Chris McCandless Analysis (Into the Wild)

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of chris mccandless mccandless was the subject of a book titled into the wild and later a movie with the same name just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoy this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video so i'll start with the background of chris mccandless and his story in the wilderness and then i'll move to the analysis chris mccandless was born in el segundo california on february 12 1968 his mother was named billy and his father walt he had a younger sister and six half-siblings from walt's first marriage they lived with their mother in california and later in colorado when mccandless was around six years old walt was hired by nasa to work as an antenna specialist his family moved to annandale virginia because of that job there are a number of problems in the household according to the younger sister of mccandless allegedly mccandless was subjected to maltreatment by his parents his father had difficulty regulating the intake of alcohol and in general there was a lot of tension there billy and walt have denied those allegations in 1986 mccandless graduated from high school he did well academically but he was thought of as a bit unusual for example during his time on the cross country team he would encourage his teammates to think of running as a spiritual exercise they were supposed to picture themselves running against the forces of darkness all the evil in the world all the hatred well that's one way to motivate them the old picture satan is chasing you trick after graduating michaelis went to california to visit with relatives and friends that he had made when he was younger on this trip he discovered that walt was not divorced from his first wife when he and his sister were born it's like his father didn't understand how the whole marriage thing worked in june of 1990 mccandless graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and anthropology it was a double major he donated about twenty four thousand dollars to charity and started driving west in his datsun 210. he would visit states like california arizona nevada south dakota oregon he started using the name alex supertramp he did not tell his family where he was going his parents hired a private investigator to find him but mccandless would never speak to any of his family members again in july 1990 when he was in arizona his car was caught in a flood mccandless was driving someplace where he was not supposed to be driving he couldn't get it started so he left a note on the car saying that anyone who could get it running could keep it he also buried many of his belongings and burned the last of his cash he continued traveling living on the streets finding jobs here and there even took a job for a short time at mcdonald's in arizona using his real name and social security number he started thinking about going to alaska and living in the wilderness he started reading material about survival what plants he could eat how to hunt and he made some preparations but he failed to appreciate how unforgiving the wilderness can be mccandless would hitchhike from south dakota to fairbanks alaska in 1992 a man he worked for in south dakota offered to buy him a plane ticket but mccandless said that would be cheating after he made it to alaska an electrician gave him a ride to the head of the stampede trail on april 28th that was the last time that anyone would see mccandless alive the electrician would later suggest that mccandless was not well prepared for life in the wilderness he tried to convince mcanlis to buy appropriate gear and supplies for the harsh environment but mccandless would not listen when mccandless was hiking he came across a bus it was a 1946 international harvester that had been abandoned by road workers in 1961. mccandless initially continued hiking before deciding to return to the bus and set up camp there he kept track of some of his activities in a journal and he also took a few pictures it appears as though he hunted birds squirrels and porcupines among other food sources in july 1992 mccandless decided to return to civilization he started the 30-mile walk back to the highway he came upon a river that he needed to cross one he had crossed on the way in when it was frozen but now the river was swollen from rain and melting snow he didn't want to take a chance of trying to get across it he was afraid he would drown about a quarter mile away from where he was contemplating making the crossing there was a hand operated tram on a steel cable he could have used this to cross the river there was also a national park service cabin containing food and medical supplies only six miles south of his camp at the bus mccandless did not know about either of these he returned to the bus and posted a note on it the note said attention possible visitors sos i need your help i am injured near death and too weak to hike out i am all alone this is no joke in the name of god please remain to save me i am collecting berries close by and shall return this evening thank you chris mccandless then he had the month august with a question mark by it later he would take a photograph holding a note that said i have had a happy life and thank the lord goodbye and may god bless all a group of hunters would come upon the bus on september 6 1992 they found a lump in a sleeping bag when one of the hunters went around to the other side of the bus he could see a human head the hunters notified the police who arrived the next day they found the body of chris mccandless it is believed that he had died on august 18 19 days before he was found he was 24 years old eight months before he had weighed 140 pounds his body only weighed 67 pounds when the autopsy was performed there has been much speculation about what caused the death of chris mccandless it seems fairly clear that starvation probably played a key role but what factors led to that we see theories about toxic alkaloids in certain plants but the available evidence doesn't really support those toxins were in the plants that mccandless consumed later we see a theory about toxic amino acids from the seeds of a plant referred to as wild potato that could have led