Grizzlyman (Long Rant)

[DiscGo]

Have you guy seen Grizzlyman? I watched it last night and I did not like it. It does not seem possible that someone could devote so much of their life to bears and so greatly misunderstand them. This guy does more damage than good and it does not surprise me at all that he was killed by a bear because he did not show respect to the bears.

I thought the movie was going to be more about bears and mostly it is about his death with some footage of how much he loved bears. I am familiar with other people who have done similar things as this guy was trying to do, so the premise of spending so much time with bears did not seem crazy to me, but you learn pretty early in the film that this guy is crazy (not for what he is doing as much as what he is saying).

This guy seems to think he is doing good but all he is doing is getting the bears used to humans. Not all humans are safe for bears. Bears should avoid humans and humans should avoid bears. The guy changes the environment by altering salmon creeks and trying to bring food to the bears.

Part of the problem is the this guy is going against nature. He does more damage than good and he is not likeable. If you want to risk your life for footage and try and get a pulitzer that is one thing but to do all this in the name of the bears is just wrong.
Okay, I didn't mean to rant so long. To sum up, the guy is stupid and got what he deserved.

[donny h]

We discussed this a while back, here:
http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1780&highlight=grizzly

Treadwell was a piece of work all right, and I agree that he did more harm than good for the Alaska grizzly bears.

It's a shame that he convinced Amy to come with him, and an even bigger shame that he called to her for help during the attack on himself, when she tried to help him (swinging a frying pan, since he refused to bring bear spray or a firearm) it cost her life.

If he had advised her to flee, she may have survived.

For a guy that claimed to be 'in touch' with the brown bears, he was shockingly ignorant of their dangerous behavior in those final days.

He claimed that he would be proud to end up as bear scat, once again proving that you should be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

[Reedus]

Ya this one got a rise out of Wadsworth. Something about Treadwell not deserving what he got. :ne_nau: Wasn't a question of if he was going to get chowed down, but when

[JP]

he was shockingly ignorant of their dangerous behavior in those final days.
In a tent :ne_nau:

[Brian in SLC]

Have you guy seen Grizzlyman? I watched it last night and I did not like it. It does not seem possible that someone could devote so much of their life to bears and so greatly misunderstand them. This guy does more damage than good and it does not surprise me at all that he was killed by a bear because he did not show respect to the bears.

I watched it awhile back and couldn't help but think, what a dumb ass.

But, part of me wondered, out of the zillions of feet of footage that Herzog had access to, if he led the audience a tad and maybe made Treadwell seem much worse than he really was. Dunno.

Guy was passionate about bears, to be sure. There are worse things...

I'll have to say, some of the footage 'bout made me gag...

I asked Doug Peacock what he thought of the film. Not a fan of the film. Wish I could better remember the conversation, but, the jist seemed to be that it was unfair to Treadwell.

-Brian in SLC

[Mtnman1830]

I don't know if it is the same movie that I saw, but the one I saw had Tredwell's actual footage. Also reading the book, Death in Grizzly maze, I can't help but think if there wasnt some mental problems with the guy.

I can understand what he was trying to accomplish, but he did a poor job.IMHO.

[DiscGo]

he led the audience a tad and maybe made Treadwell seem much worse than he really was. Dunno.



I hope that is true because I just really thought low of him. Usually when you know someone is going to die, you feel bad for them but I just didn't in this case.

[JP]

I thought the guy did a pretty good job educating people on Grizzlies. I saw some of his earlier documentaries and did little reading about him.

[DiscGo]

I thought the guy did a pretty good job educating people on Grizzlies. I saw some of his earlier documentaries and did little reading about him.

I disagree. In watching the film I honestly can say I learned nothing about bears that I did not already know (and that you can't already get from watching Discovery / National Geographic). I don't feel like there was new information presented by him but I do think he trained those bears to be around humans. Treadwell seems hurt and disappointed when the people throw rocks in the area of the bears but those bears went straight to the people because he got them used to it.

There was a man in the 70's named Stan Price who lived on Admiralty Island. Price was the real deal. He had a small farm and he did cohabitate the area with the bears but Price did not go following the bears everywhere they went, he just allowed them on his property. The farm on which Stan Price lived on Admiralty Island is now run by the park service. People can go and safely observe the bears, learn a lot about them and not disturb their environment.

The bear that killed Treadwell was killed. Treadwell made a big deal about never being willing to hurt the bears because it was there territory which he was visiting but if he had not gone there that bear would not have been killed (and his girlfriend would be alive).

[JP]

I disagree. In watching the film

The bear that killed Treadwell was killed. Treadwell made a big deal about never being willing to hurt the bears because it was there territory which he was visiting but if he had not gone there that bear would not have been killed (and his girlfriend would be alive).
I didn't see that film you're talking about made by someone else. I have seen Treadwell's documentaries in the past and like I said, I did a little reading about his passion for bears.
Yes, he did make a big deal about hurting bears. But, when you have an animal that actually ate humans, the Dept. of Fish and Game will put it down.
We could say that for just about anything when someone dies doing what they love. Well, if he wasn't out there climbing, he would never have fell to his death. If Dale didn't race he'd still be alive today. If Irwin didn't play with animals he too would be alive today. It can be said for anyone who died, doing what they loved to do.

[Brian in SLC]

We could say that for just about anything when someone dies doing what they love. Well, if he wasn't out there climbing, he would never have fell to his death. If Dale didn't race he'd still be alive today. If Irwin didn't play with animals he too would be alive today. It can be said for anyone who died, doing what they loved to do.

Yep. Kind of a positive spin on a story that was spun by the film maker to be a bit negative.

Treadwell seemed like the kind of guy that was going to be addicted to something. Better to have a passion for bears than meth or crack, methinks. And, given that, not a bad row to hoe.

Good put.

-Brian in SLC

[packfish]

Treadwell , at least to me , seemed to be a lost soul. The drug and alcohol addictions earlier in life looked like they took it's toll. His ability to think clearly seemed to be a bit fogged . I really don't know what he was protecting, wasn't he on a bear preserve to begin with? Just seems he could have gone about what supposedly his goal with a bit smarter approach. I lost my invincibility when I got married.

[James_B_Wads2000]

the guy is stupid and got what he deserved.

You deserve to be eaten by bears. :roll:

[quote=James_B_Wads2000]Again you guys totally miss my point. I am not trying to defend the guy

[James_B_Wads2000]

...

[DiscGo]

[quote=James_B_Wads2000]Again you guys totally miss my point. I am not trying to defend the guy