Into The Wild, Deep Ecology

Into The Wild was a very interesting movie.  I thought it was really sad how Chris McCandless, or "Alexander Supertramp" as he called himself, did not realize that happiness has to be shared to be true.  There were so many people that loved him, even if they were all flawed.  I think that he was unable to deal with the fact that people are flawed.  He hated how his family could not treat each other with respect and love.  He reacted to the flawed people in his life by running away from them.  While this had its ups and downs, he seemed to be happier on the road, with the new people he met.  Even these people did not satisfy him though, he still felt the need to go to Alaska to have his adventure.  He never dreamed that he would realize happiness depends on people, nor that he would die on his Alaskan adventure. 

This movie really speaks to the notion of deep ecology.  Chris knew that the land had its own intrinsic value, that society and people were the ones who were destroying the land, and in a way each other.  This was so frustrating to him.  In the end I think he realized that there is an inherent worth to all living beings, even human beings.  He wanted to find happiness in nature, and he found it to some extent there, but he realized that without human companionship, he cannot truly enjoy all of its beauty and grace because humans too have intrinsic value.