to paralysis in mccandless's legs meaning he was not able to gather food to survive in a journal entry mccandless himself appears to implicate the seeds for his extreme weakness the seeds would not have hurt mccandless if he wasn't already severely malnourished mccandless has become a bit of a folk hero but not everybody agrees on what his legacy is or should be was he a brave pioneer who was willing to abandon everything and pursue a dream or a foolish young man who threw away his life for absolutely nothing mccandless had contact with a number of people when he was driving and hitchhiking across the country many people made comments about what they observed here is a potential personality profile based on the many opinions people had of mccandless when i conceptualize personality i typically use the five factor model i remember the five factors through the acronym ocean openness to experience conscientiousness extroversion agreeableness and neuroticism so with chris mccandless we see that he appeared to be high in openness to experience he was intellectually curious creative and against tradition he resisted and even despised authority we see low conscientiousness he took a lot of chances and did not seem well organized although he did seem to have a great work ethic he had high extroversion he was assertive outgoing friendly and sensation seeking we see that his level of agreeableness was mixed he had both high and low facets he was not always straightforward he would not accept criticism he did not appear to have a great deal of empathy but at the same time he donated a substantial amount of money to charity so he seemed altruistic his level of neuroticism is similar we see high and low facets he did not appear to be particularly depressed or anxious but he did have trouble resisting temptation mccandless seemed to be overconfident he believed that he could get himself out of any predicament he took specific pride in his ability to go without food for long periods of time he had taken a number of risks prior to hiking in the alaskan wilderness his family already had concerns because he came close to dying a few times so what happened with mccandless was he a hero who figured something out something about life some higher purpose like a role model to others who wanted to resist authority or was he just an overconfident self-centered individual who gravely underestimated danger many people in alaska view mccandless as foolish just another person trying to discover themselves or some universal truth by trekking into dangerous country in their journey of self-discovery they end up discovering death there are others who view mccandless as a legend they romanticize him and his experience viewing him as someone brave enough to take on the system break free of society and live on his own when of course ultimately he died on his own in 2019 a woman died when she was on her way to visit the bus where mccandless died she was crossing the same river that stopped mccandless from escaping the wilderness when she was swept away by the current the bus was eventually airlifted out of the area to prevent further fatalities so we can see mccandless hasn't been a good role model to everybody my theory is that mccandless was a bit narcissistic unrealistic and self-absorbed he believed that he had figured something out that other people could not he understood what the rest of society was unwilling to or unable to understand he was able to think abstractly pretty well but not think concretely both are necessary for survival we see that with the high openness to experience somebody has that good ability to put together theories to think in abstract terms but they have trouble with concrete thinking they don't understand how some concepts really don't move too much they aren't highly symbolic sometimes a dangerous object or situation can be lethal there is no negotiating in some situations to mccandless life was very fanciful he would just drive from place to place he was amazed by the beauty around him he didn't bother carrying a map or at least not an adequate map he wanted to believe he was exploring uncharted territory he was off the grid separate and free from society it was his mission to be like a human pinball perhaps a victim of making a literal interpretation of the phrase any way the wind blows he didn't really worry about dangers he believed that things would always work out he reminds me of mr magoo this cartoon character who always seems to put himself in great danger but never gets hurt although to be fair to mr magoo mr magoo survived some people believed that mccandless was suicidal like he wanted to die in the wilderness i don't think he did i believe he was willing to die he realized at some level he was taking tremendous risks but i don't think he was actively trying to end his own life i think he made the mistake of ignoring the fact that he was losing weight he put himself in a precarious position then eating those seeds only pushed him over the edge if he had stumbled upon the river close enough to see that tram he would probably be alive today although he would have continued taking risks very likely so it's really hard to say regardless of what he intended or did not intend mccandless had an impact on many people his story raises a number of questions is society too boring for some people is surviving too easy do some people need to survive a dangerous experience to prove to themselves they can accomplish other goals in the safety of society some people feel the need to risk their lives in order to enjoy their lives which is kind of like a person saying they need to burn their house down in order to feel warm i think the true legacy of mccandless is how some people need to be more careful about who they view as a role model mccandless was a misguided young man who died a terrible death not some mythical hero who should inspire generations to come those are my thoughts on chris mccandless please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be interesting thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 121,998

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Id: tcbo_5xGrG0

Length: 13min 46sec (826 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 26 2021