Into the...Man's Nature?

Last weekend, I watched the movie titled Into the Wild, a film based upon a novel written about the true story of Christopher McCandless, a man who started a new life for himself by hitchhiking across America all the way to Alaska. McCandless burned all of the money in his wallet, left behind most of his possessions, and lived off the land. This was one of the most touching and beautiful movies I have ever seen before, and makes a significant connection to our AS class. McCandless is a great example of modern day connections to transcendentalism; it seems he acts as a modern day Thoreau. In the movie, in fact, one of the few possessions McCandless does carry with him is Thoreau's Walden. There are a numerous amount of connections I could make between the two men and their beliefs; watching the movie, however, specifically turned my attention towards Emerson's "Nature" essay that our AS class read recently.

The reason I decided to focus on "Nature" is because the way the movie is filmed truly connects the two. In "Nature" Emerson writes, "In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature" (4). This passage puts an inspirational idea in my head every time I read it, and I was able to visually see its truth while watching Into the Wild. Every scene where McCandless' character is out in the wilderness, alone, and away from city life, "tranquil landscapes" come alive. When you see this man, immersed in the luscious woods, it is almost as if he is one with nature; the true purity of man's nature becomes visible.

McCandless' character truly seems to reach a certain peace while surrounded by nature, and by the end of the movie, it is evident that he discovers much about himself. Just as Emerson described one would when in the wilderness, man seems to become nothing, yet part of everything at the same time.

The film, Into the Wild, really portrayed the beauty of tranquility and discovery perfectly. Viewing these gorgeous settings that the main character travels through really touched me in the deepest sense possible. Complex thoughts entered my head after the movie was finished, and I certainly was not able to form any solid opinions, yet one simple idea became clear: The relation between the individual and the natural world is something extraordinary...