Sunday, November 18, 2012

Grizzly Man

Grizzly Man takes the audience into the world of Timothy Treadwall and his journey into surrounding his life around grizzly bears before his ultimate demise of himself and his girlfriend. Timothy spends nearly 13 summers surrounding himself around dangerous grizzlies and other wildlife animals simply for his own enjoyment. Many may view his ethnics as crazy, and sometimes disrespectful. As people began to notice what he had been doing, park rangers and other officials expressed their concern for both Timothy and, more importantly, the bears. As expressed by his ex-girlfriend, he and his girlfriend, April, simply died doing what they loved. Even though his methods seemed harmful to some, he obtained footage of these bears and animals that were never attained before from anyone else. To Timothy, being around these bears were like his own big giant family. Besides his girlfriend, he seems to feel most comfortable around these animals. But, even when around the grizzles, he tends to panic when things don’t go right. For example, there was one point in the documentary when a fox stole one of his baseball caps. He was playful to the fox at first about it, but when the fox ran away with it, Timothy’s tone immediately shifted as he cursed and reprimanded the fox for stealing the hat. His shift of emotions and tones throughout the movie could be a reason that he doesn’t socialize with many humans, but feels better speaking to animals since they cannot speak back. His relationship with these animals made him both happy and content with his life. When we think about it, isn’t that what life really is? To do what you love until the very end. Even though his actions, to some, had consequences, he never regretted once in his life his choices.  

4 comments:

  1. I agree with Jeanine in her synopsis of the movie Grizzly Man. As I watched this movie, I couldn't even imagine doing what Timothy did. He did what he loved but it was very dangerous. Many people in the movie agreed that Timothy didn't belong out there in the grizzly maze with these dangerous and furious creatures. He invaded there habitat. Imagine seeing a bear on our campus? He as well would be invading our habitat and everyone would freak out like the bears did at first. I agree with Jeanine when she says, "When we think about it, isn’t that what life really is? To do what you love until the very end. Even though his actions, to some, had consequences, he never regretted once in his life his choices." Timothy did what he loved, he didn't what to do anything else but live with these bears and make them his companions. He felt now that he had a purpose.

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  2. I agree with Jeanine in her review of the film Grizzly Man. I thought that what Timothy was doing by living with these bears was completely irrational and socially awkward. Even though it was his passion that made him do this is was still wrong to live with animals for their sake as well as him and his girlfriend who end up dead because of it. I also find it very odd that he felt more comfortable being around animals then people, clearly this is a sign of mental illness. There is always a grey line of what is normal and what isn't based upon perception from different peoples viewpoints but he clearly jumped over that line. In the end of course his relationships with the bears clearly wasn't a good one because he ended up being there dinner with his girlfriend for dessert.

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  3. I also agree with Jeanine's views on the documentary. I think Timothy is risking everything by getting close to these animals; they're wild bears, and nobody should get close to wild animals unless you're a professional. I also agree with Sam when he said,"There is always a grey line of what is normal and what isn't based upon perception from different peoples viewpoints but he clearly jumped over that line." Nobody in their right mind would live in the wild in Alaska for 13 years. He also put his girlfriend (who I think is just as mad to love someone like this) at risk as well.

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  4. I feel that Jeanine's interpenetration of the documentary is correct. I have heard of people finding comfort in animals, but never the extent shown in the movie. Timothy risked his life everyday by interacting with the wild animals and testing their limits. Even though he did get valuable footage of the bears and other wild animals, I dont feel it was worth it. Due to these risks he took, both and his girlfriend lost their lives. While his relationship with these animals made him both happy and content with his life, they clearly also ruined and ended his life. I feel that his relationship with wildlife animals was extremely weird and unhealthy.

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