Romanticism in Sean Penn's 'Into the Wild'

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This Essay will discuss Sean Penn’s “Into The Wild”(2007) in terms of it’s romantic elements in order to determine how nineteenth century romanticism still influences modern culture. Starting by exploring the films main character as the classic American hero, I will go on to examine many of the concepts in the film which relate to the romantic notions of nineteenth century romanticism. After graduating from college protagonist, Christopher J. McCandless donates all of his savings to charity, burns all the money in his wallet and goes on a spiritual journey of self-discovery. He hitchhikes all the way to Alaska encountering several unique people along the way which cause a change in him before he ventures into the wild. We may see the main character as an existentialist to a large extent as he rids himself of his material possessions, goes against societal constructs and after studying South Africa’s turbulent history and politics, he denounces the absurdity of human behavior. He doesn’t understand how human beings control, kill and corrupt each other, as an existentialist he feels trapped and his search becomes a search for absolute freedom and truth. McCandless describes himself as a lonely traveler seeking truth believing that a secluded life in nature and books can help him achieve happiness. This is one of the notions that concerned romantics in the nineteenth century. Many of the romantic poets withdrew from society in this same way to explore nature, believing that truth could only be found when the being becomes one with the rest of creation. McCandless believed that by embracing raw nature, depending on nothing other than what the earth provides, he would find truth and absolute freedom. Like the romantics he relies on his gut feeling and following his heart with nature as his only guide. He chooses a life with no constraints and although he turns his

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