Individualism In Into The Wild

The movie 'Into the Wild' follows the story of a young man named Chris McCandless who abandoned his comfortable lifestyle and set out on a journey of self-discovery in the wilderness of nature to escape the rotten modern world. Based on a non-fiction book, the movie visualizes his adventure and adds poetic picturesques to the story, helping the audience get a better picture of what has driven the man into such decisions. Christopher’s theory aligns with the philosophy of 19th-century essayist Ralph Emerson. In his work titled ‘Self-Reliance," he focuses on non-conformity and individuality; however, they are taken to the extreme or even misunderstood. While Emerson does reject relying solely on other individuals and communities, McCandless

Emerson encourages readers to follow their own paths and trust their instincts; the protagonist of 'Into the Wild," however, rejects societal norms and heads out into the unknown wilderness, trying to paint the picture of early humans but erasing the importance of naturally developing communities. McCandless's journey is a clear indication of his rebellion against society's conventions and the idea of abandoning the comfort of civilization to live life on his own terms. To emphasize this, the movie keeps showing us examples of how ridiculous the society we have created is, but as time goes on, each of them becomes more childish and groundless. It is easy to empathize with a person who cannot stand the hypocrisy of certain social circles, but when the movie tries to convince the audience that IDs are restrictive, it becomes almost laughable. Christopher tries to rebel against society while not understanding any structure or mechanism behind it and runs off knowing that

At some point further into the movie or on a second watch, it becomes visible that the narrator, Christopher’s sister, can be used as a reflection of him. We are presented with a person off-screen who has lived the same life as the main character, heard the same arguments at home, and possibly has similarly functioning social circles, and yet the craziest thing she has done is excuse her brother for three hours straight, to the point where it feels like she’s mythologizing him. And that ends up being the main problem of the movie—if it were self-aware in the slightest, it would be able to use many accidentally done details to convey a more nuanced and insightful message. Instead, the movie appears as a shell of what it easily could have been, and we are being fed with another piece of media that spends hours explaining a concept that can be easily concluded from the description