My thoughts on Grizzly Man

When watching Grizzly Man, my first thoughts were that Timothy Treadwell seemed to be a little insane! The way he pet the bears and approached such large, wild, and dangerous animals went against the human instinct to protect ourselves from danger, which was unsettling to me. He challenged the normal boundaries between animals and human beings, and made the conscience decision to live with the bears. For this reason, Timothy and his girlfriend paid the ultimate price and were consequently eaten by one of the bears he loved so dearly.

It was evident that Timothy crossed the distinct line between animals and humans because he believed that human beings should become part of nature in the most literal way possible. We should embrace the life of the bear, and find peace in their simple way of life. The way that Timothy approached the bears suggested that he didn't believe that anything in the physical world could harm him - it was all good and wonderful. This is why it was such a shock to him when he saw the bodies of dead foxes and the remains of baby bears. Treadwell held the unrealistic belief that there was no evil within nature, and that it only served as a beautiful and therapeutic force. He was an idealistic version of nature, and failed to recognize it's reality.

The narrator of Grizzly Man, on the other hand, viewed nature as something that was powerful and overwhelmingly. He recognized the evil and murder nature composed, and the chaos it contained. When the fox and baby bear died, he understood this as the simple way of life and one of the inevitable circumstances of the physical world. Even though Herzog noticed and understood that nature was not always nice, he still saw the magnificent beauty of Earth. The images that Timothy Treadwell captured of the Alaskan wilderness were simply stunning, and Herzog truly appreciated this side of nature.

Treadwell and Herzog definitely had different perspectives of nature, and human beings place in the world. After watching the film, I think I agree with the way in which Herzog viewed the physical world. He understood that nature was sometimes ugly and harsh, but that it could be equally beautiful and magnificent. Like Herzog, I believe that there is a line between human beings and animals that should not be crossed because it is disrespectful to the animal and what it represents. Human beings and bears are different, and it is not our place to live among them or interact with them at such a close proximity. Timothy Treadwell crossed this line, and was killed because of it. In his final moments he was a victim of nature, and I believe that is when he truly understood that the physical world is not as picturesque as we wish it to be.