I absolutely loved Grizzly Man, potentially for the wrong reasons, but evidently, through the vast variety of differing of opinion on Timothy Treadwell it could very well be justified. My opinions on Treadwell are almost identical to that of Paul Arthur, who critiques this film along with others from Werner Herzog’s portfolio in his article Home Video, Personal Confession, and the Archive. I would just like to make it clear, that I think Treadwell was a completely delusional child of a man. He lived in a fairytale land where he was the protector of the bears who apparently enjoyed his company and would respect him as an individual. I am not denying that Treadwell was brave (or just suicidal), even though I really question if he gave the bears any respect. I hate the fact that he thought his words did anything to defuse the bears, because evidently from his demise, if one really wanted to kill him it was only a slight inclination away. I believe that living with the bears gave him some sick pleasure, and an escape from his past drug and alcohol problems. Paul Arthur agrees with this in his article, “Like Other Herzogian misfits, Treadwell is plagued by inner demons which he attempts to exorcise through incredibly risky behavior”(43) Additionally, I believe Timothy was very confused with his sexuality, evident in how he tried to baby talk the animals, like a mother would do to a child. Herzog additionally implies this confusion through showcasing a long scene of Treadwell walking, where he claimed ‘ I wish I was gay’ and seemed to hint on past feelings that he had struggled with throughout his life. He really comes across as a very lost person. Through his self chosen isolation, he confronted himself through the camera. It was as if he felt it was weird to talk to himself, but the camera gave him an excuse to finally do some soul searching. Arthur touches upon this, commenting that, “Treadwell is a dogged self-dramatizer with a thirst for abject camera exposure”(43). He seemed to be his own psychologist through the camera.
His personal issues aside, through this film I can really give him no credit for his ‘work’, other than his impressive footage of the bears in their natural habitat. He constantly referred to his work as watching and protecting the bears, however, not in one frame did we ever see him actually do anything helpful to the bears…or for that matter see a frame where it was at all obvious that the bears needed anyone’s help. These were the beginnings of his clear delusions of grandeur. He saw himself as a hero or believed he was doing something very noble. As the native museum guide quite rightly points, he most likely caused more harm than anything else. He could potentially familiarized bears to humans, this could throw both endanger both species by bringing them closer together.
Furthermore, Treadwell tries to act as if he is an environmentalist when throughout the film it becomes painfully obvious he knows almost nothing about nature or the environmentalist practises. Arthur similarly pointed out Treadwell’s lack of knowledge, “Treadwell has little interest in conveying concrete information, there is hardly a whiff of animal biology or environmental science in the entire film” (45) He continually interferes with nature’s natural course. )This was most blatantly obvious when he attempted to direct the salmon through the stream by creating a path through the low water to feed his hungry bear friends. He sees the fish as the bear’s food instead of another organism, most likely because he didn’t have a fish for his stuffed animal as a child. He seems to have adoration for cute and cuddly animals ie: bears, foxes and even a bee, anything else he is simply not interested in. To interfere with nature and to show such preference is not the environmental way, since nature works by population control, it sometimes does not always favor the cute and cuddly animals. This highlights his idiocy and the childishness of his grizzly aspirations.
After all these factors, I still think the most disgusting thing about Treadwell was his hypocrisy. In one shot he would claim bears are misunderstood, but in another he would say that he is constantly in danger of being killed by the same animal. These conflicting statements indicate one of his many attempts to idolize himself. Additionally, he tried to make his living with the bears out to be for the animal’s benefit and protection; that he was selflessly in their service, when in reality it was all an act to get attention for himself.
I believe it was Herzog’s intention to show a steady decline in his personality throughout the film. Initially, Treadwell may come across as an adventurous and caring individual, but as the film progresses it becomes obvious he is just obsessed with the celebrity which had spawned from his insanity. He was clearly a different person during his speeches than when he was essentially off camera between takes, which was obviously never intended to be seen by the public. During planned footage, his character was calm and happy, out of this setting he was unstable and constantly cursing at society, and at one point even a fox. He created the false character of a lone outdoorsman, friends with all the cute and furry animals. He even lied to his audience in this regard because he pretended to be alone when in fact his girlfriend was with him during one of his expeditions. He created a likable character to get publicity, potentially to make up for previously failing to appear on the popular sitcom “Cheers” earlier in his life.
All in all, I loved the film for getting me so angry at this unfortunately pathetic person. Even though, I am sure Treadwell meant well, he just had absolutely no comprehension of reality, and eventually his luck ran out, it is just unfortunate that he took his girlfriend’s life with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment