A Person I Admire-
Christopher McCandless
By: Hannah Nilsson Sp1c
Leaving comfort, civilized society and the possessed material world for a fatal discovery of true self and inner peace, Christopher McCandless throws himself into the wild.
Desiring to break free and find a sense of inner peace, Christopher abandons cracking family relationships with all their false facades and simply takes off without a trace. Bringing only a few possessions with him, he hopes to confirm that needing things and others is only a restriction for the human being. ¨Into the Wild” is a movie based on Christopher McCandless' dramatic experience. The lyrics of the song “Society” featured in the film mock modern society with the jibe that “Until you have it all you won’t be free.” Yet ultimate freedom is exactly what Christopher McCandless longs for.
Christopher understands that happiness cannot be found in material things and he feels trapped in a society where people believe that pure happiness emanates primarily from possessions and human relationships. He believes, instead, that God has placed happiness all around us and that joy in life comes through one's encounters with new experiences. He feels it is up to each individual to muster the courage to turn against the customary lifestyle and dare to engross in unconventional living.
When Christopher’s parents give him a new car as a graduation present, the extravagant gift triggers Christopher to flee from the material world. He cannot bear the hypocrisy of his parents trying to compensate for poor family relationships by providing material things. Thus he begins his refuge to the remote Alaskan wilderness, inspired by the author Jack London who wrote many books based on nature experiences. He settles in an abandoned bus which he turns into his home base. He has no money, food nor supplies to subsist on, so he makes tools and searches for food daily, struggling to survive the unbearable Alaskan conditions.
After a short time he begins to struggle through a solitary existence. McCandless begins to come to the realization and acknowledgement that while material things are unimportant, there is a clear need for a combination of relationships and solitude in life. The most dramatic moment in the film occurs as McCandless is dying of food poisoning. The symbolism is tremendous as he crawls into the sleeping bag which was sewn for him by his mother and offered as a gift to sooth all harsh feelings. This symbolic act highlights the fact that McCandless has understood the importance of relationships, and not least the one with his mother with whom he has had no contact for years. Alone in his sleeping bag, he realizes that happiness only exists when shared.
By the end of the film, the viewer understands that Christopher has found the peace he was seeking. Although death prevents him from returning home to be restored with his family, the photo he took of himself in front of his bus shortly before his death shows a highly serene and peaceful Christopher.
Christopher McCandless is a man whom I admire greatly and also am very moved by. He had an ambition, a passion, to create a lifestyle based on his own terms and conditions, rather than following the lifestyle that is almost forced upon us and that we follow blindly. He had a sense of integrity and was willing to leave behind what seemed important and comfortable, the routine of the modern world, to follow his conviction.
He courageously forged new paths to create a lifestyle he believed in. Christopher never intended to make himself into a hero, nor was his primary aim to discover nature's beauty , rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul. He wanted to be true to himself and to act upon his conviction that possessions and people are not the source of contentment. His discovery that relationships are, in fact, the source of happiness cost him his life. But the message is inspiring and potentially life changing for those who receive it.
Att se filmen är ett måste och låt filmens budskap verkligen sjunka in i hjärnan! Det är värt att filosofera kring. Lyssna på musiken också från filmen av Eddie vedder, klockrent!
Society
Long nights
Hard sun
Guarenteed
Far behind
No ceiling
Rise
Toulume
Setting fort
The wolf
End of the road.
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