story with external material , including the detailed account of a personal adventure . More than ever , the original “ text ” – in this case McCandless ’ story and the little evidence he left behind – has become the property of the recipient , Krakauer , who restitutes it along his own concerns and priorities , and transforms McCandless into a true , albeit fictional modern hero , in search of a deeper , transcendental truth and whose untimely death is supposed to convey some profound meaning .
Curiously enough , no one perceived the sharp irony when the account of a supposed rejection of our capitalistic lifestyle became an international best-seller , therefore fully contributing to both capitalism and our lifestyle : Krakauer ’ s Into the Wild stands as a perfect illustration of how readily and effortlessly the society of spectacle is able to recycle its apparent denial into a mere product of consumption .
In 2007 , Sean Penn pursued the journey into the wild paradox Krakauer had begun a decade earlier by writing , co-producing and directing the film Into the Wild , whose title naturally benefited from the momentum gathered by the eponymous bestseller and which takes the fictionalization of Christopher McCandless to an entire new level , as the character of the lonely , introverted but deep and decided truth seeker created by Krakauer acquires quasimetaphysical proportions , becoming a Christ-like figure whose profound discourse has the power to inspire the lives of all those who come in contact with him . Logically , many crucial facts from the true story are altered or displaced in order to turn them into functional narrative paradigms , when not simply eliminated – as are McCandless ’ triumphant self-portraits next to dead animals . Hence , McCandless ’ “ diary ” becomes the intentional creation of a budding writer , as the protagonist is shown purposely writing in a notebook rather than jotting notes on the back papers of a book on edible plants , which definitely would not have conveyed the same impact . Similarly , McCandless ’ goodbye note becomes the last effort of a dying man about to breath his last breath , a total distortion of the truth , amply documented by two self-portraits which show McCandless waving at the camera while holding his final note . McCandless obviously did not write his last words right before dying since he had the time to take not one but two self-portraits , as if he had wanted to make certain that his final picture would reach posterity – yet another irony , since these self-portraits are barely mentioned in Krakauer ’ s book and disappear entirely from Penn ’ s movie , as if McCandless ’ idea of his own spectacularization did not quite fit that of his biographers . Rather , we are treated in the film to two different shots of Emile Hirsh in a crucifixion position , a much more suitable attitude for the McCandless Penn is attempting to create , for real prophets do not take “ selfies .”
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