History Film / GrizzlyMan

* AmbiguousDisorder: Treadwell was officially diagnosed as Bipolar and it's suggested by his actions in the documentary that he had a God Complex. Treadwell believed he knew better than the park authorities and that poachers saw him as more of a threat than the park authorities (inflated sense of self-importance), believed he was admired by wild bears (a deep need for admiration), made Amie interact with bears even though she was visibly afraid of them and he lacked any respect for the dead or for his fellow man (lack of empathy), and he recklessly interacted with bears despite being reprimanded and being warned constantly by the park authorities (entitlement).

* AmbiguousDisorder: Treadwell was officially diagnosed as Bipolar and it's suggested by his actions in the documentary that he had a God Complex. Treadwell believed he knew better than the park authorities and that poachers saw him as more of a threat than the park authorities (inflated sense of self-importance), believed he was admired by wild bears (a deep need for admiration), made Amie interact with bears even though she was visibly afraid of them and he lacked any respect for the dead or his fellow man (lack of empathy), and he recklessly interacted with bears despite being reprimanded and being warned constantly by the park authorities (entitlement).

* SpoiledBrat: Zig-Zagged, Treadwell was mentally ill and refused to take the medication needed for his own well-being. His obsession with bears was somewhat encouraged by the public and media as he was treated like a local celebrity for his antics. Considering his narcissism, how he believed that he was better than the authorities, and how he was constantly sent letters by fans and given attention by the media. The fame had definitely fed Treadwell's ego and encouraged the more dangerous parts of his lifestyle for attention. In fact, it appears as if Treadwell had developed a god complex due to his ego, his self-righteousness, and his refusal to listen to others.

* SpoiledBrat: Zig-Zagged, Treadwell was mentally ill and refused to take the medication needed for his own well-being. His obsession with bears was somewhat encouraged by the public and media as he was treated like a local celebrity for his antics. Considering his narcissism, how he believed that he was better than the authorities, and how he was constantly sent letters by fans and given attention by the media. The fame had definitely fed Treadwell's ego and encouraged the more dangerous parts of his lifestyle for attention.

* AssholeVictim: Conversed, Treadwell's friends and family are devastated by his and Amie's deaths and don't shy away from mourning him on camera. The park rangers hold back their personal dislike towards Treadwell out of respect and only say that they weren't surprised that he was finally killed by a bear due to his antics. The director of the Alutiiq Museum only talks about Treadwell in a negative way after some encouragement from the camera crew. In fact, the only person who openly insults Treadwell on camera is the pilot who assisted in recovering his remains, stating that it was Treadwell's own fault for being so careless. One member goes as far as to blame Treadwell for Amie's death since she was afraid of bears and wanted to leave.

* AssholeVictim: Conversed, Treadwell's friends and family are devastated by his and Amie's deaths and don't shy away from mourning him on camera. Whereas, the park rangers are divided between expressing sympathy for him and only expressing sympathy for Amie since the park authorities hated Treadwell's antics and felt that he had dragged Amie to her doom because of her visible fear and discomfort of bears.

* {{Jerkass}}: Arguably Tim, who created a fake backstory as an orphan, was a horrible hypocrite, and a paranoid extremist who ended up killing himself and his girlfriend.

* {{Jerkass}}: Arguably Tim, who created a fake backstory as an orphan, was a horrible hypocrite, and a paranoid extremist who ended up killing himself and his girlfriend. The pilot who was at the scene comes right out and calls him "retarded".
** The pilot who has NoSympathy for Tim and casually says "he got what he deserved". Say what you will about Treadwell, but ''no one'' deserves to die like that. This is in contrast to the director of the Alutiiq museum, who stays respectful and only says what needed to be said.

** After delivering a monologue about a fox cub that was eaten by wolves, he chastises a fly for hovering on the eye of the dead cub...while he was still there.

** In the park's 85-year history, there were no incidents of poaching, or even any evidence to suggest it. Just one year after his death, three bears were poached in the park (admittedly, they were in a different part of the park, but it's not impossible they were the same bears). Similarly, his and Amie's deaths were the only fatal bear attacks in the park's history.

** In a scene removed from the final cut, Treadwell appears on Creator/DavidLetterman's talk show. During his usual glib, funny banter, Letterman jokes, "We're not going to see a headline one morning that you've been eaten by bears, are we?" [[HarsherInHindsight In hindsight,]] Letterman realized how terrible the random remark was and asked to have it removed from the documentary, although his name is still in the credits, as is a citation of the episode.

Not to be confused with cult horror film Film/{{Grizzly}}, or Inuit lacrosse sports drama film Film/TheGrizzlies.

* AssholeVictim: Conversed, Treadwell's friends and family are devastated by his and Amie's deaths and don't shy away from mourning him on camera. Whereas, the park rangers are divided between expressing sympathy for him and only expressing sympathy for Amie since they hated Treadwell's antics and how he had dragged her along despite her visible fear and discomfort of bears.

* PredationIsNatural: Bears are omnivores that will hunt for food, something that Treadwell vehemently ignored because he operated under the belief that he knew better than the park authorities and devoted himself to protecting bears. The park authorities believe that Treadwell was trying to defy nature by befriending bears and blaming humans for their aggression.

** Treadwell strongly believed this about grizzlies, but he turned out be only half-right: eating whatever living creatures it can catch and kill -- including people -- is instinctual behavior for a grizzly and not "evil" as we know it, but the fact that they can and will eat people is ''perfectly'' understood by the overwhelming majority.

** There is also a short clip from ''The Late Show'' where Creator/DavidLetterman interviewed him and jokingly asked if [[FunnyAneurysmMoment Tim would eventually get eaten by a bear.]] (This clip is only in the theatrical version as copyright issues caused it to be replaced with another interview segment for the video and television versions.)

