About Grizzly Man (documentary by Herzog)

In the Grizzly Man documentary, Treadwell travels to Alaska every summer because he believes that protecting the grizzly bears from humans is his calling in life. He makes videos of himself to tell stories of his “adventure” of coming into close contact with the bears. Treadwell also gave presentations to kids about the importance of taking care of nature when not in Alaska, but besides that I struggled through the movie to understand how was he “protecting” the bears while he was in Alaska.

From the video footage, we mostly get to know Treadwell and his view of the bears as a majestically animal, while getting few bits and pieces of the daily life of bears. Treadwell is always present in all of the shots and he also talks about his take on women and other life concerns.

I was particular interested in the guy’s wanting to be a bear. Treadwell tells us in his video that he finds comfort and happiness with being with the bears, which it is something that I can understand, as I too find comfort in animals. I think this is something a lot of other people would say about animals, especially pets. I believe part of the reason has to do with our inability to believe that the animal can “respond.” We look at the animal as one that can’t look back… It is not going to tell us that we are not smart or overweight. It is going to give us its unconditional love.

On page 269 in Why Look at Animals? Berger says, “The zoo to which people go to meet animals, to observe them, to see them, is, in fact, a monument to the impossibility of such encounters.” Although Treadwell was not going to a zoo, he was going to Alaska with the same expectation to want to meet the bears and be their protective friend. I believe this reasoning that the animal can’t respond makes it easier to be idealized as one that does not kill or causes harm or does anything evil.

Treadwell seemed very conflicted every time he found signs of death. For example, the only time I remember learning something new about bears from this video footage was when Treadwell speaks about bears eating their young when food is scarce. He seemed angry by the thought of a “father” killing his “children” for food. I don’t think there is anything wrong with mystifying animals, but it is problematic if you can’t make the distinction from reality. Treadwell was not able to look at the bears outside of the world he had made up for them.


[Photo: 18 Feb., 2012. http://www.impulsegamer.com/dvdgrizzlyman.html]