Today in class, we talked about the movie Grizzly Man. It was interesting to all of us how the friends and family of Timothy Treadwell acted with cameras on them. Most people in our society seem to act differently around other people. Jewel Palovak, the close friend of Timothy, acted very fake on film. While her and the man were sitting listening to the death audio, they both expressed emotions that seemed unusual to the viewers. Of course they must have been sad to listen to the audio of a man they knew very well, but is the emotion the man (who never met Treadwell) expressed what he was really feeling, or was it partially because society has told us that it is sad to be listening to that.I think a part of it is subconscious, and we naturally want to "fit in with society." Whether we realize it or not, subconsciously, we all adjust our feelings and emotions to fit into society. This is just part of the norm. For example, my friends and i have made movies before, and even the voice we use on camera is different than our normal one. It is something that we don't even realize until we watch it after.
Timothy Treadwell, however, was different. I think he acted more naturally on camera, and what we saw was the real him. Therefore, I think he did not exactly fit into American society. He is different than the rest, for this reason, but also others as well. Another concern everybody has is money. All we think about is money and how to get more of it. Timothy, like Chris McCandless from Into The Wild, did not care about that. They burned it all, and had little interest in making more, except for bare essentials.
All in all, I think that we all have a mask covering our real selves. Whether we know it or not, we act differently around others, because that is how we are expected to in our society today.
I think that it is also important to remember that Timothy Treadwell was not always the Timothy Treadwell we saw on camera. Similar to when Chris McCandless changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, Treadwell also felt the need to create a new persona by renaming himself and developing a new accent and hometown. I believe Treadwell and McCandless felt they had to create a new identity for themselves in order to have a fresh start--a new beginning that would ultimately help them discover their true self. In "Grizzly Man" Treadwell shows how putting on a new mask can turn out to be the perfect fit.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Betsy. I also think too, that it is important to recognize that people have more than just one mask. Jewel was not only Timothy's widow, but also a woman who loved to study bears. By recognizing that people have more than one facade, it shows how comfortable people really feel with themselves. Someone like Timothy who acted one way in society, and COMPLETELY differently with the bears shows insight on how uncomfortable he was with society.
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