* SnuffFilm: An accidental example, Amie's camera recorded the death of Treadwell and his girlfriend but since the camera cap was still left on, the footage only contained the audio. Although Herzog listened to the tape, he offered little elaboration on it and urged its possessor to destroy it, though she ultimately did not. [[ExecutiveMeddling The executives actually wanted to use the audio in the film]], but Herzog refused to allow this [[EveryoneHasStandards on the grounds of taste]]. In later interviews, Herzog stated that the tape is still in the possession of its owner, who has not listened to it and who keeps it locked in a safe-deposit box. It has not been and most likely will never be released.

** The director of the Alutiiq Museum is [[DownplayedTrope clearly uncomfortable about trash-talking a dead person, especially one who died horribly]]. However, once he's prompted for his honest opinion on Treadwell, he admits that the activist had no business or right to interact with the bears in the way he did and his actions ultimately did more harm than good.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Treadwell insisted that bears were only aggressive because of human interactions and devoted his life to showing how to co-exist with bears. The park authorities believe Treadwell's actions familiarised bears with humans and unwittingly encouraged them to perform risk-taking behaviours that put themselves and tourists in danger.

* DontGoInTheWoods: Of bear country in Alaska during certain times of year.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Deconstructed; Treadwell believed he was saving the bears from humans but his actions actually ''endangered'' more bears than he ever realized because Treadwell's actions made the bears lose caution around humans. The search for Amie and Treadwell's bodies caused the deaths of two bears; park rangers had to kill the rogue grizzly to recover their remains from its stomach and to guarantee that the bear wouldn’t attack another human, and the rangers were also forced to kill another bear in self-defence during their search. Treadwell's claims of poacher activities were also proven to be false as there were no records of poacher activities in the park.

* WindmillCrusader: Treadwell was adamant the bears were in danger of poachers and he insisted that he was doing more to help the bears than the actual park authorities were. The park services had evidence to prove that poachers weren't as big a threat as Treadwell believed.

* AnAesop: Respect the nature of the wild and always listen to the authorities. Wild animals are indeed beautiful and enchanting creatures, the animals themselves still have instincts that drive them for survival.

* BearsAreBadNews: The bears shown in the documentary were shown to be pacified around Treadwell due to his constant appearances. The rogue bear, however, was a solitary animal that had never interacted with him before. On the night of Timothy and Amie's death, the rogue accidentally found their tent on the hunt for food and attacked them out of desperation. One of the pilots who found Treadwell's remains believes the bears only left Treadwell alone because they were confused by his antics.

* SpoiledBrat: Zig-Zagged, Treadwell was mentally ill and refused to take the medication needed for his own well-being. His obsession with bears was somewhat encouraged by the public and media as he was treated like a local celebrity for his antics. His narcissism, how he believed that he was better than the authorities, and how he was constantly sent letters by fans and given attention by the media, the fame had definitely fed Treadwell's ego and encouraged the more dangerous parts of his lifestyle.

* SpoiledBrat: Zig-Zagged, Treadwell was mentally ill and refused to take the medication needed for his own well-being. His obsession with bears was somewhat encouraged by the public and media as he was treated like a local celebrity for being able to live with wild bears without repercussions. Considering how he viewed himself as smarter than the park authorities, refused to listen to their advice, and could never take no for an answer from them, the fame may have gone to his head. When he and Amie were killed, the authorities were only sympathetic to Amie and they weren't surprised that the consequences finally caught up to Treadwell.

* AnAesop: Respect the nature of the wild and always listen to the authorities. No matter how much experience you have with animals, you should always take precautions around them as one mistake can change everything.

* BearsAreBadNews: Well, not at first.

* NaiveAnimalLover: The documentary shows the life of Timothy Treadwell, who was one of these in Real Life, and the horrible death that befell him and his girlfriend because [[NatureIsNotNice nature has its own rules]].
** Treadwell sincerely believed that he didn't need any protection from bears, even refusing to take the anti-bear spray that could have saved his life. On a tragic night, a rogue bear inadvertently discovered his and Amie's tent on the search for food and attacked them.

* SpoiledBrat: Zig-Zagged, Treadwell was mentally ill and refused to take the medication needed for his own well-being. His obsession with bears was somewhat enabled by the public and media as he was treated like a local celebrity for being able to live with wild bears without repercussions. Considering how he viewed himself as smarter than the park authorities, refused to listen to their advice, and could never take no for an answer from them, the fame may have gone to his head. When he and Amie were killed, the authorities were only sympathetic to Amie and they weren't surprised that the consequences finally caught up to Treadwell.

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Werner Herzog, {{Crazy Awesome}} filmmaker extraordinaire, is almost driven to tears by listening to Treadwell's final moments.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:
** Treadwell sincerely believed that he didn't need any protection from bears, even refusing to take the anti-bear spray that could have saved his life. On a tragic night, a rogue bear inadvertently discovered his and Amie's tent on the search for food and attacked them.
** Treadwell's actions unwittingly caused the bears to lose caution around humans and ''encouraged'' them to perform risk-taking behaviours for food. While on the hunt for the rogue bear, the search party had to defend themselves from a separate grizzly bear that was also looking for food.

* VillainousLegacy: Played straight and inverted. To the public, Treadwell was an eccentric outdoorsman who showed others how enchanting nature can be and how beautiful bears can be when they aren't bothered by humans. To the park authorities, however, Treadwell was a KnowNothingKnowItAll who endangered others by playing with fire and they weren't surprised when a grizzly bear finally killed him. The pilot blames Treadwell for Amie's death and didn't sugarcoat his opinions of him. Herzog doesn't insult Treadwell or disrespect his memory in any way, praising him for his ability to interact with bears without causing harm to himself.