Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell is a character, to say the least. From the first time he spoke, I realized this movie was about him rather than the bears. He’s extremely passionate, good hearted, recklessly brave, curious and well… a little crazy. Done by a different person, his work might be seen as profound but a personality like Treadwell’s is hard to take seriously.

One of the first things that stuck me was how he spoke to and about the animals. He called them his “friends”, and he truly believed that was their relationship. He named them pet-like names such as “Mr. Chocolate.” He talks to them, as well as his fox “friends” as if they were his pet dogs. You start to wonder if he remembers how powerful and dangerous these animals are. He projects a much less threatening image upon them than society has come to see them as.

Other scenes make it clear that these creatures amaze him. There is a scene where he stands in the spot where he has just filmed two bears fighting. He points out the the camera how the ground has shifted, the patches of bear hair he finds and then touches one of the bear’s excrement which I believe he described with a cutesy name and marveled at the fact that it was once inside the bear. His admiration of their power and strength mixed with the pet names here really sums up his perception of the situation.

As the movie progresses, you can’t help but wonder what made Treadwell this way. We learn that Treadwell was once an alcoholic. It was brought up in class that he could be described as a “dry drunk”, or someone who projects their addictions into something other than drugs or alcohol to stay clean and sober. He is obsessed with these bears. He craves the opportunity to interact with them. He makes them his whole life.

He also thought he was helping them. He made it known that he was against poachers. He refused to bring a weapon for protection, he could never hurt a bear no matter how life-threatening the situation. He hoped to change society’s perception of bears. Although I’m sure he had some impact against poachers, I agree with the park staff that his “friendship” with these animals did more harm than good. Berger’s “Why Look at Animals” discusses a disconnect between animals and humans because they cannot and will not ever be able to communicated effectively. The animals fear humans and vice versa, that’s just how it is… its natural instinct. As much as Treadwell tried, he just could not change that.