POST 2: Chris/Alexander & the myth of the noble/good savage in Sean Penn's Into the Wild movie

1)

Chris/Alexander in Sean Penn's movie: Into the Wild 

Painting of a representation of the noble/good savage by George Catlin

2) Defintion of "The noble savage"

The term "noble savage" is an idea people had: Without civilization, humans are essentially good; it is civilization that makes them act in bad ways. The idea started in the 17th century and developed in the 18th century. One of the first to express it was Shaftesbury. He told the would-be author “to search for that simplicity of manners, and innocence of behaviour, which has been often known among mere savages; ere they were corrupted by our commerce”. His counter to the doctrine of original sin, born amid the optimistic atmosphere of Renaissance humanism, was taken up by another author who lived at the same time, the essayist Richard Steele, who attributed the corruption of contemporary manners to false education.

In the eighteenth-century cult of "Primitivism" the noble savage, uncorrupted by the influences of civilization, was considered more worthy, more authentically noble than the contemporary product of civilized training. Although the phrase noble savage first appeared in Dryden's The Conquest of Granada (1672), the idealized picture of "nature's gentleman" was an aspect of eighteenth-century sentimentalism, among other forces at work.

3) a) Alexander seems to believe that you can only find ultimate freedom in the wild, and that nature is something truly peaceful, beautiful and inspirational, opposed to the human society where the only things that count are material stuff. He believes that humans are brain washed by their society and that the only thing we seem to really care about is money. This idea is represented in the movie when Chris refuses his parents new car as a present, and complains about them always wanting more and more “things”. He also believes that we should “hit the road” and explore nature, and the idea of having a perfect “career” is something that society forces upon us. This is illustrated in the movie when Ron, worried about Chris’s future, asks him if he has a career, in which Chris replies “I think careers are a 20^th century invention, and I don’t want one”. Chris is clearly a nature lover, and also embodies certain aspect of the myth of the noble/ good savage. He is against the common belief of society, and refuses to be influenced by it. Therefore, he cannot be completely compared to a noble “savage”, as he was born in the city and lived in the society for a long part of his life.

b) Chris goes to Alaska on his own because he wants to connect himself with nature. He was deeply affected with what he found out about his father’s hidden past. He thought his whole life was a lie and felt the need to run away. Chris also has some lofty ideals and he seems to be sure he will reach them going into the wild. What seems to be the most important for Chris, is his pursuit of the ultimate freedom that he is longing to reach during his trip.

c) What Chris fails to grasp about living close to nature is:

Firth of all he does not realize that he is going to need some provisions to survive in the wild. In the movie we can see him taking some provisions but finally he decides to leave them in the car of the man who dropped him off, as he felt he didn’t need them.

He is also too sentimental. In the movie we can see Chris refusing to kill a deer after realizing it is a female with her baby. But what he doesn’t seem to understand is that he has to hunt in order to feed himself.

Finally he does not seem to understand that nature is full of danger and not as perfect as he would like it to be. This is illustrated at the end of the movie when Chris poisons himself by eating a deadly plant.

Chris is not truly aware of what he is going to face in the wild.

d) I do think that Chris is more of a romantic rather than a good savage. He has the same ideals and beliefs, but a noble savage is "uncorrupted by the influences of civilization", and Chris was born, raised and influenced against his will by the civilization. Romantics live in an very ideologic way. They tend to see beauty every where and also feel like there are not understood by others. I think that Chris's personnality is like the romantics, as he does not realise that nature is not only beautiful, but dangerous as well.

e) I do think it is possible to live in the wild after living in society, but it takes a lot of motivation and preparation to do it well. Chris was not ready and aware enough. I do also think that being alone in the wild is not something that should be done. We can see at the end of the movie that Chris realises it as he write "true hapiness only real when it is shared".