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Yishan Zhang

Emre Koyuncu

English 106

29 April 2012

“Grizzly Man” Treadwell Extends His Influence Beyond Bear-Protecting

Timothy Treadwell’s influence does not cease after his death; years after his tragic death

in 2003, many still seek to discuss his works and to express their opinions eagerly. In the movie

“Grizzly Man,” director Herzog repeatedly employed Treadwell’s footage in Alaska. Those

footage consisted not only of the bears he dearly considered as family, but also of Treadwell’s

narration of his past and present. The camera became a companion of Treadwell during the

lonely months in Alaska; he repeatedly spoke out his mind regarding relevant matters at the time

or his life before. From Treadwell’s narrations and footage shown in the movie, we came to an

understanding that Treadwell’s main intention of going to Alaska for thirteen summers was to

protect the bears from poachers and to oversee their precious habitat. Some people interviewed

by Herzog in the documentary supported Treadwell’s mission, but many others also critized

Treadwell’s attitude toward authority and the natural boundary. Even though Treadwell’s death

was extremely controversial, Herzog did not focus on the details of his death. Instead the director

spent more time exploring what new understanding and enlightenment his death has brought.

Herzog concluded the documentary on the remarks that Treadwell was too naïve to realize that

the bears were not friends and did not need his care to survive in the wild. Nonetheless, the

scientific community widely accepts that Treadwell had benevolent intentions toward the bears

in Alaska evident in the movie “Grizzly Man,” but his method of studying and protecting the

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bears are not widely approved. Many who had expressed their opinions on Treadwell’s works

pointed out how Treadwell’s actions affected the habitat of the bears and the mechanism of

scientific research.

Thirteen summers in Alaska presented us a deeply committed Treadwell. For those

thirteen years he never stopped believing that by being beside the bears he was protecting them,

but Treadwell’s presence helped himself more than it has helped the bears. Evident from the

footage presented in the movie “Grizzly Man,” every summer Treadwell arrived at Hallo Bay

filled with excitement, and every fall he left with a sense of longing to go back the next summer.

One reason that would explain his nostalgic feeling toward the untamed land of the bears may be

the fact that he could escape his position in urban society when he was in Alaska. Treadwell had

struggled with his identity long before he found his escape. In the documentary when Herzog

interviewed some of Treadwell’s old acquaintances, we were exposed to the young Treadwell

who had previously attempted to cover up his identity by falsely stating that he is an Australian

orphan; he had even adopted an accent to perfect his fake identity. The cover-up story can be

interpreted as a struggle with his middle-class background since Treadwell was not considered

by society as the generic successful middle-class bread-winner. He was not accepted by the

civilized society and sought to fit in elsewhere.

Therefore as an animal-lover for his entire life, Treadwell had finally found his

acceptance in wild Alaska by living among the grizzlies. For thirteen summers before his tragic

death, he had lived a stereotypical feral tale life. A feral tale is described as “a genre of children’s

literature in which a childhood lived in the wild figures prominently.” But instead of being a

child living in the wild away from society, Treadwell lived in a reverse feral tale by seeking his

inner child as if he was a young boy on an adventurous journey. His simple diet and his

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childhood teddy-bear were evidence of his desire to return to his childhood, and his childish

actions are portrayed as rejection of adulthood for that it was leading to nothing but a dead-end

(Brinks 305). Treadwell invested a considerable portion of his footage while speaking to

“Timmy the fox” about his unfulfilling adult life. His constant struggle with alcoholism and drug

abuse did not help his image in the world of adults any further than his occupation as a waiter in

southern California. Treadwell believed that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of his

life when his visitation to Alaska helped him to quit alcohol. He saw a second chance in life and

felt saved by the wilderness which he gave a great amount of time, energy, kindness, and love in

return.

Even though he gave all he had to offer to the bears which he dearly considered as family,

Treadwell failed to realize that his actions and presence were more detrimental to the bears’

habitat than helpful. The native Alaskans are well aware of the “invisible boundary” between

humans and other wildlife such as bears, but Treadwell seems not to comprehend this

unexplainable distance. For his risky behavior, he was hated by most natives in Alaska (Brinks

311). As one native residence stated in Herzog’s documentary “Grizzly Man,” one does not

simply venture into Alaska and make friends with the wild bears as if they are “humans wearing

bear costumes.” The natives comprehended Treadwell’s actions as domestication of the wild

bears, which, in their eyes, amounted to tremendous degrees of disrespect to the untamed nature

of Alaska (Brinks 311). Also since Treadwell did not keep a fair distance between himself and

the wild bears of Alaska as shown in the movie, he was ultimately altering their comfort zone

with human presence. When a bear has not been accustomed to human presence, it might be

more cautious around such strangers. As Treadwell constantly came in contact with the bears, the

bears’ behaviors had altered in such a way that they had almost become domesticated, therefore

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taking less caution while around humans altogether. Although Treadwell believed that by

interacting with the bears he can learn more about them, he was unaware that he was ultimately

altering their nature and their behavior.

Not only have Treadwell’s presence and closeness to the bears altered the bears’ habitat,

it also had a greater impact which leads to debates concerning the mechanism of scientific

research. One side of the debate consisting of the majority of the scientific community argues

that Treadwell had lost his abilities to keep a safe distance from the animals (Grizzly Man). As

Treadwell stated in one of his own footages, “I would never ever kill a bear in defense of my

own life,” it is evident that he loved the bears so much that he would even become one if he

could. This strong love for the bears resulted in his inability to observe the bears objectively or

protect himself from them even when necessary. The problem is that most of the adult scientific

society considered his viewpoint as unmanly and irrational, therefore looking down upon

Treadwell’s mentality (Brinks 306). An example is given in Brinks’ article, the primatologists

Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey had also compromised objectivity by living among the

chimpanzees and gorillas, treating their subjects of interest as if they are family members. Those

primatologists were heavily criticized by the scientific community due to their close proximity to

their research subjects; Treadwell’s behaviors were similar to that of Goodall’s and Fossey’s.

Davis, a scientist quoted in Brink’s article, summed up the critics viewpoints precisely. Davis

inferred that Treadwell’s observation and recording lacked any research value due to him

bonding with the bears while studying them (Brinks 312). On the other hand, only a small

proportion of the scientific community seems to think that Treadwell’s method of observing and

studying the bears provides new insights into the mechanism of scientific research. Instead of

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objectively observing the bears’ behavior from afar, Treadwell’s close interaction with the bears

may lead to new insights into bears’ behaviors (Brinks 312).

Treadwell’s tremendous contribution to the protection of the bears must not be ignored as

that is not the intention for the points above, but we must not overlook the fact that the most

impact he has had on the habitat of the bears still happened when Treadwell was not in Alaska or

after his death. Herzog repeatedly included in his documentary that during the time that

Treadwell was not spending in Alaska, he eagerly advocated for conservation and anti-poaching

by presenting his footage to children. By exposing the young generation to these issues,

Treadwell seeks to raise awareness among the children to protect wildlife. After his controversial

death in 2003, the media quickly spread his name and Treadwell soon became internationally

well-known, as a result so did his work. Ironically through his death by one of the bearswhose

life he was committed to protect, he has raised more awareness about protecting wildlife than he

had while staying in Alaska for the thirteen summers.

Timothy Treadwell nonetheless accomplished his goal of protecting the bears and raising

awareness of the issue of poaching, even though he received more help from the bears, altered

the Alaskan bears’ behaviors, and changed the mechanism of wildlife research. Through

Herzog’s eyes we see a lonely and confused man who sought but failed to find acceptance from

the civilized urban society. His sad life only ended in the hands of his loved ones, and nobody is

to blame except for Treadwell himself for he thought he could befriend the wild bears. Herzog

presented us a sad man who has lost his touch with the reality of the cruelty of Mother Nature.

Treadwell’s story invoked us to think about our deep connection with nature and her wilderness,

but Herzog reminded us the existing “invisible boundary” between mankind and the raw nature

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through his interviews and narrations. But as for the balance between the two ideas, the

documentary left the decision to the viewers.

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Work Cited Page

Brinks, Ellen. “Uncovering the Child in Timothy Treadwell’s Feral Tale.” The Lion and the

Unicorn 32.3 (2008): 304-323. Project MUSE. Web. 20 February 2012.

Grizzly Man. Dir. Werner Herzog. Lions Gate Films, 2005. DVD.