't admire it. I would admire it if I felt he had actually helped the animals, but I think the only one who benefited was Treadwell himself.
Some time ago, I read a news story about some man who set a world record for staying in an enclosure with deadly poisonous snakes. I feel more or less the same about Treadwell, it's fascinating, it's brave, it's foolhardy, and it's done for the benefit of human ego, not for the animals.
I think you have to give some validation to Treadwell's own position and understanding.Yes, in a way he was courting death but he really was not. He thought he could handle the situation even though it was extremely dangerous. I do not think he was actively suicidal but rather perhaps put one foot too far and slipped off the precipitice.
I admire his giving up a previous life-style and choosing the life-style that he did. That's what I admire about him. I also admire the perspective and insight that he gained living the new life-style.
He said he loved it and I believe he did. It is something great what he did. It's unfortunate that the locals as well as most people don't appreciate what he did with his life.
There really is a lack of support for what he did. It is lonely in more than one way. The lack of support perhaps was what he could not handle.
He did not tune into his own girlfriend's fear of the animals. He perhaps was less sensitive to her.
But I admire what he attained with the animals. He developed insights and understandings that exceed general understanding. I think he added new knowledge to our understanding.
Perhaps someone else will follow his footsteps and go further without dying.
Imagine if the world really listened to him and that he was fully able to attain what he wanted for the wild animals. He is cast aside.
I don't mean crazy. I mean more the definition of the word disturbed... emotionally and mentally troubled and upset.He's clearly a sensitive person and as such there are many things about the world that could cause him to be/feel disturbed (along with any number of unknown things in his own psyche). Impossible, really, to know much about his upbringing based on that little bit with his parents and the two minutes of history on his early life.
You referred to him as an artist and while I don't necessarily agree with that there are any number of great artists who were disturbed and whose disturbance informed their art.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
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