MovieChat Forums > Into the Wild (2007) Discussion > Why do you all have such a NARROW way of...

Why do you all have such a NARROW way of thinking?

posted 11 years ago by DeadPrezGirlie
19 replies | jump to latest

So, according to his haters McCandless is an idiot because:

-He didn't want to have a 9-5
-He didn't want to do what other people consider entertainment
-He wanted to venture out and experience life on his own
-He hurt his poor little parents feelings *puke*
-He set his own standards for his own life and didn't conform to what society thinks life is about.
-He didn't just go to college and use his parents money
-He died. Well, guess what we're all going to die! He isn't dumb for dying. Not everyone even wants to live long. Suprise, some people don't "enjoy" life as much as you do.

If that is was makes him an idiot, then I'd rather be an idiot than some simple, narrow minded, prejudicial freak who thinks everyone should want what I want out of life. I think some people's egos are hurt too because they feel so connected to the "society" that he shunned.

Some of your criticisms are very weak and stupid.Oh he rode in cars! How dare he? Thats a part of society lmao. No, it isn't. A car is a car. A ride is a ride. Just because I don't want to go to school, go to work, come home and repeat and then die doesn't mean I'm against transportation? Does it? Lol smh. Some of you need to try harder.

[–] MaxOcean4 11 years ago

No he was an idiot for going into the harsh nature of Alaska woefully unprepared.

He could have done all that other stuff; and gotten a better map.

[–] chewie86 10 years ago

A better map? You do relies he was never lost?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

If you don't know your surroundings well enough, you're lost.

There was a tramway less than half a mile from his river crossing that would have put him back across the river when the waters were high.

[–] thegr8defender 11 years ago

I think the sad part of this story is the lack of preparation and maturity. Yes, you believe that your life should be lived on the road, away from society, good on you and god bless. But be prepared to live that way. Get back to nature but for the love of pete *respect* nature too. That heedless, headstrong virtual suicide is what most people see as the tragedy. Sadly, all the grand ideals and philosphies fall flat in the face of cold cruel reality.

[–] MJohnathen 11 years ago

None of those reasons are why hes an idiot, hes an idiot because he was inexperienced and went to one of the worst possible areas to try and survive on his own and to top that off the situation that ended up killing him wasn't all that dire at all if he had infact been experienced.

[–] chewie86 10 years ago

To be fair his goal was to live, and by doing so his way not what society tells us,
His life was cut short and he could have made so called better decision but to him he lived, probably more than most of us will.
His parents lived the life in which we all believe is the common goal
? get an education
? find a good job
? fall in love
? have kids
? live happily ever after
His parents did this, lived comfortly but guess what they were miserable and in doing so encouraged Chris to find another route in life.
Not to say he didn't have issues I mean watch his parents slug it out, finding out about his dads other life has to be messed up, all in all he did things on his terms and by doing that regardless of the outcome I would like to think he'd be happy with that

[–] ckmsaxophone 11 years ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the end didn't he want to be helped out/re-enter society to some capacity? I don't know that he regretted what he did & the "adventures" that he had (I'm guessing probably not), but at the conclusion of his life I think he realized that he was wrong in some ways, because of the quote "happiness is only real when shared." Now, I think Chris did a brave thing going off into the wild like he did, and I wouldn't necessarily call him an idiot for that. In fact, I wouldn't call him an idiot at all. I think he did make the mistake of isolating himself for an extended period of time (I mean, come on, he could at least given his family--especially his sister--some parting words even if he had no plans to talk to them afterwards). But mistakes are mistakes & a person is not necessarily an idiot for making mistakes. I think one lesson from Chris' story is to live the life you want to live, however unconventional it may be. But another lesson is to not intentionally hurt others. I imagine Chris's odyssey really struck those who were close to him, not having any idea where he was or what happened to him until after he died. He could have written them at least to say he was okay. In the end, I think he realized this but it was too late.

Please don't call out people who disagree with you "prejudicial freak" or their opinions "stupid."

"I must express myself." - Delia Deetz

[–] c_rendu 11 years ago

Thanks for the inteligent comment, quite fresh comparing to what we usualy see in general

[–] CaZSuede 11 years ago

I agree with you. People ask how ill-prepared he was. My belief is that in life, how can you be prepared for things you have never experienced before?. I have trekked Asia, including places that I've read about, but no amount of "reading" or seeing on the internet would ever prepare me for what I actually experienced.

There is no guidebook on doing what he did, no matter how many books you read or reference. The only guidebook that exists is through experience.

I wonder if people would think he was such an "idiot" if he walked out of the wilderness and went on to write his own book?

[–] Samuraibro 10 years ago

Then he should have waited until he got enough experience before trekking out to the Alaskan wilderness by himself. Come on, people.

[–] bishops64 11 years ago

Don't forget Chris also suffered from "white guilt."

Now we can handle this like gentleman or we can get into some old gangster sh*t

[–] fakeslashdash6 10 years ago

He was an idiot because he didn't just hurt his parents feelings, he gave them one of the worst torments known to man - Not having any idea what the heck happened to your child.

You see, it's not that he disappointed them by not going to college. He was just a pathetic coward that left them without telling them a single word. For all they knew, he might have been kidnapped, tortured, raped, killed and what not. They had no idea what happened. Do you have any idea what that does to a person?

If he wanted to go out, fine, let him go out and do his thing but he could have told them what he was up to. Heck, he was such a pathetic coward he didn't even send them a single letter telling them "I decided to just go elsewhere, bye"
So they would at least know it was his decision.

Nope, he simply took the pathetic selfish coward's way out.

Furthermore, he was constantly acting like an utter buffoon it's not even funny. He starts off by burning off his money - you don't want money, how about donating it to starving children? Then what? He finds out that he does need money so he goes working for McDonald. Geesh, if only he had any money to start with - oh wait!

I'm not even getting into his death that was the result of complete stupidity and lack of preparation.

Trying to praise and idolize this moron for going into a dangerous territory unprepared is about as dumb as praising some kid who decides he wants to run into the street during rush hour just for the thrill of it.

It doesn't make the kid a genius, a philosopher, an "outside the box" thinker or what not. It just makes the kid dead.

It's not *what* he did that makes him an idiot.
It's *how* he did it that makes him an idiot.

Plenty of people decide to just go and live "cavemen" style in the wild. There's nothing wrong with that. But learn a thing or two about how to do it first, get some experience (it's not like he was lacking time) and no reason to torment the people around you for it.

[–] fede_4488 8 years ago

Well said, OP. I envy people who are happy with life's routine of studying, working, paying taxes and dying.

[–] Faridah (1363) 7 years ago

Same here. Many of us dream of running away from life and just really living. People are too focused on the fast track of life which pushes into debt, exhaustion and depression. Sadly many of us are worth more dead than alive. He wanted to live. Nothing wrong with that at all. Unfortunately he was young and worked more on instinct than slowing down to educate himself on survivor skills.

[–] Kj1oceanlust (1458) 4 years ago

I agree with you DeadPrez. This show sort of reminds me of another of my all time favorites "the beach". The plots are very different in both movies, but they both epitomize the lure of freedom and adventure. And with the movie "the beach", throngs of narrow minded people harshly judged it. Because in a nutshell, they were incapable of understanding it even though I'm sure it was rather simple and it was commontated throughout. Chris Mcandles just had a different scope on life. He wanted to lead a unique existence, even if it meant taking some serious risks.