Materialism In Into The Wild

In one of the rare instances that Sean Penn directs a film, he sets out to deliver a view-changing experience and does just that. The philosophical views and the conflict of moral fibres between the protagonist and his family and friends, are the basis of Into the Wild - a recount of the true story of Christopher McCandless - and certainly sparked an interest in me, as I began to question my own perspective on life.
One of the first characteristics that I noticed the protagonist exhibit, was his ability – or rather choice – to prioritise principles over people. His anti-materialistic attitude is one that challenges his parents from the beginning, and to show that he lives by this completely, he donates all of his life savings to charity and
For McCandless, he finds that the social constrictions such as obligations to friends and family, and the oppression of authority, is simply not the way he wants his life to be ruled. In fact, he happens to live by the bare minimum of rules, for he simply believes that the government shouldn’t be in control of what he does and where he goes, which is fairly extreme in my opinion. The desire for isolation, his wonder for nature and careless attitude towards the law is what drives him into the wilderness, and in search for his freedom, but is this morally okay? No, I believe that it is simply wrong and completely selfish. No matter how thought out McCandless’ life is and how careful he tries to be, I see it as he is only living for his own personal comfort and nature connectedness. His actions not only effect his family but also the society in which he places himself in. He goes against getting a license for hunting because he believes that he should not be restricted on what he can eat, and I instantly thought of what the result might be if more people followed in his footsteps; there would be destruction of species’ and food chains would be threatened. Thankfully McCandless’ view on ultimate freedom isn’t shared by many. For me, freedom would simply to be travelling the world – within the boundaries of the law of course – with the people