Grizzly Man or Animal?

Having spent the majority of my years residing in Alaska, I thought I would try to bring some further insight into the documentary "Grizzly Man" which happens to take place in Alaska. The documentary of follows the story of a man, Timothy Treadwell, who spends his summer living with the bears of Katmai National Park. With only his camera for company Treadwell, attempts to live life as a bear. This includes talking to , touching, and in general idolizing wild grizzly bears.

First, i think its important to establish that not only are Treadwell's actions towards bears crazy, they are extremely disrespectful and harmful to the bears of Katmai. I have seen lots and lots of grizzly bears and have had a couple close encounters with them. They are powerful animals that deserve respect. Treadwell, in trying to show that grizzlies are not the ferocious killers of folklore, makes the bears out to be little more than giant puppies. Of course grizzly bears don't kill humans for sport, but the death of treadwell shows that they are not puppies either. In the end treadwells lack of respect lead to not only his death, but the death of a bear.

Secondly, Treadwell is not alone in his attempts to get back to nature in an extreme way and act crazy. Alaska is an easy place to escape society, and thus it attracts a whole spectrum of weirdos from your armed militia members to your crusty hermits.

Alaska is a place of unbelievable beauty, and its understandable that people like treadwell are drawn to it. For people like treadwell, living in the wilderness seems to be a means to escape society and return to a simpler time. In the end what treadwell's story can teach us is that there is a reason that human culture came to be. Life in the wild is harsh and dangerous, and society now proctects us from that. Of course man still thirsts for simpler times, and a release from the pressures of modern day life. Maybe that's why religion and spirituality are still so prevelent in our society today.