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There’s a program on TV called Grizzly Man which isn’t the usual “I love you my animal friend” Treadwell documentary but rather, a peek into the man’s head. And ohhhh what a troubled head he had! Apparently Timothy wanted to be a celebrity, appeared on The Love Connection and was “second runner up” to play the role of Woody on Cheers. That disappointment “began his downward spiral” taking him into some dark places. He began to exhibit signs of mental illness but refused to take the meds the doctors placed him on to keep him balanced stating “…he needed the highs and lows” in order to be himself and the pills kept him in a middle place that “wasn’t him.” Descending further into the drug culture, he became surrounded by bad people (the kind who consider carrying a firearm a part of their nefarious job) and even adopted a fake persona with very bad Australian accent. He researched small towns down under to make his BS stories sound believable. His friends and family talk about his “dark side” and how they would visit the courthouse weekly to see felons being sentenced. They say this was Tim’s way of stopping himself from doing the things he was contemplating in his head. Eventually he detached from “society” completely, preferring the company of bears to humans. In clips shown in this show (edited out of the original series) you see a very troubled guy talking to the camera in a mental state that depicts a person fractured and emotionally distraught. His challenges to God to “hurt him” and to bring rain “if you exist”…are revealing rants that show Treadwell was less of a naturalist and more of a mentally ill young man who needed his meds and therapy. Though his death was recorded on video, the lense cap was on so there is only audio but based on the expressions of those who have listened to it, it is too horrible to ever be released. He tells the bear to “GO. GO AWAY!” What follows is too much for people to hear all the way through and the family was urged to destroy the footage…stating it is simply too awful to save.
So Treadwell bonded with nature and became heartbroken when he saw animal predation and cannibalism, unable to wrap his warped, sentimental brain around the reality of nature and the forces of instinct that collided with his idealistically distorted view of nature’s “perfect harmonious balance” and paid for that lack of perspective with his life…taking an innocent young woman to the grave with him in what can only be described as a grizzly death. It is a difficult program to watch…gut wrenching actually but like a slow moving train wreck, compelling as well. Tim Treadwell wanted fame…in that regard he was successful. A weird little dude on the fringe of society…he managed to show us the inner societal workings of the grizzly bear world in a way no sane person could and taught us lessons that cannot be ignored. I sorta feel a little bad for the guy now that I understand the demons that lead him into the wilderness and far away from humanity. Granted…his “love” of his “furry friends” was one sided and ultimately ate him alive but I guess he died doing what he loved and isn’t that what we all hope for? Interesting program…look for it. Here's a small segment from the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jsmqWXxia4
So Treadwell bonded with nature and became heartbroken when he saw animal predation and cannibalism, unable to wrap his warped, sentimental brain around the reality of nature and the forces of instinct that collided with his idealistically distorted view of nature’s “perfect harmonious balance” and paid for that lack of perspective with his life…taking an innocent young woman to the grave with him in what can only be described as a grizzly death. It is a difficult program to watch…gut wrenching actually but like a slow moving train wreck, compelling as well. Tim Treadwell wanted fame…in that regard he was successful. A weird little dude on the fringe of society…he managed to show us the inner societal workings of the grizzly bear world in a way no sane person could and taught us lessons that cannot be ignored. I sorta feel a little bad for the guy now that I understand the demons that lead him into the wilderness and far away from humanity. Granted…his “love” of his “furry friends” was one sided and ultimately ate him alive but I guess he died doing what he loved and isn’t that what we all hope for? Interesting program…look for it. Here's a small segment from the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jsmqWXxia4
