>>2187550>>2187763>>2187793>>2187813>>2188061>>2189884here's my take:
(i only watched the movie, btw)
Christopher McCandless struck me as a character made stupid by a safe and spoiled upbringing. Coming from a wealthy family, he couldn't have had any monetary concerns whatsoever. Being attractive, athletic, outgoing, and (apparently) intelligent, he couldn't have had any social problems, either. He was, then, probably one of the most privileged people in an already materially extravagant country. And yet, despite all of these luxuries (or, perhaps, because of them), he still found ample time, had ample energy to dedicate to finding new and creative ways to bitch and moan. This isn't to say any of the ways in which he bitched and moaned were good or just, however. What, after all, was he bitching about? I couldn't understand it from him, nor the dumber and more confused voice-overs from his sister. His complaints, primarily, began and ended with the word "society" -- free from elaboration, this word is as meaningless as McCandless' problems were existent. In one scene, the father threatens to cancel Christmas -- this is made out to be some sort of traumatic memory, yet, in reality, it is an illustration of greed borne of coddling: a severing of the lifeline of free and superfluous junk, to the spoiled, is traumatic. In another scene, he sulks after his father threatens to give him a new car. We can, in short, decoct Mr. McCandless into this diseased essence: A spoiled upbringing flowering into A.) a confused quarrel with nonissues, and B.) a borderline-retarded conception and handling of real and serious issues.
