This is the traditional representation of the myth of the 'noble savage'.
This is Alexander Supertramp in the movie 'Into the Wild'.
This concept of noble savage started in the 17th century and developed in the 18th century. This concept represents an idealised indigene who thanks to not being in civilisation he has not been corrupted and he embodies the idea of the innate goodness. Also thanks to nature he stays true to his roots and stays essentially good.
It was a popular concept in the Renaissance humanism and many authors of that period decided to talk about it. One of them was the essayist Richard Steele who basically said ta the human was corrupted by the idea as he said of false education.
Then apeared in the occidental civilisation the cult to 'Primitivism', the 'noble savage' was a human outside the civilisation that was more authentical. That concept apeared then in the novel 'The Conquest od Granada' writen in 1672 by Dryden who wrote about the idealized picture of nature's gentelman.
What Alex seems to believe about the wild/nature as oposed to society/civilisation is that the hapiness and the genuine and best of it you can only find it among nature and alone. Since he has that feeling he embodies the concept of the 'noble savage' because he is not corrupted by civilisation or education. Also, he has showned through the movie that he has an innate goodness that makes him to be very close with people in a short instant.
When Alex decides to go to Alaska to live into the wild he hopes find a extreme form of beauty and hapiness thanks to nature. He is longing for finding that expression of beauty and lefting behind civilisation.
When he decided to live in Nature, he has a complete different idea about what it vas going to be. In fact he found really beautiful landscapes, wich was one of his biggest dreams. But however, he also discovered that the idea of being alone gives you hapiness was false and eventually it was just a waist of time and energy resulting that he unfortunately passed the way.
We could say that in the movie called Into the Wild the main character named Alexander is mora representative to the myth of the romantic that to the noble savage. Because he is more emphathising through the movie that he is a very individualist person and that he preffers the past nature instead of the contact with other humans. In order to show it the director inserted at the begining of the movie he inserted a poem wich says: " I love man the less, but Nature more", this prase was written by a poet that belongs to the romantic movement.
In my opinion we see that you can't really return to the roots and decide to leave everithing behind. We have been rased since our childhood with some values that would completly counter this idea of linving as our past generations. This is a true fact that is noticable in the movie when he finds the "magic bus", because even if he had the idea of linving with nothing but some stuff that he will find out in nature he is still using tools that belongs to the modern world. Also he has remorse and longing because he left people that are important to him at home or along his journey.
This looks and sounds serious enough.
ReplyDeletePretty well done, Marie.