Into the Wild

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. So now, after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution. No longer to be poisoned by civilization, he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. Alexander Supertramp, May 1992.

I recently re-watched a favorite movie, featuring Alaska, called Into the Wild.  It’s a 2007 film directed by Sean Penn, based on the non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer in which recent college grad Christopher McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch) donates his $24,000 grad-school fund to charity, burns his cash and social security card and treks around the western US with only what he can carry in his backpack.  I won’t try to describe the movie in detail here but I think a lot of people have seen it so I thought I’d talk about it.  
First I must make it clear that MY MOTIVATIONS FOR LEAVING HOME ARE NOT THE SAME AS CHRIS’S.  While I share a lot of his ideals and relate with his desire for new experiences, I do NOT have an anguished childhood and oppressive parents to escape from.  My parents are great and have always been supportive of whatever I have chosen to do.  I suppose I should also point out that I do not intend to go out into the wilderness on my own with no training either, which led to his demise in the movie.
The distinction about motivation is important because a primary issue throughout the movie is the emotional damage sustained by the main character, resulting from his father’s spousal abuse, and from having discovered as an adolescent that he and his sister were born as illegitimate children.  But, his family issues are not the only reasons he is drawn to the road.  I suspect that most people enjoy the movie for the same reasons I do. Because, deep down, many of us yearn for some sort of drastic change in our lives. It may be vague and irrational; even if things are going fine, and we have everything that should make us happy, something seems to be missing, and we feel like the only solution is escape...travel.  Not a vacation, but a journey out into the unknown where things are sure to be “different”. 
 I would also say that the main source of discontent that many of us feel is related to society, as in the movie.  There is so much pressure to conform to societal norms that we feel powerless to live as we want to.  McCandless leaves not only because of his family, but primarily because he does not share the values and ideals of anyone around him in his normal life.  He theorizes that happiness does not derive principally  from “things” or even human relationships, but can be enjoyed spontaneously, anytime, from interaction with the natural world.  “The core of man’s spirit comes from new experiences!”, as he says.  He shuns the new car that his parents offer to buy him, and although he establishes a number of meaningful relationships with people during his travels, he would not settle down for anyone.  He says “money makes people cautious” and that “careers are a 20th century invention and I don’t want one”. I think he is right about money and things, but he was wrong about human relationships. As he figures out in the end, "happiness is only real when shared". (one of my reasons for writing this blog ;)
I relate to Supertramp, as McCandless calls himself, because I also feel an overwhelming desire not to conform to the culture I live in.  Many of us have some aversion to the culture around us, but differ in the degree to which we are willing or able to depart from it.  The only way to fully escape from it is to live self-sufficiently, ie. alone in the woods, or in a commune, off the grid.  I think many deviants, are like me in that they don’t seek total removal.  I appreciate many aspects of our capitalist economy and our government--I couldn't have done half of what I have done without the GI Bill and other educational benefits.  While I love travelling, I don’t want to live alone in the woods or roam around aimlessly.  I want to be around people and be productive in some way.  Actually, the more I think about this, the less drastic my aspirations seem.  I don’t know if I will end up in any counter-culture...I have taken interest in a few ways of life that I think would qualify as such, but what I am after now is really just introduction to a community of people and industries (guiding and outdoor recreation) that does not exist in Kansas.  I think Supertramp might have had a similar purpose to his wandering.  He was probably out searching for a way of life that suited him.  He obviously didn’t know exactly where to look, but he trusted (had faith) that it was out there waiting for him to find it.  Most of his apparently wreckless, selfish actions were about staying open-minded and untied.  He needed mobility at all costs, in order to find his place in the world.

For better or for worse, I have done more preparing and have more direction to my plans for the year ahead, compared to Supertramp.  But I can’t help but feel like I am heading into the wild as well.

For all the quotes from this highly quotable movie...
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(film)