Compare And Contrast Into The Wild

In order for someone to isolate themselves from society, they must first be a part of it. In the book “Into the Wild,” Jon Krakauer’s focal point is how Chris McCandless was a headstrong man who was on a mission to avoid society by venturing out alone into Alaska. Although it is true that he sought isolation, in Sean Penn's movie “Into the Wild” he romanticizes Chris’ life by illuminating the personal relationships Chris had built throughout his lifetime. Simultaneously, he reveals Chris’ life in a mirthful way. Between both the movie and the book there were two obvious distinctions of how Chris was perceived. Krakauer focused on making Chris come off as a strong minded and inconsiderate person. For example, when Chris cut off communication …show more content…
Sean Penn makes the flashbacks of Chris’ memory have a grainy filter behind them to signify between the present and past. This is due to it not being a clear distinction between the past and present for the audience when reading the book. On top of that, Penn made the scenes fade into one another when transitioning into the future, also for the sake of ambiguous distinction. Differently from the book, Penn had the character who played Chris McCandless’ sister to narrate the movie, giving the audience a different point of view to visualize Chris McCandless’ life from. Whereas “Into the Wild”, the book, was from Krakauer’s point of view. Throughout the movie, when the mood changed, so did the music; for instance, Chris’ death scene. For a surpassing number of people, a connotation of death would be sadness. To establish an understanding for the audience that Chris died with peace of mind, Sean Penn specifically showcased upbeat music during his death scene and closed the scene off with mellow …show more content…
As stated before, both the author (Krakauer) and filmmaker (Penn) portrayed Chris through a biased viewpoint. Neither one of them drifted away too distant from Chris’ exact personality or that would defeat the purpose of even making the documentary or biography. However, when Sean Penn made the movie, he idolized Chris as a much happier person than the book did. During the time Chris was in the bar with Westerberg, he was “all smiles” and happened to be shouting due to the excitement. This an example of a bit of enjoyment in Chris’ life that was not established in the book. Likewise, when Chris was on the beach with Jan, he was laughing, and having a jovial time. Not to mention, he even played in the ocean with Jan. This signifies that he let happiness overcome his fear of water. The way Chris interacted with people in the movie made it seem as if he didn’t mind being around people, as a matter of fact, he enjoyed other people’s company seeing as how he also noted in the ending that “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN