Grizzly Man Sparknotes

Grizzly Man This analysis over the documentary Grizzly Man will discuss who Timothy Treadwell was and what led him to spend every summer in the wild with grizzly bears. It will go through his earlier life and why it is important to understand who he was. The reader will gain insight on what would cause someone to want to live in the wild with bears. Grizzly Man is a documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a man that chose to spend every summer in Alaska with brown grizzly bears. He spent thirteen summers in Alaska and eventually his death was from a bear attack. Treadwell was killed on October 5, 2003 along with his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, in what he called, “grizzly maze.” Their bodies were discovered on October 6, 2003. It is
believed that Timothy had filmed the bear that killed him days before. Werner Herzog is the director/narrator for the film. He took the videos that Treadwell has filmed and made them into this documentary along with interviews he held regarding Treadwell. Each person he interviewed had a different opinion of Timothy and the situation surrounding him. Sam Egli was one of the people who had to clean up the scene where Amie and Timothy were killed. He for one though Treadwell was an idiot for getting Amie killed. Timothy Treadwell had a hard life with a tragic ending. Growing up he was an average student, on the swim team, and had a passion for nature. He was accepted into Bradley University with a scholarship for swimming. However after injuring his back he was forced to quit college because he lost his scholarship. Driven by depression Treadwell started using drugs and drinking. He had a nearly fatal overdose and began to realize he needed to make some changes. Treadwell started going to Alaska in 1990 because he was convinced by a close friend to go. He immediately knew this is where he wanted to be. Timothy wanted to save the grizzly bears. He saw himself as their protector. He said, “I would never kill a bear, even to save my own life.” He wanted to educate people on bears. He thought his message would reach more people if he died. He was not wrong. There are more than 35 thousand brown grizzly bears in Alaska. Realistically Treadwell was not making much of a difference. If anything he might have been making things worse. He was getting too close to be bears and in return they were being conditioned to humans. In this essay the reader gained insight on the life of Timothy Treadwell.