Timothy Treadwell by Josh

Psycho?

Timothy Treadwell deceived himself into believing that he had a purpose in life. He lived within his convoluted mind, pretending that he belonged with man eating grizzly bears. He was a delusional man because he thought that he was doing good, he truly believed that he was helping to protect the bears and the country simply by living around them. Throughout the film, Timothy constantly talks about how he keeps the bears safe, and how he protects them. How does he do so though? Is

there any evidence of this shown in this film whatsoever? The answer is no. In fact, the only time that poachers do indeed show up, Timothy hides away in a bush and talk trash. He intentionally stays completely hidden. He does nothing to "protect" his animals like he always boasts he does. So why is he there? What is the purpose of Timothy's constant trips into the wilderness to live with these ferocious animals? He travels there to give himself meaning. He hates the world of humans, he hates civilization, he does not fit in, and he wants to give himself a purpose in life. Treadwell wants to belong somewhere. He constantly complains about people and his lack of luck with women. He must not have felt very loved in his life, so he needed to create for himself a world in which his existence was absolutely critical. What he does not realize however, is that in actuality he is doing more harm than good. He is numbing the bears to human presence, which could in the future cause much more danger to both humans and bears. Bears could become so used to his presence that they would not avoid other people, thus putting either them or the people in possibly fatal situations. I believe Treadwell's self delusion and goodwill were actually more harmful than they were helpful, and he should have listened to what many people were saying and forgotten his adventure, thereby saving both himself and his girlfriend from becoming a bear snack.

After class I thought it may be a good idea to look for some more neutral points of view on Treadwell in order to escape the confines of Herzog's opinions. Here is what I found to be quite a fair article: Night of the Grizzly