History Main / IntoTheWild

* The first book in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series
* [[Fanfic/IntoTheWild A fanfic]]

* [[Film/IntoTheWild A 2007 film]]

[[redirect:Film/IntoTheWild]]

'' Into the Wild'' is a {{Biopic}} by Creator/SeanPenn based on the 1996 book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher [=McCandless=]. The book and movie chronicle the life of Chris as a young man resentful of society and his family, who decides after graduating college to spend a few years travelling around and living off the land in Alaska. The book is written from the perspective of PosthumousNarration and serves as a HowWeGotHere look at Chris' brief life and final days.

Because the story's premise - that the protagonist leaves society, tries living on his own and ends up dying - is [[ItWasHisSled so well-known]], there is no need to mark it as a spoiler.

Not to be confused with the first book of the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series.
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!!The book and film provides examples of:

* AdaptationExpansion: Tracy, a girl who had a crush on [=McCandless=], was briefly mentioned in the book. In the movie, she is given more screen time.
* AnAesop: "Happiness is only real when shared."
* ApocalypticLog: The diary Chris leaves behind, including a note begging for help from anyone coming across his encampment.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The scene where Chris is eating a wild apple and he says how delicious, [[AllNaturalSnakeOil natural and organic]] it is, then he stares and gesticulates directly to the camera.
* CharacterDevelopment
* CityMouse: Chris is pretty unprepared to actually live off the land: even with the training and advice he got from the people on the way up North he still makes rookie mistakes.
* ClusterFBomb: "Where are all the fucking animals?! I'M FUCKING HUNGRY!"
* CrucifiedHeroShot: After botching the moose meat, we see Chris floating in the river (completely naked) with his arms extended upwards.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the Kerouac beatnik lifestyle. Chris experiences the immense freedom of living without boundaries or connections to the world but is also shown as hopelessly naive about his plan and incredibly unprepared to deal with the real consequences of his decisions. In the end, he dies because the society he so loathed was the only thing really protecting him.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Chris' father was an aerospace engineer and his family was quite wealthy. Before starting his journey, he had originally planned to go to law school with money he had saved.
* DoomedProtagonist
* DownerEnding
* TheFilmOfTheBook
* FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen
* ForegoneConclusion: Before the movie came out, pretty much [[AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame the only thing everyone knew about it]] was: rich kid wanders off into the woods, lives in a bus, dies. It's even on the cover of the book.
* GreenAesop: Chris thinks this is the point of his journey. [[WrongGenreSavvy He's wrong.]]
* GoOutWithASmile
* TheHeroDies
* HowWeGotHere: The book begins with the last time Chris was seen alive and essentially traces back everything that happened up to his death.
* {{Irony}}: [=McCandless=] leaves in part to get away from his family, but the people he meets in his journey all develop a sort of familial attachment to him [[spoiler:and in the end, the very place he wanted to be was with his family.]]
* LonelyRichKid
* NatureIsNotNice: The protagonist doesn't realize this until far too late.
* NoAntagonist: Except himself, and the full wrath of the Alaskan nature.
* PeacefulInDeath
* PlayingAgainstType: Vince Vaughn, though portraying a gregarious fast-talker akin to some of his other characters, does so in a more dramatic context.
* RealityEnsues: A young college graduate that leaves all his possessions and goes on a hitchhiking trip, engages in reckless and risky behavior but manages to prevail thanks to sheer luck and happy coincidences, and then decides to go to Alaska "to live off the land" with no wilderness survival training whatsoever, refusing help from strangers, or to carry a compass or even a map. It ends just as you expect.
* RiverOfInsanity
* SceneryPorn: It is Alaska, after all.
* [[spoiler:SecretOtherFamily[=/=]YourCheatingHeart: The book reveals that the reason for [=McCandless's=] resentment of his parents is that he discovered that his father was ''already married'' to another woman and had a family with her, and his mother kept it a secret and pretended nothing was wrong out of the sake of their reputation.]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog
* TakeThat: The film makes a very pointy jab at Burger King: Shots of unhealthy food being deep fried? Check. A morbidly obese kid ravenously eating a burger? Check. A shot of a sign that says "It's okay to waste fries"? Check. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Chris' manager asking him to wear socks at work?]] Check.
* TooDumbToLive: Despite having great academical intelligence, Chris isn't quite as GenreSavvy about living in the wild as he thinks he is. His fateful mistake: not make sure the plant he was about to wolf down had any deadly look-alikes, though the "died after eating something poisonous" is something that isn't well supported by autopsy results from the actual body and was promoted mostly by Jon Krakauer- other experts tend to agree that it was more likely to have been caused by starvation.
** Furthermore, he went into a rough territory unknown to him without something so basic as a map of the area, which he could have easily gotten. With it, Chris would have known that there was a bridge less than 10 miles away to use to cross the river to get to civilization, quite a hike for a greenhorn like him, but doable.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: The intended angle for Chris' portrayal in the movie.
-->'''Rainey:''' You're not {{Jesus}}, are you?
* WalkingTheEarth: ranging from Mexico to inhabited Alaska
* WellDoneSonGuy: Chris' relationship with his father is like this in some ways.
* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: The general opinion expressed by people the author interviews.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue
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** Furthermore, he went into a rough territory unknown to him without something so basic as a map of the area, which he could have easily gotten. With it, Chris would have known that there was a bridge less than 10 miles away to use to cross the river to get to civilization, quite a hike for a greenhorn for him, but doable.

