Unfortunately I am still waiting for Grizzly Man to arrive in my mailbox from Netflix but it should arrive today, however, I will connect what I know about the film from class to our recent readings.
First of all, I think the connection between the film and American transcendentalism seems really interesting. I was able to find a clip online of the moment when Treadwell interacts with the foxes which had traces of the tone in Thoreau’s journal. The way in which Treadwell talks to the animals reminds me of when Thoreau writes about the own hooting;
“Thus it comes to us an accredited and universal or melodious sound ; is more than the voice of the owl, the voice of the wood as well. The owl only touches the stops, or rather wakes the reverberations. For all Nature is a musical instrument on which her creatures play, celebrating their joy or grief unconsciously often.”
They both have a certain reverent attitude towards wild creatures, personifying the animals but in conjunction with the environment. Yet I think fundamentally Thoreau and Treadwell differ in their motives. Thoreau existed in a time period where humans, animals and nature were still somewhat mutually dependent. And although it was the beginning on a modern era, Thoreau was still able to go to Walden and “live deliberately” with only “the essential facts of life” (Walden). But from what I understand of Treadwell’s mission, he sought to socialize the bears instead of admire from a distance. I think this gets greater questions in the class, such as the fading dualism that we see in Berger’s article as well as the way in which humans and animals mutually define each other.
Here is the clip I found:
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