This document provides a critical analysis of the book and film "Into the Wild" about Chris McCandless from psychoanalytic, Marxist, and existential perspectives. It analyzes McCandless' personality and motivations for rejecting societal expectations using the theories of displacement, attribution, fear of intimacy, classism, and existential bases like awareness, self-consciousness, and anxiety. It compares his journey to self-reliance ideas from American authors like Emerson and Thoreau.

1. INTO THE WILD:
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Presented By Keith Chrisman

2. INTO THE WILD
1968-1992 1996 2007
Chris McCandless’ Story
Movie Trailer

3. CRITICAL APPROACH
Marxist
Psychoanalytic
1: My Own Birth
2: Adolescence
3: Manhood
4: Family
5: Getting of Wisdom

4. PSYCHOANALYTIC
THEORY
Displacement
Attribution Theory
Fear of Intimacy

5. MARXIST
Rejecting Classism
Rejecting Consumerism
Sign Exchange Value
Commodification

6. MARXIST
Classism
Oedipal Conflict

7. PSYCHOANALYTIC
Displacement
Avoidance
Fear of Water

8. CHRIS MCCANDLESS
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Denial
Avoidance
Displacement
Projection
“Our adult personality is the result of
the emotional experiences we had
growing up.”
(Tyson, 25)
Defense
Mechanisms:

9. CHRIS MCCANDLESS
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
“Our adult personality is the result of
the emotional experiences we had
growing up.”
(Tyson, 25)
Core
Issues:
Low Self-Esteem
Insecure or Unstable
Sense of Self
Fear of Intimacy

10. CHRIS MCCANDLESS
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Running From vs.
Running Towards
Suicidal Retreat?
Actions are Products of
Personal Problems?
What about Inspiration?

11. EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS
ROLLO MAY’S 6 EXISTENTIAL BASES
1. Every existing person is
centered in themselves, and
an attack on this center is
an attack on his/her
existence itself
2. Every existing person has
the character of self-
affirmation, the need to
preserve its centeredness
3. All existing persons have
the need and possibility of
going out from their
centeredness to participate
in other beings
4. The subjective side of
centeredness is awareness
5. The uniquely human form
of awareness is self-
consciousness
6. Anxiety

12. CHRIS MCCANDLESS &
AMERICAN LITERATURE
“A cultivated man becomes
ashamed of his property out
of new respect for his
nature.” -Self Reliance
The self cannot “get” because
the material and historical
world of property and
circumstance cannot “touch”
the self; they only leave him
as they find him. -Experience
Ralph Waldo Emerson on
Materialism:

13. Slide One
http://images.rottentomatoes.com/
images/movie/gallery/1183768/
photo_10_hires.jpg
Slide Two
http://www.thequietman.org/
imagenes/Chris%20mccandless
%20final.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/en/2/2e/
Into_the_Wild.png
http://blog.afi.com/main/wp-
content/uploads/2007/12/
into_the_wild_movie_poster.jpg
Slides Three, Four, and Five
http://www.variety.com/rbidata/
photogallery/variety/3997.jpg
Slide Nine
http://www.science.uva.nl/~seop/
archives/spr2004/entries/emerson/
Emerson-lg.jpg
Slide Ten
(Template Photo) (Keynote ’08)
IMAGES

14. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature." 1849. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. Vol. B. Houghton Mifflin Company,
Heath, 2006. 1582-1609.
Grossman, Lev. “Nature Boys.” Time 24 Sep. 2007: 85-87. Academic Search Complete. EBSCOhost. Elmhurst College Library, IL. 21 January 2009
<http://search.epnet.com/26608297>.
May, Rollo. Existential Psychology. New York: Random House, 1961.
Tyson, Lois. Learning for a Diverse World: Using Critical Theory to Read and Write about Literature. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Stack, George. Neitzsche and Emerson: An Elective Affinity. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1992.
Wolfe, Cary. “Alone with America: Cavell, Emerson, and the Politics of Individualism.” New Literary History, 1st Edition. 1994. Literature Resource
Center. Elmhurst College Library, IL. 21 January 2009.
WORKS CITED