* AnAesop: "Happiness only real when shared."

-->'''Rainey:''' Are you not {{Jesus}}?

* TooDumbToLive: Despite having great academical intelligence, Chris isn't quite as GenreSavvy about living in the wild as he thinks he is. His fateful mistake: not make sure the plant he was about to wolf down had any deadly look-alikes.

'' Into the Wild'' is a {{Biopic}} by Sean Penn based on the 1996 book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher [=McCandless=]. The book and movie chronicle the life of Chris as a young man resentful of society and his family, who decides after graduating college to spend a few years travelling around and living off the land in Alaska. The book is written from the perspective of PosthumousNarration and serves as a HowWeGotHere look at Chris' brief life and final days.

* CityMouse

* NoAntagonist: Except himself, and the full wrath of the Alaskan winter.
* ParentalNeglect

* TooDumbToLive: Despite appearing to be a smart person, Chris isn't quite as GenreSavvy about living in the wild as he thinks he is.
** On the other hand, he survived 2 years WalkingTheEarth with comparatively little problem, and was able to survive in Alaska for quite a while, only dying (if the film's depiction of events is accurate) because he made a stupid mistake and couldn't get back to civilization. Also, people familiar with the area have noted that if Chris had enough foresight to get a map of the region, he would have known there was a bridge with a few miles of his camp to cross that swollen river and thus he could have reached civilization after a bit of a hike.

* WalkingTheEarth

** LostAesop: For most of the movie, Chris seeks happiness in solitude instead, and he's portrayed as being right.

* SceneryPorn: Come on. It is Alaska, after all.

* NoAntagonist: Except himself, that is. Not to mention the full wrath of the Alaskan winter.

** LostAesop: Chris seeks happiness in solitude instead

** LostAesop: However, the film's portrayal of Chris as a semi-messianic figure with his acquaintances and how he preaches to them that happiness is not in relationships with other people but in the beauty of the world, results in this.

** On the other hand, he survived 2 years WalkingTheEarth with comparatively little problem, and was able to survive in Alaska for quite a while, only dying (if the film's depiction of events is accurate) because of making a stupid mistake and having the bad luck to not have the strength to get back to civilization before he died. Also, people familiar with the area have noted that if Chris had enough foresight to get a map of the region, he would have known there was a bridge with a few miles of his camp to cross that swollen river and thus he could have reached civilization after a bit of a hike.

* TakeThat: The film makes a very pointy jab at Burger King: Shots of unhealthy food being deep fried? Check. A morbidly obese kid ravenously eating a burger? Check. A shot of a sign that says "It's okay to waste fries"? Check. Chris' manager asking him to wear socks at work? Check.