Into The Wild: A Journey To Get Rid Of Materialism

Why should we choose to live like a beggar when we lack nothing? Why should we give up all luxuries and comforts to live like nomads? Perhaps because we simply want to live, in the strictest sense. Feeling alive, eating to survive, feeling one with nature, forgetting the rules imposed by society, being free. This is the theme proposed by the 2007 film Into the Wild , directed by Sean Penn.

The film is inspired by the homonymous work by Jon Krakauer behind which, in turn, lies a true story: that of Christopher McCandless. A young man from Virginia and born into an upper-middle-class family, he spent a comfortable childhood, living with his parents, even if the appearance of a model family hid frequent discussions. McCandless was a brilliant young man in education from an early age; he graduated in anthropology and history and always showed a penchant for reading.

Among his favorite authors we find Tolstoy and Thoureau, authors who inspired him and who had some influence on the most radical decision of his life. Tired of living in a world of appearance, of always doing “what everyone expected”, of living in a decidedly materialistic world and having to follow the rules, he decides to leave everything, to donate his savings to charity and to undertake a I travel alone, with nothing but a backpack and few belongings. Here begins his Into the Wild adventure .

McCandless wanted to experience the sensation of absolute freedom, the return to the animal state, in which there is no longer any trace of Man, to return to being an integral part of nature. The path is not easy, but only he – and no one else – will design his own path.

This romantic vision of life, nature and the wilder side of the human being made McCandless something of a legendary hero, a figure who fueled popular folklore in the United States in the 20th century. However, behind the legend, a dark truth can always lurk: a suspicious tendency emerged among its ranks of admirers that demystified this modern hero and his exploits.

Into the Wild presents the story in a “fictionalized” way, as a reworking of McCandless’s exploits, told by himself and his sister. The screen presents us with hostile places, fascinating paths, but also the city, with its dark side.

Can we feel free in a world full of duties, obligations? We can speak of social, political freedom, of expression … of a freedom that is ultimately limited. Can we talk about freedom if there are limits?

Freedom, in the true sense of the word, should not be subject to any limits; therefore, the concept of freedom that we have today is the result of modifications, of adaptations; when we think of it, we think of a freedom subject to something, for example, to society, whose limits are dictated by law and morality.

McCandless felt that no one could truly be free, that everything he had done in his life was dictated by what others thought of him. Society keeps us “on a leash”, forces us to follow certain rules: study, work, buy a house with the money we have earned working, and so on. Everything is related to material things.

A university degree or a career path is sometimes perceived as a status quo of power, it represents being someone. In turn, this title opens the doors to the world of work, whose goal is to earn money to buy material things, which “will make us happy”.

McCandless did not see the study as a goal, as something to “get”; the title mattered little. However, his family saw him as a great achievement, something that “a good son” must aspire to. Yet, for McCandless, it was nothing more than a constraint, an obstacle to the pursuit of freedom.

This young man decided to put his utopia into practice: giving up everything to be free, without worrying about extreme conditions, sleeping on the street or hunting in order to eat. He wanted to be like those wild animals that live according to nature (and according to their own rules); in short, he wanted to experience maximum freedom. Something that for most humans is nothing more than a fantasy, a utopia.

Into the Wild , the myth of the protagonist

As if it were the journey of a hero, Into the Wild is a path in the evolution of the character in search of freedom. The people who crossed McCandless’s path fueled the legend, making it a real myth. This concept of myth is nowadays difficult to conceive, and this is because new technologies have taken over our lives, relegating orality and legends to the past.

The heroes hear a first call that leads them to embark on the journey, they perform feats and at some point in their path the obstacles will become so difficult that they will lead the hero to abandon the undertaking. Then something will happen (supernatural or not) that will make him regain confidence and that will push him to continue on his journey.

With his journey McCandless has become something of a modern hero, a figure worthy of myth. Many of the deeds attributed to him are exaggerated, distorted and even degrading. All this has made McCandless a real myth ; the whole world has heard of him and, when he died, his story acquired even more value contributing greatly to the creation of the myth.

The struggle for ideals

McCandless has turned into a utopia, the personification of the struggle for one’s ideals. Into the Wild gives us hope: to enjoy pure nature, overcome obstacles and take a breath of fresh air. A break from our routine, from our monotonous life where you are what you have, where materialism reigns and we have forgotten that we are all mortal and that we are simply “living”.

McCandless was able to grasp this essence, he lived to live, enjoying what nature had to offer, even when he reveals his dark and brutal face. In the film, the city represents the locus terribilis , the non-place, the place where those who do not follow social rules are marginalized and condemned to live in total misery.

Nature, on the other hand, is the loco amoenus , the idyllic place where the man who has renounced material things needs nothing else. In town McCandless goes to a shelter, looking for the comfort that he ends up refusing. Anything is better than living in the darkness of the city, despite the adverse climatic conditions in which the wild nature forces him to live. There is no room there for people like him, there is no room for his utopia and everything is bought thanks to money.

Into the Wild  sweetens the story, designed to feed the figure of the hero, but still succeeds in its intent. He manages to awaken us a little from that unreal world to which we are slaves; it pushes us to get out of our schemes, from our comfort zone and invites us, as far as possible, to seek true freedom.