In my opinion, the documentary "Grizzly Man" was by far the most enlightening, entertaining (in the most intellectual sense possible) and haunting video we have seen in class. There are three scenes in particular that I will discuss: His personal dialogue about girls, his desperate plea for rain, and finally Herzog's commentary for one of the final scenes. I felt that Treadwell's personal discussion while walking on the beach was incredibly significant, because he said things that he would most likely never have said had he remained a part of mainstream society. This private dialogue, this soliloquy, was essentially Treadwell revealing the things he was far to embarrassed to reveal in public (he was even embarrassed when talking to the camera, he seemed nervous and needed to laugh to reassure himself). This is a stellar example of a man breaking the bounds of society and speaking his thoughts without the anxiety of what other people will say or think.
Treadwell's desperate cries for rain within the confides of his tent I feel illustrated an astonishing analogy between one man's lapse into wishful thinking and the human species' lapse into religious ideology. Treadwell proved to be the quintessential illustration of man's primal capacity for spirituality, a desire to fill doubt with the supernatural, an urge to plead with, to beg, to blame an omnipotent, omniscient deity for earthly events. I feel that in those few moments of primal rage and confusion, Treadwell betrayed all semblances of society and reverted to a simplified state of being, he reenacted our ancestors' journeys into religious thought and unreason.
Herzog's final comment was devastating: "In all the hours of video, not once did I see the same fascination reflected in the bears' eyes, only the quiet indifference, only concern at the thought of the next meal." This statement was at once heartbreaking and infuriating. To finish, I would like to pose a question: Did Treadwell see something we do not or did he simply delude himself into seeing kindred spirits where there were simply bears?
3 comments:
I didn't think too deep about Timothy's pleading for rain part. I thought he did it just because it had been raining for many days so he started to get bored. Your idea of why he did that makes a lot of sense, though. Yeah, right now thinking about it, it seems like he really was helpless in a way so he began to pray.
But for some reason I still think he was just joking around.
Dealing with the earthly events torturing the animal he had tried extremely hard to protects, this probably drove him to his limit. By that time he should have noticed that one men's power won't make any changes, besides that he was dealing with nature. Therefore pleading and blaming the earthly events could possibly be the only thing he could do at that moment.
It is highly possible that one would do anything beyond the boundary to save loved ones life.
How much does society pressure us into acting and thinking a certain way? What would come out of our mouths if we weren't so concerned with what others would think? What thoughts do each of us have when we are alone? Why has society placed so much importance on left brain functions instead of right brain? Why can't we just let our right brain take over for awhile before reason steps back in. Did Timothy see something or experience something that many search for their entire lives?
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