Herzog's Grizzly man is a documentary on a man and his quest to unite humanity with the natural world. Timothy Treadwell leaves the life of a normal human to essentially live with the grizzly bears in Alaska. Treadwell believes his purpose in life is to save the grizzly bears will do anything he can to make the bears safer.
Treadwell believes that the only reason that people are afraid of the bears is through misunderstanding. To counter this, he teaches kids for free about the bears and shares his experiences. However, while misunderstanding is very likely a huge factor, the fear is very much common sense and healthy for humans to have of the bears. Despite what Treadwell would like to believe, that the bears are naturally friendly, the reality is that grizzly bears are a very serious danger if proper safety measures are not taken. Treadwell repeatedly gets close to the bears and even within a small enough distance to pet them (which he kind of does) which is highly dangerous. While children should be educated in the lives of these majestic animals, they should absolutely not be encouraged to try to pet bears.
The bears live on a national park in Alaska so that they can have their own space away from humans. Treadwell invades this space and imposes himself on the bears. He gets close enough to make them nervous and even intervenes when he feels that nature is not doing a good job. In one instance, Treadwell sets up a "runway" for the salmon so the bears can have an easier time catching their food. Eventually, Treadwell gets eaten by the very bears he is protecting along with his girlfriend. This gives even more reason to fear the bears which is unfortunate because that is exactly what Treadwell was trying to stop. While Treadwell had his heart in the right place, he most likely did more harm than good in his lifelong attempt to save the bears to both humans and bears.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteHow do you think Herzog's ideals fit into this picture? We've talked in class about how Herzog looks at nature from it being violent and corrupt. Essentially, Herzog's ideals are completely opposite to Treadwell's. While I agree that Treadwell did more damage than good in terms of protecting the bears, I don't know if we're in the position to make that judgement.
One point that you brought up that I found to be interesting was how he created an outreach program to teach students about the importance of protecting the bears. The image that goes through my head whenever I think of this program is Treadwell in his scrubby baseball cap as he's wearing a suit. Part of me wonders what sort of impact he left on the kids he presented to. Was he a crazy, smelly hippy who came in to talk about the bears or was he a hero to them? I can almost guarantee you the teachers felt the first impression, but the kids are more up in the air. Interesting thoughts to ponder. Good work.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI really like your ideas regarding Treadwell, but it would have been nice to see how Herzog's views fit in with yours. I feel like your ideas are close to those of Herzog's, and if you included some of his points it would have supported your thoughts and opinions. I also feel as though you could have been a bit more objective in your response. Yes, we all know bears are dangerous, but if you supported this idea with the other sources we were given it would have changed the tone of your response to a more informed one. Other than that I thought your ideas were great, nice job!