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+--- Thread: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? (/showthread.php?tid=5703)
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Stephanie - 02-26-2006
"Don't get me wrong. The documentary itself was brilliant. But it wasn't his product. It was the director's work that made this so compelling to watch."
I agree with you completely. Keep in mind though, the footage used was Timothy Treadwell's & was pretty spectacular. I'm glad the director was able to create such an incredible piece out of it.
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - BigGuynRusty - 02-26-2006
I was just editing the commercials out for your parents Snakey, It was six bears in ONE Month!
Also, the GF was no naive little girl, she was 37 years old, it was her third trip.
Also, Alaska is a rats nest of poaching, don't believe all the government propaganda.
BGnR
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Guitarman - 02-26-2006
Much of what is known of Timothy Treadwell's early life is documented by Treadwell himself. Treadwell characterized himself as an aspiring actor, recovering alcoholic, drug addict, and eco-warrior. According to his personal accounts, he became involved with drugs after failing to gain the role won by Woody Harrelson in the sitcom Cheers. Treadwell claimed to his parents that he was second-choice for the role, which has not been factually proven.
Treadwell's methods were controversial among authorities and public alike. He named many of the bears he encountered and developed such a close relationship with several of them that he could safely touch them.
Many wildlife experts objected to his methods, believing that his attitude toward the bears was too cavalier and that he dangerously anthropomorphized them. Experts also believe that he inadvertently endangered the animals by habituating them to humans, thus increasing the likelihood of dangerous encounters in the future. His death by bear attack is seen by some as a natural conclusion of his methods of interacting with bears.
His critics also note that while Treadwell believed that he was protecting bears, control experts have stated that incidents of poaching in the area were low and did not affect the population level. However, according to the "Grizzly People" organization he founded, five bears were poached in the year after his death, while none had been poached while he was present in Katmai [1].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell
In an interview with the director:
Question: Before Treadwell's death, he was perceived by some as a naïve crackpot who ignored basic safety precautions. There's the scene in the film in which he wades in his underwear into a river where a grizzly is swimming. He reaches out and pats the bear as it gets out of the water, and the bear snaps back. What do you think made him want to get so close to grizzlies?
Answer: We can only guess. But I think being near the bears and believing in his role — which was largely fictitious, that he was needed to protect the bears — probably redeemed him from his demons. He was haunted by demons. He had been heavily into alcohol, had a near fatal overdose of heroin. Probably he needed the bears and the presence of the bears more than the bears needed him. Because if I protect bears, I would not protect them from 6 feet. I would go out to the bay, where the planes and boats are landing, and chase them off. In his 100 hours of footage and in my film, over and over he tells the bears how much he loves them. He repeats and repeats and repeats it. I think you should not love the bear, you should respect the bear and stay away.
Q: In the film, the curator of the museum in Kodiak says just that.
A: He's an Aleut. He's in both cultures, a native who grew up in a small village on Kodiak Island, but he holds a PhD from Harvard. He says that, since time immemorial, we respect the bear and we keep our distance, and it would be a disservice to the bear to step close. It's a lack of respect, a lack of understanding the boundaries of your humanness and the bearness of the bear.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/outdoors/la-os-treadwell2aug02,1,7111567.story?coll=la-headlines-outdoors
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - NewtonMP2100 - 02-26-2006
Stephanie thank you for bringin this up again. . .my post last night got off track because of my use of "holla'"
I have it replaytved. . . .and it is being rebroadcast today. . .I think. . .so I haven't seen it But from what I've heard and from clips that I've seen. . .his friends/families described him as having problems. . .
. . .sad that he convinced his girlfriend of the "safety" of doing what he was doing and she paid the ultimate price as well. . .
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Stephanie - 02-26-2006
Good find, guitarman. I read that myself last night.
This is what bugs me the most: "Experts also believe that he inadvertently endangered the animals by habituating them to humans, thus increasing the likelihood of dangerous encounters in the future."
That's a mistake too many people make. When I was in Yellowstone in 2004, we got stuck in a traffic jam (yeah, in the middle of the forest!). What was causing it?
A mother bear & her cubs were crossing the road. Everyone had stopped so they could get out of their cars and, literally, chase them in order to get that priceless souvenir photo. These people were no more than a few feet away from the animals.
The same thing happened quite a few other times while we were there when people encountered buffalo, elk & other animals on or at the side of the road.
I definitely don't agree with Timothy's approach to dealing with the bears, but that doesn't mean I don't still admire what he tried to accomplish.
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Kiva - 02-26-2006
IMO, the man appeared to be somewhat mentally ill. Probably Bi-Polar or hypomanic. There's a brief statement by a friend earlier in the film where she recalls he went to a psychiatrist who prescribed meds and Treadwell's response to them was something like "i can't handle being the middle ground...I have to have the highs and the lows." That is CLASSIC Bi-Polar logic for not taking meds. The filming seemed to show both extremes - from his grandiosity to his intense sadness.
I thought the director / filmmaker was brilliant in his depiction and his commentary.
as far as "tragic and sad and he got perhaps, what he wanted, or, what he deserved"...nobody deserves to be mauled and eaten alive by a bear - certainly not treadwell. Was what happened to him a surprise? Of course not. But he didn't *deserve* it. That's cold..
kiva
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Stephanie - 02-26-2006
BGnR, thank you
& yes, it was made quite clear that his girlfriend wasn't a "city girl" who had no wilderness experience. She was, from what they indicated, quite familiar with bears & knew the danger.
Newton, yes, his friends & family did discuss the problems he had. My basic conclusion of it was that he traded one addiction for another. Timothy credited the bears & the Alaskan wilderness with cleaning up his life & getting him away from drugs & alcohol.
Unfortunately, I really do think that he just traded addictions. He became addicted to the high he got from being out there, in the wilderness, with the bears.
As for his girlfriend, see the second paragraph in this post. It sounds as if she knew what she was getting into.
I'd love to read more information about this guy, his girlfriend & what happened in order to get more of an unbiased account. I felt that the documentary was trying to be as unbiased as possible. Like I said, they certainly didn't gloss over his problems. I never felt like they were trying to make him into a hero.
It was just a really incredible documentary all around. It never seemed one-sided. It didn't seem to vilify him, nor did it try to turn him into a hero.
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Stephanie - 02-26-2006
"as far as "tragic and sad and he got perhaps, what he wanted, or, what he deserved"...nobody deserves to be mauled and eaten alive by a bear - certainly not treadwell. Was what happened to him a surprise? Of course not. But he didn't *deserve* it. That's cold.. "
VERY true, kiva. Even though he was reckless in the way he interacted with the bears, he KNEW the risks. He even reiterated those risks himself in the documentary.
No one deserves that kind of end. I really do think that if he'd been a "scientist" who followed all the correct protocol in dealing with the animals, the reaction to his death would have been the same.
& I'm sure you're right that he was bi-polar. I wouldn't doubt it for a minute.
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Toad - 02-26-2006
Find and read "The Grizzly Maze", by Nick Jans. Jans is one of this generations more gifted author's, and he had almost unlimited access to all the individuals involved, and all the documentation. He has also lived in Alaska for 26 years, most of that time in wild, remote areas.
You will come away still conflicted, but much more knowledgeable.
Re: Did anyone here watch Grizzly Man last night? - Guitarman - 02-26-2006
they said bi-polar in a bear thread. hee hee get it. bi-polar bear?