Mccandless 'Into The Wild': Comparing The Book And Movie

Into The Wild is the true story of a 24 year old man’s quest to survive the Alaskan outback. Both the novel by Jon Krakauer and movie adaptation directed by Sean Penn are successful in retelling the arduous tale of Christopher Johnson McCandless; however, the two writers take different approaches in providing the information. The novel is written as if it were a news piece; information is told through first hand interviews of those who came in contact with McCandless and the tersely written journal the young man kept. The movie, however, is narrated through the voice of McCandless’ sister and is told in the form of a story. This allows the viewer to be engrossed by the events of the movie, and in turn, causes a stronger emotional attachment to be formed with the …show more content…
In the novel, the events of McCandless’ adventure have already unfolded; the ending is revealed within the second chapter, as it is mentioned that “Chris McCandless [has] been dead for for two and a half weeks” (13). However, the film takes place in the present, guiding the viewer along the story as McCandless experiences it; his death does not take place until the very end of the movie. This allows the viewer to emphasise with both the hardships and blessings that the protagonist faces. Much of the information that is gathered by Krakauer in the book is narrated by McCandless’ sister in the movie. This is seen when the sister, Carine, narrates the details of Christopher’s chastity in the movie whereas it is simply stated in the book that “ there is little evidence that he was sexually active as a teenager” (65). While both are means of providing the same information, the delivery by a close family member is more sincere than a fact stated by an author. Director Sean Penn is able to build a strong viewer-character attachment, something Krakauer chose not to