Timothy Treadwell, known popularly as "Grizzly Man", was a man who rejected society in favor a living in the wilderness. Timothy seemed to be having a great deal of trouble defining himself and figuring out where he fit in. His films were full of his comments about how he didn't fit into normal society and was having troubles in his love life and with society in general. In order to better understand himself, Timothy would live in the woods for several months at a time to live amongst the bears, a society that didn't judge him and actually accepted him. While I respect the idea of trying to find yourself in nature and even returning to a more primitive state of living on the land and escaping the noise of society, I think the way Timothy went about it was entirely wrong.
Timothy set out into the wilderness to better understand grizzly bears. He filmed them and taught the population about these amazing animals in order to help protect them. The mentality being that if people develop a love for these animals as he has, they will be more likely to protect them. However, the way Timothy went about this was ill thought out, dangerous, and a bit crazy. To introduce people to the animals Timothy not only filmed the animals but attempted to become part of their society. Timothy even referred to the bears as "friends". While there are clear danger issues associated with getting too close to an animal that can very easily kill you at any moment, Timothy never seemed to realize that he may be doing these bears harm by getting so close to them. While Timothy meant the animals no harm, the rest of the world may have. Ultimately, Timothy was teaching these bears that humans posed no threat and were friends. Clearly this can be a problem in terms of poachers and those that do mean the bears harm. Timothy's extreme love for the animals seemed to blind him to the harm he may actually be doing to the animals. Timothy's decision to get close to the bears seems to me extremely selfish and misguided.
In class, we recently discussed issues of a crisis of gender identity. An internal conflict where a male or female feels they are trapped in the wrong body. Timothy seems to be going through a completely different type of gender identity crisis. It seems to me that Timothy felt he was trapped in the body of the wrong species entirely. Timothy seemed to want to become a bear. He never seemed content to simply live amongst them for a few months each year. He always wanted a deeper relationship with the bears, a relationship he couldn't have because of his species. Instead, Timothy seemed to have created artificial relationships with the bears. He would talk to the animals, touch them, and tell them how much he loved them. I think it is fair to assume that the bears never felt the same way about Timothy, the bears emotions seemed to never amount to anything more than curiosity. To the bears, Timothy just seemed to be a part of the scenery. Timothy had a strong desire to be part of a society that could never fully accept him because of his species.
Ultimately, Timothy's perceptions about bears are very much ecofeminist ideas. The ecofeminism movement is centered around what I would describe as empathy. Because of the oppression females feel by society, they can better understand and relate to the oppression of the environment by society. This is ultimately Timothy's position. Because of the oppression he has felt by society, he feels he can better associate with the oppression of the bears. Timothy finds a deeper connection with the bears because of a shared oppression by society. While Timothys actions resemble ecofemiinsm ideals, they are ultimately extremely radical in that Timothy was never content with empathy and helping to save the bears.He always wanted a deeper relationship.
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