Iconoclasts Takes Sean Penn into the Wild

I have not seen the film yet (am dying to), but I was mesmerized by the book when I read it. I'm only one year younger than Chris McCandless would be if he were alive, which I think is what kept me turning pages at the time that I read it - I just couldn't understand his frame of mind. I think your perspective is an interesting one, but it seems to me that the advent of technology might be what would actually drive someone like McCandless into seclusion today. It's been a while since I read the book, but the way Krakauer depicts his personality, I'm not sure McCandless would've been someone who would've turned to a Blackberry for help had it been available to him. It is interesting to think about how things might've been different for him had he taken his journey just a few years later.

After watching Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder on Charlie Rose one night, I was drawn to see this film, which was tremendous film. Sean Penn did a fantastic job. I disagree with you above though, in the sense that McCandless would have found the connections he was looking for the internet. Nothing beats the wide open road to meet strangers, not texting, not Facebook, not social networking. Not that I knew the guy, but how we was illustrated made me believe that McCandless was trying to get back to something we all miss, the simplicity of life. Technology hasn't made our lives simpler, more interesting, yes, but a substitute for human connection, no. Having dated a man that was similar to McCandless in his quest for outdoor adventures, I wonder if McCandless didn't throw in the towel knowing his culture had failed him in some way, knowing that he would never get what he desired by sticking to the status quo...that only a bus in Alaska might bring him.